Sound error stalls applications

Issues & Assistance
1

Hello Garuda helpers,

Since one of the updates I'm left with a sever sound issue.

At first I noticed no sound was playing and applications such as browser stalls video playback as if waiting for something.

Later I found a weird workaround,
I open the audio settings, and perform a TEST , which seems to reset/release audio buffers of some kind and then sound plays, not only from the test ("front right") but also the browser gets unstuck and continues as normal. same goes for games.
And I have to repeat this any time a sound playing has finished (video in browser or starting another game).

The best hint that I found was perhaps pulseaudio and pipewire have a conflict.
So I went to Garuda-Assistant -> System components and tried to uncheck/remove pipewire support and check/install pulseaudio. However, it stucks at 0% :

resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: pulseaudio and pipewire-pulse are in conflict. Remove pipewire-pulse? [y/N] y

Packages (10) pipewire-pulse-1:0.3.60-3 [removal] pulseaudio-16.1-3 pulseaudio-alsa-1:1.2.7.1-1
pulseaudio-equalizer-16.1-3 pulseaudio-jack-16.1-3 pulseaudio-lirc-16.1-3
pulseaudio-rtp-16.1-3 pulseaudio-zeroconf-16.1-3 pulseaudio-bluetooth-16.1-3
pulseaudio-support-1-9

Total Download Size: 1,43 MiB
Total Installed Size: 6,68 MiB
Net Upgrade Size: 6,25 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
:: Retrieving packages...
pulseaudio-16.1-3-x86_64
pulseaudio-bluetooth-16.1-3-x86_64 0,0 B 0,00 B/s 00:00 [c o o o o o o o o o o o ] 0%
pulseaudio-rtp-16.1-3-x86_64 0,0 B 0,00 B/s 00:00 [c o o o o o o o o o o o ] 0%
pulseaudio-equalizer-16.1-3-x86_64 0,0 B 0,00 B/s 00:00 [c o o o o o o o o o o o ] 0%
pulseaudio-zeroconf-16.1-3-x86_64 0,0 B 0,00 B/s 00:00 [c o o o o o o o o o o o ] 0%
Total (0/9) 0,0 B 0,00 B/s 00:00 [c o o o o o o o o o o o ]

So what do you do now? Am I even on the right path about this problem?

Thank you very much for any help.

Michael

I'm also using the lts-kernel instead of zen-kernel for nvidia related issues. But I think the audio problem was even before that. And it should be independent.

garuda-inxi
╰─λ garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 5.15.79-1-lts arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts
root=UUID=af9e0d6f-f9f5-4dff-9429-ccb173eea0f2 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.26.3 tk: Qt v: 5.15.7 info: latte-dock
wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING v: Rev X.0x
serial: <superuser required> BIOS: American Megatrends v: 2802
date: 10/21/2020
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3 gen: 4
level: v3 note: check built: 2021-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA201009
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB
L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3542 high: 3594 min/max: 2200/4650 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 3593 2: 3590
3: 3593 4: 3594 5: 3592 6: 3527 7: 3564 8: 3124 9: 3572 10: 3579 11: 3591
12: 3590 bogomips: 88641
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities:
Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
prctl and seccomp
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
STIBP: always-on, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 [GeForce RTX 2080] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: nvidia v: 470.141.03 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 520.xx+
status: current (as of 2022-10) arch: Turing code: TUxxx
process: TSMC 12nm built: 2018-22 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1e82 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.5
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: N/A display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 81 s-size: 602x343mm (23.70x13.50")
s-diag: 693mm (27.28")
Monitor-1: DP-4 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 82 size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23")
diag: 686mm (27.01") modes: N/A
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.141.03 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX
2080/PCIe/SSE2 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 07:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f8 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 09:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Sound API: ALSA v: k5.15.79-1-lts running: yes
Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.60 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igb v: kernel
pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:1539 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: anbox0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.71 TiB used: 64.76 GiB (2.3%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Kingston model: SUV400S37240G
size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 37R5 scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
model: WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 00WD
scheme: MBR
ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: SanDisk model: Ultra II 240GB
size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 00RL scheme: MBR
ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 QVO 2TB
size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 223.57 GiB size: 223.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 64.76 GiB (29.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
ID-2: /home raw-size: 223.57 GiB size: 223.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 64.76 GiB (29.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 223.57 GiB size: 223.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 64.76 GiB (29.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 223.57 GiB size: 223.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 64.76 GiB (29.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 31.26 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 50.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 45 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 32%
Info:
Processes: 304 Uptime: 18m wakeups: 1 Memory: 31.26 GiB
used: 4.05 GiB (13.0%) Init: systemd v: 252 default: graphical
tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 clang: 14.0.6 Packages: pm: pacman
pkgs: 2134 libs: 574 tools: gnome-software,octopi,pamac,paru,yay pm: flatpak
pkgs: 0 Shell: fish v: 3.5.1 default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole
inxi: 3.3.23
Garuda (2.6.9-1):
System install date:     2022-06-07
Last full system update: 2022-11-23
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       NetworkManager
Windows dual boot:       <superuser required>
Snapshots:               Snapper
Failed units:            dev-binderfs.mount bluetooth-autoconnect.service systemd-networkd-wait-online.service
2

In the meantime I found out that "pacman -S pulseaudio" - stuff worked. Now at least I can I pkill pipewire at start up once. And it works. Still annoying.

There was one update where it all came in I think.
new zen kernel, audio problems,time messed up, only paypal payment , all those things not working any more.

3

Not sure if it’s the same issue, but since some time (a week?) I also get similar stall due to some audio problem, apparently only in browser videos when I pause/resume or jump to a different point (I mean, click in the “time scrollbar”, dunno how they call it).

I checked in the Garuda Assistant, I only have “PipeWire support” and “User in realtime group” enabled in the audio section and I left it that way.

In my case, simply muting and unmuting audio works around it.
Hope it works for you too in the meantime, still annoying but much less.

Not sure I understand correctly, but it sounds like you now have the pipewire/pulseaudio conflict.
With pipewire, pulseaudio should be provided by the pipewire-pulse compatibility layer.

No idea what you mean.
If there are other unrelated issues, better open another thread and try to explain what’s wrong.

My garuda-inxi for the experts: 
System:
  Kernel: 6.0.9-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=592f1813-a12e-4fe0-a4bb-da4e2ce4dbea rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet splash loglevel=3 acpi_osi=Linux rd.udev.log_priority=3
    vt.global_cursor_default=0 systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1
    resume=UUID=B5F8F072-9672-D546-B5BA-E3A0B73B9458
  Desktop: sway v: 1.7 info: waybar vt: 1 dm: greetd Distro: Garuda Linux
    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite L500 v: PSLS3E-03V00TIT
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: TOSHIBA model: KSWAA v: 1.00 serial: <superuser required>
    BIOS: TOSHIBA v: 1.90 date: 12/17/2009
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 42.0 Wh (100.0%) condition: 42.0/43.2 Wh (97.3%)
    volts: 12.3 min: 10.8 model: TOSHIBA PA3534U-1BRS type: Li-ion
    serial: <filter> status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: model: Pentium T4400 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn level: v1
    built: 2008 process: Intel 45nm family: 6 model-id: 0x17 (23)
    stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xA0B
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 128 KiB
    desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 1x1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1197 min/max: 1200/2200 scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
    governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1197 2: 1197 bogomips: 8777
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode;
    SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling,
    PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD RV710/M92 [Mobility Radeon HD 4530/4570/545v] vendor: Toshiba
    driver: radeon v: kernel alternate: amdgpu arch: TeraScale
    process: TSMC 55-65nm built: 2005-13 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 16 ports: active: HDMI-A-1,LVDS-1 empty: DP-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:9553 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Suyin USB 2.0 Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-6:2
    chip-ID: 064e:d104 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 22.1.5 compositor: sway v: 1.7
    driver: gpu: radeon d-rect: 1366x1536 display-ID: 1
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 pos: primary,top model: LG (GoldStar) TV
    serial: <filter> built: 2009 res: 1360x768 hz: 60 dpi: 49 gamma: 1.2
    scale: 1 size: 700x390mm (27.56x15.35") diag: 802mm (31.6") ratio: 16:9
    modes: max: 1360x768 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: LVDS-1 pos: bottom model: LG Display LP156WH2-TLAA built: 2009
    res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 101 gamma: 1.2 scale: 1
    size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1366x768 min: 640x480
  Message: No known Wayland EGL/GBM data sources. API: EGL/GBM
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio vendor: Toshiba driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:293e class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD RV710/730 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4000 series] vendor: Toshiba
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aa38 class-ID: 0403
  Sound API: ALSA v: k6.0.9-zen1-1-zen running: yes
  Sound Interface: sndio v: N/A running: no
  Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.60 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Toshiba
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 4000
    bus-ID: 0e:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp14s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8191SEvB Wireless LAN driver: rtl8192se v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 5000 bus-ID: 14:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8172 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp20s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 301.83 GiB used: 57.28 GiB (19.0%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MK3263GSXN
    size: 298.09 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 2M scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB vendor: SMI (STMicroelectronics)
    model: USB DISK size: 3.73 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
    type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1100 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 42 GiB size: 42 GiB (100.00%) used: 26.53 GiB (63.2%)
    fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
  ID-2: /home raw-size: 85.04 GiB size: 85.04 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 9.91 GiB (11.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
  ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 42 GiB size: 42 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 26.53 GiB (63.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
  ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 42 GiB size: 42 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 26.53 GiB (63.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 3.79 GiB used: 1023.3 MiB (26.3%)
    priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/sda5 maj-min: 8:5
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 227 Uptime: 3d 5h 26m wakeups: 15 Memory: 3.79 GiB
  used: 2.6 GiB (68.6%) Init: systemd v: 252 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 clang: 14.0.6 Packages: pm: pacman
  pkgs: 1957 libs: 383 tools: octopi,paru,yup Shell: fish v: 3.5.1
  default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: alacritty inxi: 3.3.23
e[1;34mGaruda (2.6.9-1):e[0m
e[1;34m  System install date:e[0m     2021-12-03
e[1;34m  Last full system update:e[0m 2022-11-28 e[1;31m↻
e[1;34m  Is partially upgraded:  e[0m No
e[1;34m  Relevant software:      e[0m NetworkManager
e[1;34m  Windows dual boot:      e[0m <superuser required>
e[1;34m  Snapshots:              e[0m Snapper
e[1;34m  Failed units:           e[0m bluetooth-autoconnect.service
2 Likes
4

Removing PipeWire is no longer recommended, or even possible without taking down a bit of infrastructure with it. At some point, some recurring conflicts were resolved by making PipeWire less of a choice and more of a default.

This option is sort of a leftover from when you could switch from one sound server to the other just by ticking a few different boxes. It’s somewhat misleading that this option is still in Garuda Assistant, because it is not so simple anymore.

See what I mean, even after you have done all that Pulse/PipeWire installing/uninstalling, PipeWire still churns along undeterred:

The issues you are having remind me of the whole JamesDSP saga that was kicking around the forum pretty regularly a few weeks back. Do you have JamesDSP running?

4 Likes
5

Some times jamesDSP pops up yes.

6

Try to disable or uninstall JamesDSP and see if it resolves the issue.

7

Yes, thats what I am saying. It seems pipewire and pulseaudio have a conflict and I could neither delete one or the other completely to resolve this.

However at this point, at least I can do pkill pipewire (each start up) and everything works fine.

8

I "pacman -R jamesdsp" , but it doesn't matter it seems. no change. only pkill pipewire does the trick.

9

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