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Kruz

Member

Registered: 2008-06-22

Posts: 13

[Solved] Sometimes I've got no sound and sometimes I do

Hi everybody. I've got a strange issue with sound, like the title states... Sometimes I've got it and sometimes I don't. I've had this problem for about two weeks but I kept ignoring it, just rebooting until it worked. I'm tired of it since I haven't changed any configuration file. I've got no idea as to what output is needed to get some help, the only things that I can come up with are the error outputs and the module and daemon sections of rc.conf... Please tell me what else is needed

Trying to run mpd I get

output: No "audio_output" defined in config file
output: Attempt to detect audio output device
output: Attempting to detect a alsa audio device
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1010:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
alsa: Error opening default ALSA device: No such file or directory
output: Attempting to detect a oss audio device
oss: Error opening OSS device "/dev/dsp": No such file or directory
oss: Error opening OSS device "/dev/sound/dsp": No such file or directory
output: Unable to detect an audio device
Aborted

While trying to run something in VLC I get

VLC media player 1.0.4 Goldeneye
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1010:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
[0xfd4b88] oss audio output error: cannot open audio device (/dev/dsp)
[0xfd4b88] jack audio output error: failed to connect to JACK server
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1010:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
QPainter::begin: Paint device returned engine == 0, type: 1
QPainter::begin: Paint device returned engine == 0, type: 1
QPainter::begin: Paint device returned engine == 0, type: 1
[0xfd4b88] main audio output error: couldn't find a filter for the conversion
[0xfd4b88] main audio output error: couldn't create audio output pipeline
Usage:program_name [address][:port]Usage:program_name [address][:port]Usage:program_name [address][:port]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that sometimes VLC plays sound but nothing else does, but sometimes not even VLC can play sound (like right now)

The module section of rc.conf is

MODULES=(forcedeth !pcspkr !snd-pcm-oss)

And the daemon section is

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @hal @network @netfs @crond @alsa @fam @cups @mpd)

When I've got sound, the sound channels are unmuted. When I don't have sound it tells me that the device is "USB Device 0x93a:0x2622", that the chip is " USB Mixer" and that the sound device doesn't have playback controls. When I've got sound it tells me that the device is nvidia.

What's really strange is that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Any leads? Any output that could help? Thanks in advance and I'm sorry for taking away your time and for any grammar mistakes as english is not my native language.

Thanks!

Last edited by Kruz (2010-01-16 17:29:59)

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: [Solved] Sometimes I've got no sound and sometimes I do

Hmm... What sound card are you using?

Can you reproduce the bug? I mean, does sound stop working when you use a certain application? Does sound work perfectly until it... doesn't?

When the sound stops working, are any sound devices locked? Use this command:

fuser -v /dev/snd/* /dev/dsp*

I see you are using ALSA. Did you install OSS, JACK, or Pulse Audio? (they may be conflicting with ALSA, but they probably aren't)

I think it's funny that, when sound stops working, the computer thinks it is using "USB Mixer". Maybe use "lsusb" to see if there are any strange devices there. Do you have USB headphones, USB speakers, webcam, or HDMI audio?

Maybe someone else can answer this: How do you restart ALSA at the command line? It certainly isn't "/etc/rc.d/alsa restart".

test1000

Member

Registered: 2005-04-03

Posts: 834

Re: [Solved] Sometimes I've got no sound and sometimes I do

The problem might be that alsa isn't very smart when it comes to device assignment. It assigns whatever "sound device" that is loaded first(loaded first with a kernel module) as device 0,1,...

sometimes for whatever reason "snd-usb-audio"(usb cam for example) gets loaded first and consequently becomes device #0.

If your soundcard is "nvidia-sound"(idk what your driver is called) then you should force that one to load first so that alsa will know that that is device 0.

For example if your usb cam uses snd-usb-audio you should force "nvidia-sound" to be device #0 by putting it like this early in the MODULES line in /etc/rc.conf:

... nvidia-sound snd-usb-audio ...

so that device #0 and #1 won't change depending on when an application expects a kernel module...

---

KISS = "It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience." - Albert Einstein

Kruz

Member

Registered: 2008-06-22

Posts: 13

Re: [Solved] Sometimes I've got no sound and sometimes I do

Hi, thanks for replying. I tried the command that drcouzelis suggested but I don't have any file or folder that starts with dsp. And I do have a webcam which brings me to the conclusion that what test1000 is probably on the spot. And the easy way out is to unplug my webcam since I never use it, hopefully that'll resolve the issue otherwise I'll be back here asking again. Thanks for answering! Totally appreciated.