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Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

[BUG FILED] Pulseaudio/ALSA keep reverting my config

For ~2 weeks now, my pulseaudio/ALSA system has been working poorly. After a suspend-resume cycle, the settings in alsamixer don't stick any more.

I have a microphone port and a line-out port. Previously, I configured the system to send output to both at the same time. At some point ~2 weeks ago, it only sent output to the line-out port. In alsamixer, I unmuted "Headphone", which worked temporarily. However, the headphones would be automatically muted again after a suspend-resume cycle or restart.

I tried deleting ~/.pulse. The settings still don't stick, but it's the other way around now; the line-out port is the one that is muted. (FWIW this directory isn't created again at a later point.)

I tested sudo alsactl store and alsactl restore, but that doesn't seem to be relevant. After the automatic reversion, /var/lib/alsa/asound.state is unchanged.

Finally, I also tried using the GUI with KDE system settings > Audio > Configure… > Add virtual output device for simultaneous output on all local sound cards, then restarting, but this didn't work. I think it's because my two ports are on the same sound card.

How can I make the alsamixer setting stick? Specifically, how can I keep sending output to both ports?

Last edited by Salkay (2021-09-05 13:07:14)

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

Re: [BUG FILED] Pulseaudio/ALSA keep reverting my config

Sorry for reposting; this is infuriating!

To clarify, ideally I'd love to have the settings in alsamixer just stick. Is that possible? But alternatively, is there a way to manually tell pulseaudio to always send to both outputs? Even if I have to manually edit something in ~/.pulse?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: [BUG FILED] Pulseaudio/ALSA keep reverting my config

That's often your UEFI leaving a wonky state on wakeup, have you tried an update there? "Making alsamixer stick" is what's done with alsactl store resp. restore, can you run a restore after the suspension and does it fix things? Then you might be able to adjust the relevant systemd service/create your own that triggers on wakeup.

If this just happened recently might also be a kernel regression, did you do an update between observing the behaviour and from which to which kernel did you switch (or other related like the pulse 15 release potentially)?

Last edited by V1del (2021-09-05 12:01:24)

Salkay

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 619

Re: [BUG FILED] Pulseaudio/ALSA keep reverting my config

Thanks @V1del.

That's often your UEFI leaving a wonky state on wakeup, have you tried an update there?

Do you mean updating the UEFI with something like fwupd? Pulseaudio/ALSA have been working for years now with this system, so I presumed the UEFI was pretty stable, but I could try updating it if you think it might be now working well with some other update.

"Making alsamixer stick" is what's done with alsactl store resp. restore, can you run a restore after the suspension and does it fix things? Then you might be able to adjust the relevant systemd service/create your own that triggers on wakeup.

Yes, sorry, I should have been clearer in my original post. Indeed, alsactl restore does restore the state correctly. I might just have to use that hack, but I preferred not to, because then I would have to hardcode in a specific volume level, rather than restoring the value before suspend. There are also issues with TTY switching as per below.

If this just happened recently might also be a kernel regression, did you do an update between observing the behaviour and from which to which kernel did you switch (or other related like the pulse 15 release potentially)?

TBH because it was about 4 weeks ago now, I'm not really sure. I just tested the current lts 5.10.62-1, and kernel 5.12.13.arch1-2 from about two months ago, which should have been before this issue started. The problem still persisted in both cases.

I wasn't sure what to look at with pulseaudio itself, because I thought it was so intertwined with ALSA and perhaps the DE. However, I did notice that there was an update from 14.2-3 to 15.0-1 just over 5 weeks ago, so I tried reverting that. Indeed, that fixes it! (FWIW I also see the issue not only with suspend-resume, but also when switching TTYs. This also means that if I were to use the "alsactl restore" hack as above, it would also have to trigger on a TTY switch.)

Thanks for that info @V1del. I'll post in the pulseaudio forum and/or bug tracker.

EDIT: bug filed

Last edited by Salkay (2021-09-05 13:07:30)