[SOLVED] Wireplumber/Pipewire issue: no videos playing in browser

mor3dr3ad · 2025-03-18 23:11:04

Hi, so this is a variation of posts on wireplumber/pipewire not working properly, see also here:
- https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=276918
- https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=301897

However, none of the solutions worked for me yet.

Description of the issue:

Since a couple of days, no videos will play either on Youtube or other sites - even promotional videos on a university's site would not play. This is fairly recent and potentially due to a update I did recently (I keep my system fairly updated all the time). My system:

                 .o+`                   ------------------- 
                 `ooo/                   OS: Arch Linux x86_64 
                `+oooo:                  Host: 20UJS00K00 ThinkPad T14s Gen 1 
               `+oooooo:                 Kernel: 6.13.7-arch1-1 
               -+oooooo+:                Uptime: 15 mins 
             `/:-:++oooo+:               Packages: 2569 (pacman) 
            `/++++/+++++++:              Shell: zsh 5.9 
           `/++++++++++++++:             Resolution: 1920x1080 
          `/+++ooooooooooooo/`           DE: GNOME 47.5 
         ./ooosssso++osssssso+`          WM: Mutter 
        .oossssso-````/ossssss+`         WM Theme: Arc-Dark 
       -osssssso.      :ssssssso.        Theme: Adwaita-dark [GTK2/3] 
      :osssssss/        osssso+++.       Icons: Papirus-Dark [GTK2/3] 
     /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-       Terminal: xfce4-terminal 
   `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-     Terminal Font: Monospace 12 
  `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:    CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U with Radeo 
 `++:.                           `-/+/   GPU: AMD ATI Radeon Vega Series / Rad 
 .`                                 `/   Memory: 4150MiB / 31310MiB

When I try to play videos they seem to buffer, I can scroll the videos and the preview will show at the appropriate time. However, when I try to hit play the video keeps buffering and does not play. I have tried several browsers (Chrome/Firefox) with the same result.

I am able to play videos using

mpv 'videourl'

.

Steps taken so far

I have tried reinstalling wireplumber and pipewire and removed the local state for wireplumber

 rm ~/.local/state/wireplumber/*

to no avail. CPU/Memory/GPU usages look pretty normal when no video is playing.

The only thing that INSTANTLY helps is this command:

 systemctl --user restart pipewire

.

This works for currently opened/started videos. When I open a new youtube tab and try to play another video, this gives me the same result as before.

Some diagnostics:

 sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*

                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  mor3dr3ad   4934 F.... pulseaudio
                     mor3dr3ad  32998 F.... pipewire
                     mor3dr3ad  32999 F.... wireplumber
/dev/snd/controlC1:  mor3dr3ad   4934 F.... pulseaudio
                     mor3dr3ad  32998 F.... pipewire
                     mor3dr3ad  32999 F.... wireplumber
/dev/snd/controlC2:  mor3dr3ad   4934 F.... pulseaudio
                     mor3dr3ad  32998 F.... pipewire
                     mor3dr3ad  32999 F.... wireplumber
/dev/snd/seq:        mor3dr3ad  32998 F.... pipewire

pactl list sinks                 
Sink #0
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_06_00.6.HiFi__Speaker__sink
	Description: Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio Controller Speaker
	Driver: module-alsa-card.c
	Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	Channel Map: front-left,front-right
	Owner Module: 9
	Mute: no
	Volume: front-left: 26852 /  41% / -23.25 dB,   front-right: 26852 /  41% / -23.25 dB
	        balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	Monitor Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_06_00.6.HiFi__Speaker__sink.monitor
	Latency: 0 usec, configured 0 usec
	Flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	Properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC257 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC257 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HD-Audio Generic"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HD-Audio Generic at 0xfd3c0000 irq 109"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:06:00.6"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:06:00.6/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "1022"
		device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD]"
		device.product.id = "15e3"
		device.product.name = "Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio Controller"
		device.string = "_ucm0003.hw:Generic_1"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "352768"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "176384"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "HiFi: Speaker: sink"
		device.profile.description = "Speaker"
		alsa.mixer_device = "_ucm0003.hw:Generic_1"
		device.description = "Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio Controller Speaker"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	Ports:
		[Out] Speaker: Speaker (type: Speaker, priority: 100, availability unknown)
	Active Port: [Out] Speaker
	Formats:
		pcm

Finally, logs from latest boot:

 sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

http://0x0.st/81HJ.txt

Asking for support

Can anybody point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Last edited by mor3dr3ad (2025-03-19 14:32:10)

V1del · 2025-03-19 01:05:06

Install pipewire-pulse in lieu of pulseaudio, right now both are running and both are accessing and fighting for audio devices. Direct fallout likely from https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=304079 where gst-plugin-pipewire started to hard dep on the audio stack of pipewire.

mor3dr3ad · 2025-03-19 14:31:46

Thanks for the lightning fast reply. This has solved my problem, although I had to delete pulseaudio-bluetooth first because of dependencies.

hurrrtin · 2025-03-26 14:22:29

V1del wrote:

Install pipewire-pulse in lieu of pulseaudio, right now both are running and both are accessing and fighting for audio devices. Direct fallout likely from https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=304079 where gst-plugin-pipewire started to hard dep on the audio stack of pipewire.

This also worked for me!

Arch Linux

#1 2025-03-18 23:11:04