Arch Linux

FlowIt

Member

Registered: 2014-10-25

Posts: 239

No audio after alsa update

After updating this morning I noticed my audio was not working. This is the update:

tail /var/log/pacman.log 
[2015-11-16 14:00] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2015-11-17 08:31] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -Syu'
[2015-11-17 08:31] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2015-11-17 08:31] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2015-11-17 08:31] [ALPM] transaction started
[2015-11-17 08:31] [ALPM] upgraded alsa-lib (1.0.29-1 -> 1.1.0-1)
[2015-11-17 08:31] [ALPM] upgraded libpng (1.6.18-1 -> 1.6.19-1)
[2015-11-17 08:31] [ALPM] upgraded pam (1.2.1-2 -> 1.2.1-3)
[2015-11-17 08:31] [ALPM] upgraded taglib (1.9.1-1 -> 1.10-1)
[2015-11-17 08:31] [ALPM] transaction completed

Rebooting solved the problem, but I'd really like to know why rebooting was necessary. This is not the first alsa update for me and I never had any problems.

LCvanDinteren

Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2015-10-27

Posts: 153

Re: No audio after alsa update

Just a random thought:
Could it be that your audio device was still linked to an older process and was not released for new use?

Let me explain with an issue I had with webcams:
If I open a webcam stream in my c++ application and I kill the application without closing webcam, next time I open the application, the webcam would be unreachable.
Replugging the webcam would work, because this reloads any drivers etc.

[Disclaimer] I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, just mentioning something that happened to me in the past and may or may not be related.

Have a nice day and enjoy your new (working) alsa drivers

Miblo

Member

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2010-07-05

Posts: 160

Website

Re: No audio after alsa update

Just a random thought:
Could it be that your audio device was still linked to an older process and was not released for new use?[…]

I'm having more or less the same issue and had this same thought. However, the difference with my issue is that, although mpd's audio is busted, all other audio I've tried (aplay and firefox) works. So I'll be surprised if rebooting fixes it for me because restarting mpd alone hasn't helped. Let's see, though…

Update: I be surprised.

Last edited by Miblo (2015-11-17 12:39:42)

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TheRinger

Member

Registered: 2015-07-02

Posts: 13

Re: No audio after alsa update

I had the same problem. Downgrading to :

alsa-lib-1.0.29-1  alsa-plugins-1.0.29-2  alsa-utils-1.0.29-2

solved the problem. I can try upgrading again and rebooting, will report back if that also solves the problem.

EDIT: Root cause is that pulseaudio daemon seems to be hanging onto the old alsa. Test results:

Per my original post, audio was working when downgraded to previous package. Looking at audio processes, I see:

[hookline@sinker pkg]$ ps ax | grep audio
  554 ?        S<sl   0:02 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no
 2571 pts/0    S+     0:00 grep audio

For clarity:

[hookline@sinker pkg]$ pacman -Q alsa-utils alsa-lib alsa-plugins
alsa-utils 1.0.29-2
alsa-lib 1.0.29-1
alsa-plugins 1.0.29-2

Then, I run pacman -Syu. Now:

[hookline@sinker pkg]$ pacman -Q alsa-utils alsa-lib alsa-plugins
alsa-utils 1.1.0-1
alsa-lib 1.1.0-1
alsa-plugins 1.1.0-1

Running speaker-test hangs on "Front Left" forever basically. Any program that interfaces with alsa also hangs and I have to kill it manually:

[hookline@sinker pkg]$ speaker-test 

speaker-test 1.1.0

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 192 to 2097152
Period size range from 64 to 699051
Using max buffer size 2097152
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 524288
was set buffer_size = 2097152
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.025233
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.010431
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.024879
 0 - Front Left
Time per period = 30.044575
 0 - Front Left
^Z
[1]+  Stopped                 speaker-test

Aplay exhibits the same behavior. I try killing the pulseaudio daemon and restarting it.
Speaker-test works fine, mplayer plays my audio just fine. My bet is on the pulseaudio daemon. If anyone else encounters the problem, the following should do the trick:

pulseaudio -k
pulseaudio

EDIT THE SECOND: Perhaps should add a release note for alsa 1.1 that a restart of pulseaudio is necessary?

Last edited by TheRinger (2015-11-18 01:22:08)

FlowIt

Member

Registered: 2014-10-25

Posts: 239

Re: No audio after alsa update

Well I didn't have pulseaudio installed. Applications I tested were Firefox, Parole, mplayer and mpv. Also, I had xfce4-mixer running the whole time. I restarted the applications I mentioned, so they should have released any handle they had on alsa, but maybe xfce4-mixer was enough.

qlb1234

Member

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 5

Re: No audio after alsa update

Me too. Upgraded to alsa-1.1.0-1 and no audio from Steam game. Downgrade it to 1.0.29-1 and it works fine again. Never tried to reboot.

student975

Member

From: Russian Federation

Registered: 2011-03-05

Posts: 613

Re: No audio after alsa update

Me too. Upgraded to alsa-1.1.0-1 and no audio from Steam game. Downgrade it to 1.0.29-1 and it works fine again. Never tried to reboot.

My son has the same problem with Steam. Would you, please, list the packages to downgrade (and  to ignore in pacman.conf), please?

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LCvanDinteren

Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2015-10-27

Posts: 153

Re: No audio after alsa update

Me too. Upgraded to alsa-1.1.0-1 and no audio from Steam game. Downgrade it to 1.0.29-1 and it works fine again. Never tried to reboot.

My son has the same problem with Steam. Would you, please, list the packages to downgrade (and  to ignore in pacman.conf), please?

My guess would be:

I had the same problem. Downgrading to :
alsa-lib-1.0.29-1  alsa-plugins-1.0.29-2  alsa-utils-1.0.29-2

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,837

Re: No audio after alsa update

Check pacman update logs to find out which packages need downgrading and there aren't many packages with a  1.1.0 version number... HOWEVER since this was a change that affected how ALSA registers the devices, have you rebooted or restarted the applications accessing the audio device (pulseaudio in case you run it)?

student975

Member

From: Russian Federation

Registered: 2011-03-05

Posts: 613

Re: No audio after alsa update

My guess would be:

I had the same problem. Downgrading to :
alsa-lib-1.0.29-1  alsa-plugins-1.0.29-2  alsa-utils-1.0.29-2

I have guessed Steam uses 32 bit versions.

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"I exist" is the best myth I know..