short audio hickups every minute or so

Dieter@be · 2010-01-01 21:35:08

Hi,
i have this problem already for a while (also with 2.6.31)
i'm running the latest packages from core (2.6.32 etc) using a normal alsa setup.

basically when i play music (with mpd), every minute or so, the audio has a small hickup: it's interrupted for 0.5s or so.
my system is not really loaded. nothing taking much cpu, no iowait etc.

dieter@dieter-ws-a7n8x-arch $ vmstat 1
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----
 r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in   cs us sy id wa
 0  0   3384  41364  81044 397496    0    0    29    10  361  865 13  3 83  1
 0  0   3384  41356  81044 397488    0    0     0     0  337  908 10  1 89  0
 0  0   3384  41300  81052 397484    0    0     0    44  358  886  9  1 90  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81052 397488    0    0     0     0  380 1019 33  1 66  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81052 397488    0    0     0     0  409  796 45  6 50  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81052 397488    0    0     0     0  367  924 12  2 86  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81060 397484    0    0     0    12  361  895 10  0 89  1
 0  0   3384  41272  81060 397488    0    0     0     0  340 1063  9  1 90  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81060 397488    0    0     0     0  352  959  7  2 91  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81060 397488    0    0     0     0  357  983  9  2 89  0
 0  0   3384  41272  81060 397488    0    0     0     0  364 1080 11  0 89  0
^C
dieter@dieter-ws-a7n8x-arch $ uname -a
Linux dieter-ws-a7n8x-arch 2.6.32-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Dec 26 08:26:17 UTC 2009 i686 Unknown CPU Typ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

Last edited by Dieter@be (2010-01-01 21:35:42)

Habmala · 2010-01-02 00:08:03

Hi, first post :)

Have you tried this from the wiki?

"If you have sound skipping when playing MP3 files and you have more then 2 speakers attacked to your computer (i.e. > 2 speaker system), run alsamixer and disable the channels for the speakers that you DON'T have (i.e. don't enable the sound for the center speaker if you don't have a center speaker"

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA

Maybe this isn't at all your problem, but I ran in to it erlier today when looking to solve another problem of my own, just thought it might help.

brebs · 2010-01-02 03:33:50

Try a decent kernel scheduler - pf is a convenient patchset.

Dieter@be · 2010-01-02 11:32:02

brebs wrote:

Try a decent kernel scheduler - pf is a convenient patchset.

I cannot believe everyone runnig a default kernel is bound to have stuttery audio, especially on an unloaded system.

@Habmala welcome!

oddly enough, since today i don't have the problem anymore, even though i had it for weeks :rolleyes:
i shall keep my eyes (well, ears) open for when this happens again. maybe it happens after i start a specific program.

ngoonee · 2010-01-02 12:30:54

Check your cronjobs? Try turning crond off for a while and see if that's the cause.

Otherwise, maybe a plugin to firefox or your email program is messing things up (for example, Evolution accessing a local maildir made my system spike all the time couple of months back).

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-01 21:35:08

short audio hickups every minute or so

#2 2010-01-02 00:08:03

Re: short audio hickups every minute or so

#3 2010-01-02 03:33:50

Re: short audio hickups every minute or so

#4 2010-01-02 11:32:02

Re: short audio hickups every minute or so

#5 2010-01-02 12:30:54

Re: short audio hickups every minute or so

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