No sound in Flash after upgrade to Breezy

[Jackster]

Hi all,
I can't get any sound in Flash in Firefox after the upgrade to Breezy!
I've tried everything in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=75237

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jack

(Breezy rawks!)

[?rious]

I didn't upgrade, I got a brand new copy of Breezy on my fancy new laptop. I thought flash was just a problem with Breezy getting confused by the 2 sound cards on my desktop, byutmy laptop, blessed with one only, is also having trouble.

*EDIT* Ah ha! I've solved my laptop problem, I just had to install the nonfree plugin. For all those unfamiliar with repository navigation, go to a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Solved my laptop problem, though my bicarded desktop still befuddles the otherwise mighty ubuntu. At least in flash. And I tried the solution previously published for hoary, with the sudo ln...so.1 thingy.

[kwaanens]

I have no sound in flash also. Sound works great otherwise. Using either flash-plugins does not help.

Help!

- Ketil

[skylark]

Same problem, except I just upgraded my 32 bit chroot install (I run amd64). The breezy upgrade broke sound in flash. Any ideas?

I just want to hear http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

[dexae]

try this
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libesd.so.0 /usr/lib/libesd.so.1

[wlx]

try this
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libesd.so.0 /usr/lib/libesd.so.1
It is exist in my breezy, yet there is no sound in flash, even in Firefox or gflashplayer.

[kwaanens]

try this
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libesd.so.0 /usr/lib/libesd.so.1

/usr/lib$ ls -a libes*
libesd.so.0 libesd.so.0.2.36 libesd.so.1

Already tried this. It does nothing.

- Ketil

[Jackster]

it just occured to me i do actually have two sound cards in my PC, maybe thats it

*goes off to take out soundcard*

[wlx]

it just occured to me i do actually have two sound cards in my PC, maybe thats it

*goes off to take out soundcard*
I don't think it. I have only one soundcard.

[kwaanens]

I don't think it. I have only one soundcard.

Me too.

- Ketil

[kwaanens]

Just installed Opera, and Flash sound works there, sort of. The sound is out of sync, but there *is* sound.
Opera uses Firefox' plugins, doesn't it? So why doesn't Firefox work?

- Ketil

[kwaanens]

Update to this problem. Getting weirder...

I used the info on this page (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoundProblemsHoary) (Yes, I know that is for Hoary) and this page (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats).

So now my esd.conf looks like this:
# https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoundProblemsHoary
[esd]
auto_spawn=0
spawn_wait_ms=100
default_options= -terminate -nobeeps -as 2

# [esd]
# auto_spawn=1
# spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 2 -d duplex
# spawn_wait_ms=100
# # default options are used in spawned and non-spawned mode
# default_options=

I have an rc-file in my firefox-profile which states:
FIREFOX_DSP="none"

If I start Firefox from menu and open badgerbadgerbadger.com there's no sound. However if I:
$ firefox www.badgerbadgerbadger.com
there is sound! Good too. However, if I navigate to other pages there's no sound. Now, when I navigate back to badgerbadgerbadger.com I get no sound again?!? What's going on?

Tried replacing esound with polypaudio. I get sound in flash, but no system sounds, and Audacity does not get the usual problem, but instead launches a high pitched sound, not stopping until I reboot. Back with esound again now.

This *really* shouldn't be so hard!

Please help! (And badgerbadgerbadger.com is just a test site for me, there's a lot of other stuff I'd like to have flash sound for, I don't like the song that much...)

- Ketil

[naaman]

I have found a fix for my situation. After upgrading from Hoary to Breezy, I too could not get sound to work for flash animations. I investigated the libflashplayer.so file with the following:

ncampbell@naaman:~/.mozilla/plugins$ strings libflashplayer.so | grep esd
Desde
libesd.so
esd_open_sound
esd_get_server_info
esd_play_stream
esd_record_stream
esd_free_server_info
esd_get_latency
esd_close
libesd.so.1
/tmp/.esd/socket
esdescendercyrillic

This was how the "symlink hack" was discovered. It turns out that Breezy (or maybe Gnome 2.12 more specifically), has changed the way it creates ESD sockets in the /tmp directory. It creates a /tmp/.esd-1000 directory which differs to what the Flash Plugin is looking for. Suggested fix:

ncampbell@naaman:~$ cd /tmp
ncampbell@naaman:/tmp$ mkdir /tmp/.esd
ncampbell@naaman:/tmp$ ln -s /tmp/.esd-1000/socket /tmp/.esd/socket

Now sound works in the same laggy way it did before.

A potential problem exists when this issue arises when a multiuser environment needs flash sound..

[kwaanens]

That actually works!
No lag here!

Thanks a million!

- Ketil

[kwaanens]

However: /tmp/.esd/ is removed when the machine is shut down and then restarted. Should I use a script to be run at boot?
What should it look like and where do I put it?

- Ketil

[skylark]

Update: I managed to get mine working.

I'm running AMD64 and had previously updated only my 32-bit chroot to breezy. I recently updated my whole system to breezy then followed: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=75237 (specifically the alsa-oss section worked). Note I also installed alsa-oss on my amd64 (main) install (as well as in the chroot). This has fixed flash sound and also flash hanging firefox.

Update2:
Hmm... now I can't listen to flash and play music through rhythmbox at the same time like I used to undery Hoary. Any ideas how to fix this??

[ago]

However: /tmp/.esd/ is removed when the machine is shut down and then restarted. Should I use a script to be run at boot?
What should it look like and where do I put it?

- Ketil

Same issue here.

The guide http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=75237 is useless without /tmp/.esd/socket and once this symlink is created (as well as the symlink /usr/lib/libesd.so.1 -> /usr/lib/libesd.so.0) I get flash sound without any need to mess with alsa. My questions are:

1) Why don't I have /tmp/.esd at boot? Why isn't esd "regenerating" the symlink? Why does my esd like so much /tmp/.esd-1000/socket instead? It is possible that I deleted (with sudo) the files of /tmp/. Might this be the reason of all this mess?

2) Shall I create a script to regenerate /tmp/.esd/socket at boot or is it a matter of setting the right onwership/permission so that the socket symlink does not get deleted? Or is it some esd/makedev setting?

3) Do other users have /tmp/.esd/scoket? What ownership/permissions for the folder?

[kwaanens]

It is possible that I deleted (with sudo) the files of /tmp/. Might this be the reason of all this mess?

I doubt it. I have the same issue, and I have never messed with /tmp in any way. Isn't it just that it is a temporary folder which gets emptied when you shut down, and then some scripts put stuff in it when you boot up again?

- Ketil

[skylark]

However: /tmp/.esd/ is removed when the machine is shut down and then restarted. Should I use a script to be run at boot?
What should it look like and where do I put it?
I've reverted to this method since it lets me listen to flash and music from other programs simultaneously. Here is how I setup my startup scripts to create /tmp/.esd automatically on restart:

1. Goto where startup scripts are kept:
cd /etc/init.d
2. Create a "flash-sound" script...
sudo vim flash-sound (replace vim with your choice of text editor)

3. make flash-sound contents look like:
#!/bin/sh
#Create symlink under /tmp for esd to get flash player working

mkdir /tmp/.esd
ln -s /tmp/.esd-1000/socket /tmp/.esd/socket

4. make sure your new script has the correct permissions:
sudo chmod 755 flash-sound

5. finally let the system know to execute it at startup:
sudo update-rc.d flash-sound start 51 S .
(don't miss the dot "." at the end of the line above)

[kwaanens]

Thanks! Problem solved!

-K

[Donza]

Thanks skylark! Problem finally solwed! This guide should be in How-to section. \\:D/ badger badger badger...

[jrib]

Wow, good job in figuring out the problem. After reading it through, I thought I might be able to just "fix" libflashplayer.so. So I opened it up in ghex2 and played around a bit. Here's what I did:

1. installed ghex2
2. made a backup of /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so and then edited it with ghex2
3. edit -> goto byte -> "0x1D5C4C" -> OK
5. (made sure I was NOT in insert mode) typed: 30 00 2F 74 6D 70 2F 2E 65 73 64 2D 31 30 30 30 2F 73 6F 63 6B 65 74 00
which corresponds to changing: 1./tmp/.esd/socket.Macro to 0./tmp/.esd-1000/socket.
6. saved

No more need for symbolic links and I have sound in my flash playing alongside BMP :)

[edit] and for the record I tested with badger badger badger too!
*don't simply mimic these instructions blindly since it will depend on what your libflashplayer.so looks like*

[jrib]

sound is still incredibly lagged though... any ideas?

[rwabel]

work fine for me. the only difference for me is that the plugin is here: ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so

[qwertz]

1. installed ghex2
2. made a backup of /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so and then edited it with ghex2
3. edit -> goto byte -> "0x1D5C4C" -> OK
5. (made sure I was NOT in insert mode) typed: 30 00 2F 74 6D 70 2F 2E 65 73 64 2D 31 30 30 30 2F 73 6F 63 6B 65 74 00
which corresponds to changing: 1./tmp/.esd/socket.Macro to 0./tmp/.esd-1000/socket.


I guess this only works if the user with uid 1000 is the only user on the system. A cleaner workaround would be to

only modify "1" (0x31) to "0" (0x30) at 0x1D5C4C in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so (using ghex2)
write a wrapper script for esd which symlinks /tmp/.esd-<uid>/socket to /tmp/.esd/socket

[MadL]

Thanks, skylark! Ran into this problem when the solutions in the Ubuntu wiki didn't work for Firefox 1.5, and came across your post. I agree that this would be a good addition for the howto. :)

[jrib]

I guess this only works if the user with uid 1000 is the only user on the system. A cleaner workaround would be to

only modify "1" (0x31) to "0" (0x30) at 0x1D5C4C in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so (using ghex2)
write a wrapper script for esd which symlinks /tmp/.esd-<uid>/socket to /tmp/.esd/socket


good point, didn't realize that's how it works but it makes sense

[s|k]

I have found a fix for my situation. After upgrading from Hoary to Breezy, I too could not get sound to work for flash animations. I investigated the libflashplayer.so file with the following:

ncampbell@naaman:~/.mozilla/plugins$ strings libflashplayer.so | grep esd
Desde
libesd.so
esd_open_sound
esd_get_server_info
esd_play_stream
esd_record_stream
esd_free_server_info
esd_get_latency
esd_close
libesd.so.1
/tmp/.esd/socket
esdescendercyrillic

This was how the "symlink hack" was discovered. It turns out that Breezy (or maybe Gnome 2.12 more specifically), has changed the way it creates ESD sockets in the /tmp directory. It creates a /tmp/.esd-1000 directory which differs to what the Flash Plugin is looking for. Suggested fix:

ncampbell@naaman:~$ cd /tmp
ncampbell@naaman:/tmp$ mkdir /tmp/.esd
ncampbell@naaman:/tmp$ ln -s /tmp/.esd-1000/socket /tmp/.esd/socket

Now sound works in the same laggy way it did before.

A potential problem exists when this issue arises when a multiuser environment needs flash sound..
This worked for me! Thanks. :)

[chokuchou]

This is a perfect solution!

But when I run Rhythmbox, it stops working. There is no flash sound. Even after I shutdown Rhythmbox and restart esd. It only works when I haven't run Rhythmbox yet on my laptop after a fresh boot...

Strange, eh?

[hanulbada]

Haha, sorry if I'm a little noobish at these things but, what is sudo?

[surfjdh]

solved for me 2, had flash 9, and firefox/opera, upgraded to 7.10 and sound in flash broke, but its ok now