Choppy sound (maybe caused by packages upgrade?)

[rcbell]

I’ve been useing PulseAudio for some time on my system, and now suddenly for some unknown reason my sound is extremely choppy in Flash (like youtube) and amarok. I’ve been looking at many forums and tried several things:

• put the tsched=0 parm in default.pa
• uninstalling PA (but then I get no sound at all)
• running alsaconf

… all to no avail. If I could get my 5.1 surround sound without PA, it seems that would be the way to go, if I could find a way to get sound without it.

Oldcpu, you helped me get this going when I first upgraded to OpenSUSE 11.0. I’m now at 11.1 and am running KDE 4.2. Here’s some of what I know you’ll want (and Thanks in advance!):

The sound card is listed by YAST as “SB0570 [SB Audigy SE]”. The system is an old Dell Dimension 8400.

The speaker test gives me the rear speakers only. Before I uninstalled/reinstalled PA I actually got all 5.1 speakers working fine.
:~> speaker-test -c5 -l5 -twav

speaker-test 1.0.18

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 5 channels
WAV file(s)
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 39 to 419430
Period size range from 12 to 139810
Using max buffer size 419428
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 104857
was set buffer_size = 419428
0 - Front Left
1 - Front Right
2 - Rear Left
3 - Rear Right
4 - Center
Time per period = 10.989496

==================
:~> /usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=c3810777ae3a255acc7beaaa9e21a7fe4bc312c0

=====================

:~> rpm -qa | grep alsa
alsa-oss-1.0.17-1.37
alsa-plugins-1.0.18-6.12
kalsatools-1.5.0-499.130
tsalsa-20080914-0.pm.1
alsa-tools-1.0.18-1.13
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.12
alsa-firmware-1.0.17-1.42
alsa-1.0.18.git20081212-1.1
alsa-utils-1.0.18-6.4
alsa-tools-gui-1.0.18-1.13

:~> rpm -qa | grep pulse
libpulse0-0.9.14-2.2.1
libpulse-mainloop-glib0-0.9.14-2.2.1
pulseaudio-0.9.14-2.2.1
libmpg123-0-pulse-1.8.1-0.pm.1
libxine1-pulse-1.1.15-23.3.3
alsa-plugins-pulse-1.0.18-6.12
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.14-2.2.1
libpulse-browse0-0.9.14-2.2.1
pulseaudio-lang-0.9.14-2.2.1

:~> rpm -q libasound2
libasound2-1.0.18.git20081212-1.1

:~> uname -a
Linux shiloh 2.6.27.23-0.1-pae #1 SMP 2009-05-26 17:02:05 -0400 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

:~> cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
alias snd-card-0 snd-ca0106
alias sound-slot-0 snd-ca0106

[rcbell]

Sorry, I need to correct my post- I do get all 5.1 speakers in the speaker-test after all.

[oldcpu]

@rcbell

Oldcpu, you helped me get this going when I first upgraded to OpenSUSE 11.0. I’m now at 11.1 and am running KDE 4.2.

@rcbell

Hello, Oldcpu. I just wanted to let you know that I hope you can look at my post,
Choppy sound (maybe caused by packages upgrade?) - openSUSE Forums

You seem to be the expert in this area, and I’m hoping for some ideas for how to fix my choppy sound.

First, I NEVER update my KDE to a version such as you have done. It can introduce unpredictable complications, and I refuse to waste my time on my own PCs in such a case.

I’m also on vacation in a different continent currently. I just finished a visit to China (MaCau, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong), and left Bangkok Thailand yesterday for Phuket, where I am now.

However even if I were not on vacation, I doubt that I can help. I provided the fixes I recommended in the audio troubleshooting guide (check the pulse audio and also the choppy sound sections). Follow thru ALL of the links. If that does not help you, then I can not. http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AudioTroubleshooting

You could log on to IRC freenode channel #alsa and see if there is help there. You may need to ask at many different times during the day, over a course of a week, before you find someone who can help.

[caprus]

@oldcpu

I NEVER update my KDE to a version such as you have done. It can introduce unpredictable complications, and I refuse to waste my time on my own PCs in such a case.

While you raise some good points perhaps rcbell’s situation is similar to mine. I won’t go into all the gory details except to say that I carelessly allowed a security update to install without noticing that I was also upgrading the kernel… on the very first day after the new kernel was released no less! I know, very stupid thing to do. What can I say? It was late, and I was very tired and careless. Low and behold the new kernel wasn’t compatible with many previously installed packages, and I had to spend a week with no sound until I could get the newly released files needed to fix that problem. Of course that “solution” produced more problems whose solutions in turn produced more problems, etc., ect., ect. Somewhere along the line I upgraded the desktop to 4.2.4. Would I have chosen to do so had I not run out of alternative ways to try and solve some one of the problems I’d encountered? NO, I would not, but I did and it solved a whole lot of problems (for instance, it gave me back my desktops effects).

It’s been quite a chore, but I’ve finally eliminated all the cascading problems other than one very similar to the one rcbell describes in his post.

At this point a reader might wonder a. why I didn’t simply go back to the old kernel? & b. what’s my point here?

a. I simply didn’t realize that I should have until it was too late.

b. My point is it’s not helpful to criticize the decision that created a problem with a comment like “I NEVER update my KDE to a version such as you have done. It can introduce unpredictable complications, and I refuse to waste my time on my own PCs in such a case.”

I have a great deal of respect for the huge amount of time and effort oldcpu (and others) have put into helping so many newbies like myself. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone a much deserved vacation, in fact I’d love to see many of those locations myself, but I’m saddened to read a comment like that without seeing it followed by a more constructive suggestion. In my humble opinion that’s the sort of remark that might discourage some newbies from posting, and that would be a shame.

[oldcpu]

@caprus

b. My point is it’s not helpful to criticize the decision that created a problem with a comment like “I NEVER update my KDE to a version such as you have done. It can introduce unpredictable complications, and I refuse to waste my time on my own PCs in such a case.”

I have a great deal of respect for the huge amount of time and effort oldcpu (and others) have put into helping so many newbies like myself. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone a much deserved vacation, in fact I’d love to see many of those locations myself, but I’m saddened to read a comment like that without seeing it followed by a more constructive suggestion. In my humble opinion that’s the sort of remark that might discourage some newbies from posting, and that would be a shame.

I agree it doesn’t help “rcbell”, but my belief is there is more users than just “rcbell” who read this forum.

My hope is that it will help others by warning them to avoid such situations.

As for getting sound to work with kde-4.2.x, it likely is possible, but it can be a pain. While I try to help all users with their sound, there are limits I put on the help I provide, and one limit is I do not help users who update their KDE.

While I note your post is well and tactfully typed, I think it VERY IMPORTANT to point out that my post WAS NOT a criticism as you have mis-interpreted it for a reason I can not fathom. Its a statement of fact as to the limitation of the support I give for sound.

I’m a volunteer, and I will not provide support in areas that I refuse to delve into myself. Not because its impossible, but because its necessary for my own sanity, and to avoid my own frustration. When helping users, one can get very very involved themselves, and my experience has indicated to me that helping where there was a KDE update is frustrating, and trying to provide such support simply discourages me, and causes me to drop all support for all users, which is counter productive to the forum.

Hence I will not provide support there, and I believe it important that users know they don’t get support there. At least they do not get support from me.

To repeat - this is not a criticism. Its a limitation in the support I provide.

[deano_ferrari]

@oldcpu

I commend you oldcpu, for ‘drawing a line in the sand’ and statng this publicly. In order to deliver a high standard of support (that you consistently provide), one needs to clearly define the scope of that support, and this may include educating others on what is, and what is not, good practice.

Enjoy your vacation!

@rcbell

I don’t think you’ve done anything unreasonable, and you supplied some good info. Sometimes updates do these things. I would definitely take oldcpu’s advice (repeated below) because you’ll get a better chance of diagnosing and resolving this issue. I might add that I get choppy sound with some apps due to shared irq (with graphics) that is intrinsic to my system. I have chosen to live with it.

You could log on to IRC freenode channel #alsa and see if there is help there. You may need to ask at many different times during the day, over a course of a week, before you find someone who can help.

[oldcpu]

@deano_ferrari

@oldcpu

I commend you oldcpu, for ‘drawing a line in the sand’ and statng this publicly. In order to deliver a high standard of support (that you consistently provide), one needs to clearly define the scope of that support, and this may include educating others on what is, and what is not, good practice.

Good point.

I updated the audio troubleshooting guide accordingly:
SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - openSUSE - Symptoms

@deano_ferrari

Enjoy your vacation!

Thanks. Its been a busy but fun vacation. Currently relaxing in Phuket Thailand, with less than a week left in the vacation. We fly back to Europe on Wednesday next week, and its back to work on Thursday.