Ubuntu sound (or thereby lack of!) problem

[beak02]

Hi

I've been messing about with media players on ubuntu 8.10 and i've stumbled apon a slight problem. My sound has stopped working. I rebooted and it worked fine but halfway through a track Amorak said:

"Cannot start audio; the device is busy
xine parameter"

I've been looking for a way to uninstall xine but i can't find one and it isn't in the application manager.

Any help would be much appreciated

Luke

[opscure]

To remove xine:
sudo apt-get remove xine

To check if xine is actually causing your problem:
ps aux|grep xine
if xine is listed along with the grep process then:
sudo killall xine
and see if your audio comes back to life.

[beak02]

No Luck

The apt-get remove claims that xine isn't installed but I can quite clearly see (and run) it from the applications menu.

ps aux|grep xine returns
"7472 0.0 0.0 3240 792 pts/0 R+ 19:23 0:00 grep xine"

and the killall claims that no 'xine' processes are running

If I'm wrong about xine being the problem (which is quite possible as I have minimal linux experience) does anyone know of anything else that will prevent the sound from working?

Thanks in advance

Luke

[opscure]

xine is not running according to your process listing, only the grep process that is searching for xine. So, we can rule that out.

Have you checked your logs in /var/log/?

Did you see any errors listed in dmesg or /var/log/messages?

We are going to need more information about what is going on when the audio stops... are you running other programs when this occurs? Are you using youtube or any other web-based technology that may be interfering with the audio?

You can get us a bit more info from /proc/ as well. The easiest way to do this is to open alsamixer and hit the f2 key. This will give you card information and help the community look for possible solutions.

If you do a
ps aux>pslist.txt
it will output your process list to a file called pslist.txt. Do this when the audio stops working so we can see what processes running.

[beak02]

Right then:

I couldn't see any errors in dmesg

My sound card data from alsamixer is as follows
0 [HDMI HDA-Intel
1 [VT82xx HDA - Intel
2 [default USB-Audio - USB20 Camera
3 [ SAA7134 - SAA7134

the pslist is very very long, but here it is:
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 3056 1900 ? Ss 21:12 0:01 /sbin/init
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kthreadd]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [migration/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [watchdog/0]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [migration/1]
root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [watchdog/1]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [migration/2]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ksoftirqd/2]
root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [watchdog/2]
root 12 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [migration/3]
root 13 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ksoftirqd/3]
root 14 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [watchdog/3]
root 15 1.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:16 [events/0]
root 16 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [events/1]
root 17 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [events/2]
root 18 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [events/3]
root 19 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [khelper]
root 61 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kintegrityd/0]
root 62 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kintegrityd/1]
root 63 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kintegrityd/2]
root 64 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kintegrityd/3]
root 66 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kblockd/0]
root 67 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kblockd/1]
root 68 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kblockd/2]
root 69 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kblockd/3]
root 71 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kacpid]
root 72 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kacpi_notify]
root 157 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [cqueue]
root 161 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kseriod]
root 215 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 21:12 0:00 [pdflush]
root 216 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 21:12 0:00 [pdflush]
root 217 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [kswapd0]
root 259 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [aio/0]
root 260 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [aio/1]
root 261 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [aio/2]
root 262 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [aio/3]
root 1389 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ksuspend_usbd]
root 1395 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [khubd]
root 1481 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ata/0]
root 1482 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ata/1]
root 1483 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ata/2]
root 1484 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ata/3]
root 1485 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [ata_aux]
root 2184 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 2186 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 2209 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
root 2210 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_3]
root 2394 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_4]
root 2395 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [usb-storage]
root 2407 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_5]
root 2408 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [usb-storage]
root 2410 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [scsi_eh_6]
root 2411 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:12 0:00 [usb-storage]
root 2642 0.0 0.0 2536 1012 ? S<s 21:12 0:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon
root 3194 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [pegasus]
root 3333 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [btaddconn]
root 3334 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [btdelconn]
root 4321 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [saa7133[0]]
root 5033 0.0 0.0 1780 528 tty4 Ss+ 21:13 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root 5034 0.0 0.0 1780 524 tty5 Ss+ 21:13 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root 5037 0.0 0.0 1780 524 tty2 Ss+ 21:13 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root 5040 0.0 0.0 1780 520 tty3 Ss+ 21:13 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root 5041 0.0 0.0 1780 528 tty6 Ss+ 21:13 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
root 5254 0.0 0.0 2308 1236 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid -c /etc/acpi/events -s /var/run/acpid.socket
root 5298 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [kondemand/0]
root 5299 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [kondemand/1]
root 5300 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [kondemand/2]
root 5301 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [kondemand/3]
syslog 5405 0.0 0.0 2012 684 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /sbin/syslogd -u syslog
root 5458 0.0 0.0 1940 544 ? S 21:13 0:00 /bin/dd bs 1 if /proc/kmsg of /var/run/klogd/kmsg
klog 5460 0.0 0.1 3908 2680 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /sbin/klogd -P /var/run/klogd/kmsg
108 5483 0.0 0.0 3148 1368 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /bin/dbus-daemon --system
avahi 5505 0.0 0.0 2888 1488 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 avahi-daemon: running [lbarnes-desktop.local]
avahi 5506 0.0 0.0 2888 496 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 avahi-daemon: chroot helper
root 5544 0.0 0.0 4244 1676 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/atieventsd
root 5576 0.0 0.1 6428 2460 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/cupsd
root 5731 0.0 0.0 9216 1432 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/winbindd
root 5753 0.0 0.0 9216 1136 ? S 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/winbindd
111 5754 0.0 0.2 6624 4684 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/hald
root 5757 0.0 0.1 17480 2584 ? Ssl 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/console-kit-daemon
root 5758 0.0 0.0 3364 1152 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-runner
root 5839 0.0 0.0 3436 1056 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-input: Listening on /dev/input/event5 /dev/input/event6 /dev/input/event4 /dev/input/event2 /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event1
111 5848 0.0 0.0 2296 896 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpid socket /var/run/acpid.socket
root 5854 0.0 0.0 3440 1060 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/scd0 (every 2 sec)
root 5857 0.0 0.0 3440 1056 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdb (every 2 sec)
root 5877 0.0 0.0 3440 1060 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdc (every 2 sec)
root 5880 0.0 0.0 3440 1060 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdd (every 2 sec)
root 5883 0.0 0.0 3440 1060 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sde (every 2 sec)
root 5886 0.0 0.0 3440 1060 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdf (every 2 sec)
root 5889 0.0 0.0 3440 1052 ? S 21:13 0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdg (every 2 sec)
root 5947 0.0 0.0 3564 1828 ? SLs 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/bluetoothd
root 5991 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 21:13 0:00 [krfcommd]
root 6014 0.0 0.1 14632 2480 ? Ssl 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager
root 6022 0.0 0.0 4244 1324 ? S 21:13 0:00 /sbin/wpa_supplicant -u -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant.log
root 6025 0.0 0.1 6772 2964 ? S 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/nm-system-settings --config /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf
root 6052 0.0 0.0 14272 1792 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root 6055 0.0 0.1 14820 3268 ? S 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root 6060 5.4 4.6 113428 97124 tty7 Ss+ 21:13 1:21 /usr/X11R6/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
root 6076 0.0 0.0 4336 1148 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/bin/system-tools-backends
daemon 6124 0.0 0.0 2068 460 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd
root 6152 0.0 0.0 3412 1028 ? Ss 21:13 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root 6172 0.0 4.6 113428 97124 tty7 S+ 21:13 0:00 /usr/X11R6/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
root 6246 0.0 0.0 1780 528 tty1 Ss+ 21:13 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
root 6249 0.0 0.0 2252 952 ? S 21:13 0:00 /sbin/dhclient -d -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/dhclient-eth1.pid -lf /var/run/dhclient-eth1.lease -cf /var/run/nm-dhclient-eth1.conf eth1
lbarnes 6412 0.0 0.1 14716 2180 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon -d --login
lbarnes 6422 0.0 0.3 26224 7140 ? Ssl 21:23 0:00 x-session-manager
lbarnes 6480 0.0 0.0 3124 684 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/pulse-session /usr/bin/seahorse-agent --execute x-session-manager
lbarnes 6481 0.0 0.0 3036 1284 ? Ss 21:23 0:00 //bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 6 --print-address 9 --session
lbarnes 6492 0.0 0.2 8192 5192 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/libgconf2-4/gconfd-2
lbarnes 6498 0.0 0.3 19212 7524 ? Ss 21:23 0:00 /usr/bin/seahorse-agent --execute x-session-manager
lbarnes 6502 0.0 0.1 5564 2176 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
lbarnes 6508 0.0 0.1 37528 2084 ? Ssl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs//gvfs-fuse-daemon /home/lbarnes/.gvfs
lbarnes 6515 0.0 0.1 13952 3664 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-session/helpers/gnome-keyring-daemon-wrapper
lbarnes 6518 0.1 1.0 60840 21700 ? Ssl 21:23 0:01 /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon
lbarnes 6520 0.3 0.2 13772 4588 ? S 21:23 0:02 /usr/lib/at-spi/at-spi-registryd
lbarnes 6522 0.0 0.1 41720 3568 ? Ssl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/bonobo-activation/bonobo-activation-server --ac-activate --ior-output-fd=13
lbarnes 6529 0.0 0.0 1844 552 ? S 21:23 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/compiz
lbarnes 6579 0.2 0.1 22024 3412 ? Ss 21:23 0:02 gnome-screensaver
lbarnes 6607 0.5 0.6 22100 14448 ? S 21:23 0:05 /usr/bin/compiz.real --ignore-desktop-hints --replace --indirect-rendering core ccp
lbarnes 6608 0.0 0.0 1844 488 ? Ss 21:23 0:00 /bin/sh -c /usr/bin/compiz-decorator
lbarnes 6609 0.0 0.0 1844 524 ? S 21:23 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/compiz-decorator
lbarnes 6611 0.1 0.6 22448 13492 ? S 21:23 0:01 /usr/bin/gtk-window-decorator
lbarnes 6612 0.5 1.1 38448 22972 ? S 21:23 0:04 gnome-panel
lbarnes 6614 0.7 1.8 80800 37800 ? S 21:23 0:06 nautilus --no-desktop --browser
lbarnes 6621 0.0 0.1 14384 3192 ? Sl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-hal-volume-monitor
lbarnes 6623 0.0 0.1 5800 2324 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
lbarnes 6629 0.0 0.1 15032 2784 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-trash --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/0
lbarnes 6632 0.0 0.5 24060 11340 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-applets/trashapplet --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_Panel_TrashApplet_Factory --oaf-ior-fd=22
lbarnes 6641 0.0 0.1 5564 2220 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-burn --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/1
lbarnes 6670 0.0 0.7 27644 15044 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/fast-user-switch-applet/fast-user-switch-applet --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_FastUserSwitchApplet_Factory --oaf-ior-fd=23
lbarnes 6675 0.0 0.8 46188 17056 ? Sl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-applets/mixer_applet2 --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_MixerApplet_Factory --oaf-ior-fd=30
lbarnes 6690 0.0 0.5 32572 10488 ? SNl 21:23 0:00 trackerd
lbarnes 6691 0.0 0.7 28392 16032 ? S 21:23 0:00 update-notifier
lbarnes 6693 0.0 0.5 57908 11256 ? Sl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/evolution/2.24/evolution-alarm-notify
lbarnes 6694 0.0 0.0 1844 496 ? S 21:23 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/blueproximity
lbarnes 6695 0.0 0.5 20448 10504 ? S 21:23 0:00 bluetooth-applet
lbarnes 6696 0.8 0.9 39076 20436 ? Sl 21:23 0:07 python /usr/share/blueproximity/proximity.py
lbarnes 6702 0.0 0.6 23792 12696 ? S 21:23 0:00 nm-applet --sm-disable
lbarnes 6707 0.0 0.7 27508 14572 ? S 21:23 0:00 python /usr/share/system-config-printer/applet.py
lbarnes 6708 0.0 0.3 17484 7096 ? S 21:23 0:00 tracker-applet
lbarnes 6709 0.0 0.4 24924 9340 ? Ss 21:23 0:00 gnome-power-manager
lbarnes 6713 0.0 0.7 25152 14916 ? S 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/notification-daemon/notification-daemon
lbarnes 6717 0.0 0.3 61576 7428 ? Sl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/evolution/evolution-data-server-2.24 --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_Evolution_DataServer_CalFactory:1 .2 --oaf-ior-fd=30
lbarnes 6723 0.0 0.5 34344 10696 ? Sl 21:23 0:00 /usr/lib/evolution/2.24/evolution-exchange-storage --oaf-activate-iid=OAFIID:GNOME_Evolution_Exchange_Connector_CalF actory:1.2 --oaf-ior-fd=31
lbarnes 6958 0.4 1.0 40568 21564 ? S 21:26 0:03 gedit file:///var/log/dmesg.0
root 7051 0.0 0.0 3900 1056 ? Ss 21:27 0:00 /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /media/Data Files -o rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,locale=en_GB.UTF-8
root 7068 0.2 0.0 4196 1380 ? Ss 21:27 0:01 /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,locale=en_GB.UTF-8
lbarnes 7082 2.3 2.2 137132 45932 ? Sl 21:27 0:14 amarokapp
lbarnes 7085 0.0 0.2 25444 5264 ? Ss 21:27 0:00 kdeinit Running...
lbarnes 7088 0.0 0.1 25052 4056 ? S 21:27 0:00 dcopserver [kdeinit] --nosid --suicide
lbarnes 7091 0.0 0.2 25208 5792 ? S 21:27 0:00 klauncher [kdeinit] --new-startup
lbarnes 7093 0.0 0.3 26900 8252 ? S 21:27 0:00 kded [kdeinit] --new-startup
lbarnes 7107 0.0 0.2 25752 5372 ? S 21:27 0:00 kio_file [kdeinit] file /tmp/ksocket-l
lbarnes 7109 0.0 0.1 4088 2508 ? S 21:27 0:00 ruby /usr/share/apps/amarok/scripts/score_default/score_default.rb
lbarnes 7449 0.0 0.2 19268 4316 ? Sl 21:31 0:00 /usr/bin/alsamixergui
lbarnes 7644 0.3 1.2 101524 26000 ? Sl 21:35 0:00 gnome-terminal
lbarnes 7649 0.0 0.0 2912 756 ? S 21:35 0:00 gnome-pty-helper
lbarnes 7650 0.0 0.1 5840 3196 pts/0 Ss 21:35 0:00 bash
lbarnes 7794 22.3 3.9 218120 82360 ? Sl 21:37 0:04 /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.6/firefox
lbarnes 7851 0.0 0.0 2744 1008 pts/0 R+ 21:38 0:00 ps aux

It definatly seems to be a youtube thing. I'll do some more experiments because it isn't instantly, I ran one video for 2mins whereas another crashed the sound system after 30 seconds.

Hope this helps!

Luke

[markbuntu]

If you are using amarok2, it is using phonon which needs the xine backend to work.

[beak02]

Thanks everyone for your help, but simply re-installing Ubuntu fixed the problem. Shows that the standard windows way of fixing anything works across operating systems!

Thanks anyway

Luke