OpenSuSE 11.0 Strange Sound Problem

I have used SuSE since 9.1. Upgraded to 9.3 and Last Oct, upgraded to the boxed 11.0 version.

My problem is that I can play mp3’s or OGG files, but anywhere from 2 min. to 15 min. the entire system locks up. e.g. no input accepted, requires hard reset. Never had this problem before.

ETA: This problem persists in all sound output programs.

From Konsole:

> cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.16rc2 (Thu Jan 31 16:40:16 2008 UTC).

> cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_sbawe

> cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [S16 ]: SB AWE - Sound Blaster 16
Sound Blaster 16 at 0x220, irq 5, dma 1&5

I don’t need or use any surround-sound stuff. Just a basic music player as I read or write.

Any suggestions, or do I just need a newer sound card? If so, what/which card?

My system:

Tyan Trinity KT-A MB
950MHz AMD Athlon
832MB SDRAM @ 133MHz
ATI Rage 128 video AGP4
USR 56K USB modem (controller based)
SB-16 AWE 64 (ISA slot)
HD0 - WD 30GB
HD1 - WD 120GB

On the advice in another forum, here’s some more info:

So I started Amarok at 13:09 (MST), loaded ~26 minutes of mp3’s which started at 13:10. It ran until system freeze at 13:22.

Re booted and checked the systemlog

Dec 6 12:41:18 linux-ytgo gconfd (alnor-21720): GConf server is not in use, shutting down.
Dec 6 12:41:18 linux-ytgo gconfd (alnor-21720): Exiting
Dec 6 13:21:15 linux-ytgo pppd[21709]: Terminating on signal 15
Dec 6 13:21:15 linux-ytgo pppd[21709]: Connect time 394.8 minutes.
Dec 6 13:21:15 linux-ytgo pppd[21709]: Sent 1635816 bytes, received 10661544 bytes.
Dec 6 13:21:15 linux-ytgo pppd[21709]: Connection terminated.
Dec 6 13:21:15 linux-ytgo modify_resolvconf: restored /etc/resolv.conf.saved.by.pppd.modem0 to /etc/resolv.conf
Dec 6 13:21:17 linux-ytgo SuSEfirewall2: Setting up rules from /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 …
Dec 6 13:21:17 linux-ytgo SuSEfirewall2: using default zone ‘ext’ for interface eth0
Dec 6 13:21:17 linux-ytgo SuSEfirewall2: batch committing…
Dec 6 13:21:17 linux-ytgo SuSEfirewall2: Firewall rules successfully set
Dec 6 13:21:17 linux-ytgo pppd[21709]: Script /etc/ppp/ip-down finished (pid 23487), status = 0x0
Dec 6 13:21:17 linux-ytgo pppd[21709]: Exit.
Dec 6 13:23:30 linux-ytgo syslog-ng[1556]: syslog-ng version 1.6.12 starting
Dec 6 13:23:32 linux-ytgo rchal: CPU frequency scaling is not supported by your processor.

As you can see above, no real issues are shown. However, there is a warning in /var/log/warn is that on every bootup:

Dec 6 13:23:35 linux-ytgo kernel: nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (13312 buckets, 53248 max)
Dec 6 13:23:42 linux-ytgo kernel: ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 11
Dec 6 13:23:44 linux-ytgo ifup: No configuration found for eth0
Dec 6 13:23:51 linux-ytgo powersaved[2780]: WARNING (CpufreqManagement:52) No capability cpufreq_control
Dec 6 13:23:51 linux-ytgo powersaved[2780]: WARNING (CpufreqManagement:52) No capability cpufreq_control
Dec 6 13:23:52 linux-ytgo smartd[2786]: Problem creating device name scan list

Don’t know what the “device name scan list” is, so I went back and it is in the start of every bootup. My computer is on 24/7 unless I have to shut it down.

/var/log/faillog is empty.

I haven’t yet checked for other drivers, but did check for the specifics of the ALSA driver, which supports all legacy Creative Labs sound cards, as well as the newer ones.

Additional data:

> rpm -q alsa alsa-utils alsa-firmware
alsa-1.0.16-39.1
alsa-utils-1.0.16-35.1
alsa-firmware-1.0.16-24.1

> modinfo soundcore
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.25.18-0.2-pae/kernel/sound/soundcore.ko
alias: char-major-14-*
license: GPL
author: Alan Cox
description: Core sound module
srcversion: 548AA54AF08207316C104F8
depends:
supported: yes
vermagic: 2.6.25.18-0.2-pae SMP mod_unload 586

I’m running ver 4.0.4 of KDE. Could there be a problem there?

May be a memory leak. Try monitoring process memory usage. I think you can do that with the top command. There are other commands to do this, probably.
The audio decoder is up to date? If there is a new version, the changelog may give you an idea (for example: fixed memory leak when decoding mp3 :wink: