Arch Linux

il2dottore

Member

Registered: 2026-06-21

Posts: 3

WirePlumber/PipeWire reaches 100% CPU usage after adjusting volume

Hi everyone,

I am facing a frustrating issue where WirePlumber/PipeWire suddenly spikes to 100% CPU usage after adjusting the audio volume. It remains stuck at that level unless I restart the service manually. After a few minutes, it happens again, causing Firefox to freeze, the system to stop responding, and audio to cut out completely.

Here are my system specifications:

Laptop: Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57
BIOS: V1.20
Kernel: Linux 7.0.12
CPU: Intel Core i5-11400H
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics / NVIDIA RTX 3050 Mobile
Desktop: KDE Plasma 6.7.0 (Wayland)

Audio Server & Hardware Info:

Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.6.6)
Default Sink/Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo

card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC295 Analog
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3/7/8/9: HDMI

This is the only suspicious log I could gather right before the crash:

Jun 08 09:59:21 il2dottore wireplumber[1318]: wp-device: SPA handle 'api.libcamera.enum.manager' could not be loaded; is it installed?
Jun 08 09:59:21 il2dottore wireplumber[1318]: s-monitors-libcamera: PipeWire's libcamera SPA plugin is missing or broken. Some camera types may not be supported.

During the spike, top shows:

PID 1318 wireplumber 99.7% CPU

What I have tried so far (with no success):
1. Removed all state and configuration files:

rm -rf ~/.local/state/wireplumber
rm -rf ~/.local/state/pipewire
rm -rf ~/.config/pulse

2. Reinstalled all related packages:

sudo pacman -S pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa wireplumber alsa-utils alsa-card-profiles plasma-pa pavucontrol

The issue persists.

Has anyone encountered this or could guide me on how to properly debug/fix this?

Thanks in advance!

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 76,350

Re: WirePlumber/PipeWire reaches 100% CPU usage after adjusting volume

This is the only suspicious log

Completey insignificant, the messages are rather common

1. Removed all state and configuration files:

While wireplumber/pipewire were running?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/WirePl … t_settings

Do you have any custom pipewire/wireplumber/pulseaudio configs?
Is a fresh user account affected by the same symptoms?

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