When video chat fails on Empathy using Google Talk, pulseaudio becomes unavailable to other applications

[Sean Fitzpatrick]

Occasionally when someone tries to video-call me via Google Talk and I answer using Empathy the chat fails. (This is probably unrelated to the bug and more to do with Google's chat protocol). I'm filing this against pulseaudio because once this happens, pulseaudio stops responding and I have to restart the computer to get things working again. (I could probably figure out how to restart pulseaudio without restarting the computer but anyhow...)
Using Empathy to connect to someone via Google Talk has always been a bit flaky for me so that's not a big deal, but if I try to use another program such as Skype, or Google Talk via Gmail, I'm unable to do anything because these programs won't be able to access my webcam/microphone.
I'm not 100% sure this is a pulseaudio problem since there's no automatic crash report but when I try to restart the system usually notifies me that it needs to force-close pulseaudio, so that's my reason for guessing this is where the problem lies. It could also be an Empathy bug.

Summary:

What happens:
 - Video chat using Empathy fails.
 - I try to work around this using either Skype or Gmail chat.
 - Workaround fails because my microphone and webcam are no longer working.
What I expect to happen:
 - Video chat using Empathy fails. (Well, it would be nice if this didn't happen at all, but one step at a time!)
 - Microphone and webcam then become available to other programs so I can attempt to establish the chat via another program.

Further details: the webcam is a Logitech C270 and the microphone is the built-in USB microphone of the webcam.

My apologies for the somewhat uncertain report. If anyone has suggestions has to how I can better track down and report the problem, please let me know.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:1.1-0ubuntu13
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-21.34-generic 3.2.13
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-21-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Apr 1 16:53:26 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-03-25 (7 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/19/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0512
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P5KPL-CM
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: x.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0512:bd05/19/2008:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5KPL-CM:rvrx.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) reached end-of-life on April 28, 2017.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for pulseaudio (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]