Sound stops suddenly

[Tuchkata]

Hi. I have a pretty annoying problem. Sometimes, when I'm watching a movie or listening music, when the sound from the movie or the song is too loud the sound suddenly stops and don't want to work before a restart. The strange thing here is, that when I plug headphones, everything works just find but only with headphones. It doesn't happen every day or every time, but sometimes it happens. Any ideas what the problem is and how can I fix it? Thank you in advance

[bigj231]

Too loud meaning your speakers are overheating? I've had this problem with guitar and bass amps, but never with computers. It's usually only when it's been playing for a while at high volume in a warm environment. It's just the overheat protection mechanism coming on and staying on until you power cycle the amp. I have no idea if that can happen in computers, but it seems plausible to me.

[homerscousin]

Yup, that above post does sound logical. Some over temp, over volt, over current protection in your system. Maybe if you post your hardware details someone may know a bit more.

[Tuchkata]

I am using Lenovo ThinkPad T410 and Linux Mint 14 Nadia. I don't think it is overheating because it happens not only when I'm listening loud for example for 10 or more minutes but also when I just volume up my player and then it happens. Maybe it is over voltage.

[bigj231]

Next time it stops, can you press [ALT]+[F2] and type in

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pulseaudio -k

Let us know if that works.

[Tuchkata]

Yes, I'll try it and say if it works

[Tuchkata]

Hi again. The problem still exists and when I type "pulseaudio -k" and the I try "pulseaudio" I receive the following error :

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tuchkata@tuchkata ~ $ pulseaudio 
E: [pulseaudio] pid.c: Daemon already running.
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: pa_pid_file_create() failed.

Any ideas?

[bigj231]

In a terminal:

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sudo killall pulseaudio

should kill any running instance.
See this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=816159 It's old, but it's still valid.

Also, pulseaudio should restart itself after you kill it. That would explain your error.

[Tuchkata]

The problem still exists. I tried to delete .pulse directory in my home directory, but still no result. Any other ideas? Killing pulseaudio doesn't work.

[bigj231]

Maybe purge and reinstall? Make sure to write down exactly what uninstalls and install it again.

[Tuchkata]

On the screen below it can't be seen but the scale under Front Left and Fron Right of the built in speakers is moving when I watch youtube video for example. Which means, Pulseaudio should be working, but the problem is in my speakers. I still have sound on headphones. Any new ideas?
Edit: Another thing that I figured out is that when I plug my Power supply a sound that the supply is plugged in comes FROM the speakers?! So again any ideas?

[Tuchkata]

Some new things that I mentioned today and yesterday. With Alsa the problem still exists and I think it is really something like overvoltage from the speakers because it always happens when the sound is loud. Any ideas what can I do to fix the problem?

[bigj231]

So it has problems after you've been playing loud audio for any length of time. But while the sound isn't working, if you plug in your power supply it plays the chime. Is that correct?
Do the speakers start to buzz or distort before they quit? Also, could you try another distro (preferably not ubuntu-based) and see if the issue persists? Knoppix might be a good option since it's a small download. Puppy Linux is also another consideration.

If there's a warranty on the laptop, and it has the same problem in another distro, I would see about getting it repaired or replaced. I've never heard of a laptop overvolting speakers, and the speakers surviving. They should distort and blow soon after if it's overvolting, not immediately stop working and resume randomly.

[Tuchkata]

So it has problems after you've been playing loud audio for any length of time. But while the sound isn't working, if you plug in your power supply it plays the chime. Is that correct?

Exactly! I say overvoltage but it can as well be any other type of over-something. The strange thing is that in Windows or with older distros there is no such problems and it is strange that every time when I restart my system the sound is back. I would say the problem is connected with the software and only with the speakers. Today I talked with a friend who is using Ubuntu and he told me he has the same problem ( I think he has a HP or Dell notebook). Any new ideas? There is no buzz or some "signal" before the speakers quit.

[bigj231]

I would recommend updating to Mint 15 when it comes out in a few weeks. See if it fixes your issue.

[Tuchkata]

Yes, this is exactly what I'm waitin for