Arch Linux

wharrels

Member

Registered: 2026-07-09

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] Sound not working after recent update

I have been using Arch for a few years and things were working fine.  After several months I decided to do an update on 2026-06-26 I decided to update with "pacman -Syu" and ever since then I have not been having any sound.  I just updated again today (2026-07-09) to see if there was possibly a fix but no luck.

I tried to open "Audio Mixer" and get the following error:

  GStreamer was unable to detect any sound devices.  Some sound system specific GStreamer packages may be missing.
It may also be a permissions problem.

My .xsession-errors file shows the following:

  (xfce4-mixer:28316): libxfce4mixer-CRITICAL **: 14:18:01.494: Failed to open device 'default'

Also see errors in pulseaudio.service and dbus.service:

$ systemctl --user status pulseaudio
● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-07-09 13:27:23 EDT; 57min ago
Invocation: 81cf1295c2e34ef88abba7eccf37d61c
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1353 (pulseaudio)
      Tasks: 10 (limit: 76681)
     Memory: 37.7M (peak: 42.5M)
        CPU: 6.146s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-11203.slice/user@11203.service/session.slice/pulseaudio.service
             ├─1353 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal
             └─1565 /usr/lib/pulse/gsettings-helper

Jul 09 13:27:22 atlas systemd[1197]: Starting Sound Service...
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas systemd[1197]: Started Sound Service.
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas pulseaudio[1353]: Authorization required, but no authorization protocol specified
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas pulseaudio[1353]: XOpenDisplay() failed
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas pulseaudio[1353]: Failed to load module "module-x11-publish" (argument: "display=:0.0 xauthority="): initialization failed.
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas pulseaudio[1353]: ALSA woke us up to write new data to the device, but there was actually nothing to write.
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas pulseaudio[1353]: Most likely this is a bug in the ALSA driver '(null)'. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Jul 09 13:27:23 atlas pulseaudio[1353]: We were woken up with POLLOUT set -- however a subsequent snd_pcm_avail() returned 0 or another value < min_avail.

$ systemctl status dbus
● dbus-broker.service - D-Bus System Message Bus
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dbus-broker.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-07-09 13:23:38 EDT; 1h 7min ago
Invocation: 5f70aded261e4c05a2a561f35367d31b
TriggeredBy: ● dbus.socket
       Docs: man:dbus-broker-launch(1)
   Main PID: 976 (dbus-broker-lau)
      Tasks: 2 (limit: 76681)
     Memory: 4.2M (peak: 6.6M)
        CPU: 52ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/dbus-broker.service
             ├─976 /usr/bin/dbus-broker-launch --scope system --audit
             └─977 dbus-broker --log 10 --controller 9 --machine-id 75f4534d0cd2463aa9ef5d99f9be1180 --max-bytes 536870912 --max-fds 4096 --max-matches 16384 --audit

Jul 09 13:23:37 atlas systemd[1]: Starting D-Bus System Message Bus...
Jul 09 13:23:38 atlas dbus-broker-launch[976]: Looking up NSS user entry for 'pulse'...
Jul 09 13:23:38 atlas dbus-broker-launch[976]: NSS returned no entry for 'pulse'
Jul 09 13:23:38 atlas dbus-broker-launch[976]: Invalid user-name in /usr/share/dbus-1/system.d/pulseaudio-system.conf +27: user="pulse"
Jul 09 13:23:38 atlas systemd[1]: Started D-Bus System Message Bus.
Jul 09 13:23:38 atlas dbus-broker-launch[976]: Ready
Jul 09 13:27:19 atlas dbus-broker-launch[976]: Activation request for 'org.freedesktop.home1' failed: The systemd unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service' could not be found.

The /usr/share/dbus-1/system.d/pulseaudio-system.conf contains the following:

<busconfig>

  <!-- System-wide PulseAudio runs as 'pulse' user. This fragment is
       not necessary for user PulseAudio instances. -->

  <policy user="pulse">
    <allow own="org.pulseaudio.Server"/>
  </policy>

</busconfig>

but there is no "pulse" user in /etc/passwd  is this a user that did not get auto created  during the update or is there somewhere else I should be looking?

Thanks!

Last edited by wharrels (2026-07-10 14:32:56)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,292

Re: [SOLVED] Sound not working after recent update

The pulse user is irrelevant for user mode pulse which you should be using -- and are using if that systemctl is to be believed, but it's likely something might have pulled in wireplumber which will now fight with pulseaudio over the device access. Generally pulseaudio isn't very actively developed, it's reccommended to switch to pipewire and you can do so by installing pipewire-pulse which should logically replace pulseaudio.

If you have reason to prefer pulse over pipewire maybe post

systemctl --user status pipewire wireplumber
sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*
aplay -lL

and wrap that in  [code][/code] tags as well as editing your post in this regard.

Last edited by V1del (2026-07-09 18:45:04)

wharrels

Member

Registered: 2026-07-09

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Sound not working after recent update

Thank you for the quick reply!  I didn't realize all that.  I edited the original post so hope that look better, sorry about the missing tags.  I guess I just missed that info when I was looking through the posting guides.  Not sure what the other colors are for the next output but I am putting in the code tags.

Unfortunately I am getting the same error for "Audio Mixer" but haven't tested sound yet.  Installing pipewire-pulse removed pulseaudio but did not remove pulseaudio-alsa, do I need to manually remove that as well?

Here is the output of the commands you asked for:

● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-07-09 15:26:41 EDT; 1min 54s ago
 Invocation: 47c97756324a44d685ea6700aea82411
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
   Main PID: 1335 (pipewire)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 76681)
     Memory: 5.1M (peak: 7.4M)
        CPU: 33ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-11203.slice/user@11203.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
             └─1335 /usr/bin/pipewire

Jul 09 15:26:41 atlas systemd[1179]: Started PipeWire Multimedia Service.

● wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-07-09 15:26:41 EDT; 1min 54s ago
 Invocation: 0ec0fa7485b0442b9aa22e125340995b
   Main PID: 1336 (wireplumber)
      Tasks: 6 (limit: 76681)
     Memory: 29.7M (peak: 32.8M)
        CPU: 157ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-11203.slice/user@11203.service/session.slice/wireplumber.service
             └─1336 /usr/bin/wireplumber

Jul 09 15:26:41 atlas systemd[1179]: Started Multimedia Service Session Manager.
Jul 09 15:26:41 atlas wireplumber[1336]: default: Failed to get percentage from UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner
Jul 09 15:26:41 atlas wireplumber[1336]: spa.bluez5: BlueZ system service is not available
Jul 09 15:26:41 atlas wireplumber[1336]: wp-device: SPA handle 'api.libcamera.enum.manager' could not be loaded; is it installed?
Jul 09 15:26:41 atlas wireplumber[1336]: s-monitors-libcamera: PipeWire's libcamera SPA plugin is missing or broken. Some camera types may not be supported.

]$ sudo fuser -v /dev/snd/*
[sudo] password for wharrels: 
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  wharrels   1336 F.... wireplumber
/dev/snd/controlC1:  wharrels   1336 F.... wireplumber
/dev/snd/controlC2:  wharrels   1336 F.... wireplumber
/dev/snd/seq:        wharrels   1335 F.... pipewire

]$ aplay -lL
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
sysdefault
    Default Audio Device
lavrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Libav/FFmpeg Library
samplerate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Samplerate Library
speexrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
jack
    JACK Audio Connection Kit
oss
    Open Sound System
pipewire
    PipeWire Sound Server
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
speex
    Plugin using Speex DSP (resample, agc, denoise, echo, dereverb)
upmix
    Plugin for channel upmix (4,6,8)
vdownmix
    Plugin for channel downmix (stereo) with a simple spacialization
default
    Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)
usbstream:CARD=Camera
    USB 2.0 Camera
    USB Stream Output
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    Front output / input
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC897 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
usbstream:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH
    USB Stream Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, EDA320Q P
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 2
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 3
    HDMI Audio Output
usbstream:CARD=NVidia
    HDA NVidia
    USB Stream Output
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC897 Analog [ALC897 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC897 Digital [ALC897 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [EDA320Q P]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I have also recently plugged in a USB webcam but unplugging that had no effect so I plugged it back in.

Are there other pipewire packages that I need to install?  This is what I currently have:

$ pacman  -Sl | grep pipe
core libpipeline 1.5.8-1 [installed]
extra encpipe 0.5-4
extra gst-plugin-pipewire 1:1.6.7-1
extra haskell-pipes 4.3.16-262
extra haskell-pipes-http 1.0.6-826
extra haskell-pipes-safe 2.3.5-114
extra kpipewire 6.7.2-1
extra lesspipe 2.27-1
extra liblsp-audio-pipewire-lib 1.2.33-2
extra libpipewire 1:1.6.7-1 [installed]
extra perl-io-pipely 0.006-2
extra pipe-rename 1.6.7-1
extra pipectl 0.5.1-1
extra piper 0.8-4
extra pipesocks 2.3-6
extra pipewire 1:1.6.7-1 [installed]
extra pipewire-alsa 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-audio 1:1.6.7-1 [installed]
extra pipewire-docs 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-ffado 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-jack 1:1.6.7-1 [installed]
extra pipewire-jack-client 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-libcamera 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-media-session 1:0.4.3-1
extra pipewire-onnx 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-pulse 1:1.6.7-1 [installed]
extra pipewire-roc 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-session-manager 1:1.6.7-1 [installed]
extra pipewire-v4l2 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-x11-bell 1:1.6.7-1
extra pipewire-zeroconf 1:1.6.7-1
extra python-pipenv 2026.6.1-1
extra python-pipenv-to-requirements 0.9.0-12
extra python-r2pipe 6.1.2-1
extra python-rzpipe 0.6.2-2
extra python-standard-pipes 3.13.0-4
extra qemu-audio-pipewire 11.0.2-3
extra spiped 1.6.4-2
extra waypipe 0.11.0-1

]$ pacman -Sl | grep pulseaudio
extra projectm-pulseaudio 3.1.12-5
extra pulseaudio 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra pulseaudio-alsa 1:1.2.12-5 [installed]
extra pulseaudio-bluetooth 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra pulseaudio-equalizer 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa 3.0.2-11
extra pulseaudio-jack 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra pulseaudio-lirc 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra pulseaudio-qt 1.8.1-1
extra pulseaudio-rtp 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra pulseaudio-zeroconf 17.0+r98+gb096704c0-1
extra xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin 0.5.1-1 [installed]

Thank you!

Edit: I have to leave right now but should be back some time tomorrow or, if not, then Monday.

Last edited by wharrels (2026-07-09 19:45:04)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,292

Re: [SOLVED] Sound not working after recent update

This looks like it's supposed to, but you're not trying to play audio. And one thing that's somewhat special is that your audio card enumeration index doesn't start at 0, should there be some other device that didn't properly initialize, this might be the reason for the audio mixer trip up? You btw should want to switch to xfce4-panel-pulse as the mixer application.

If there's some other device that stole index 0 and we want to figure why it fails to show up, maybe post a full journal

sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-'  https://paste.c-net.org/

so we can check what's going on. You don't happen to try and configure your sound indices via modprobe or so?

As for pulseaudio-alsa you can keep that -- or replace it with pipewire-alsa, but this doesn't have much bearing on the majority of usecases you're going to encounter.

wharrels

Member

Registered: 2026-07-09

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Sound not working after recent update

Thank you so much for all your help!  Somehow sound is now working.

The only thing I did between my last post and today is install "xfce4-volumed-pulse" then go into "Volume Control" and increase the volume.  I do not see a "xfce4-panel-pulse" in my list of packages when I run "pacman -Sl" so I install the one I mentioned.  I still get the same error with "Audio Mixer" so I removed it.

I am going to now guess that installing pipewire-pulse is what fixed it but I couldn't get the volume turned up enough to hear.

At any rate, I still ran the command you asked for and the URL is https://paste.c-net.org/SpeechesDecode

I owe you a beer or something.  If you happen to be in or visit the Flint, MI area let me know and I will pay you back for this.