I installed the pulseaudio equalizer today on my Karmic desktop using the instructions at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1308838

When I enable the equalizer via the GUI checkbox, my sound instantly becomes garbled. When I disable it the problem disappears, but then I can't use the equalizer, which was the point of the exercise.

I found some suggestions about editing /etc/pulse/default.pa, but the parameters concerning module-hal-* don't appear in my default.pa. I also have read through a couple of Audio Troubleshooting guides without finding this particular symptom.

I have exhausted my google-fu, and I would really appreciate some help if possible.

Here's what little diagnostic info I can offer:

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: AD198x Digital [AD198x Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: fe900000-feafffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:03.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at feda6000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: heci
Kernel modules: heci

00:03.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PT IDER Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 18
I/O ports at fe80 [size=8]
I/O ports at fe90 [size=4]
I/O ports at fea0 [size=8]
I/O ports at feb0 [size=4]
I/O ports at fef0 [size=16]
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:03.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Serial KT Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at ec98 [size=8]
Memory at febd8000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: serial

00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 33
Memory at febe0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
Memory at febd9000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at ecc0 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: e1000e
Kernel modules: e1000e

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at ff20 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at ff00 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
I/O ports at fc00 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
Memory at febda000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at febdc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: fe800000-fe8fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: fe700000-fe7fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
I/O ports at ff80 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at ff60 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at ff40 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at ff980000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=32
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD (ICH10D) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 01)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 32
I/O ports at fe00 [size=8]
I/O ports at fe10 [size=4]
I/O ports at fe20 [size=8]
I/O ports at fe30 [size=4]
I/O ports at fec0 [size=32]
Memory at ff970000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 027f
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
Memory at febdb000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
I/O ports at ece0 [size=32]
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3450
Subsystem: Dell Device 0342
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 34
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at fe9f0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
Expansion ROM at fea00000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
Kernel modules: fglrx, radeon