Pulseaudio stops current audio out working

[Emrys57]

I made a new install yesterday on a free PC:

mint-1 ~ $ inxi -Ab
System: Host: emrys-mint-1 Kernel: 4.13.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: Packard Bell product: ixtreme M3720
Mobo: Packard Bell model: MCP73PVT-PM Bios: AMI v: P01-A3 date: 07/21/2009
CPU: Quad core Intel Core2 Quad Q8300 (-MCP-) speed/max: 2003/2499 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA C73 [GeForce 7100 / nForce 630i]
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce 7100 / nForce 630i/integrated/SSE2
GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.135
Audio: Card NVIDIA MCP73 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-32-generic
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR5413/AR5414 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5006X(S) 802.11abg]
driver: ath5k
Card-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
driver: r8169
Drives: HDD Total Size: 640.1GB (6.3% used)
Info: Processes: 197 Uptime: 46 min Memory: 1098.4/3693.0MB
Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35

When I choose Menu - System Settings - Sound, I see "HDMI DIsplayPort Built-In Audio" as the selected output device. When I choose "Test Sound" I do get audio out of my HDMI monitor speakers.
When I run
speaker-test --channels 2 --rate 48000 --device hw:0,3
at a terminal, I get noise out of the speakers.
When I then run pavucontrol, it tells me that HDMI/Displayport is the current output device. But:

• When I choose "Test Sound", I see the pavucontrol level meter registering it, but no audio comes from the speakers.
  When I run speaker-test --channels 2 --rate 48000 --device hw:0,3, no sound is registered by the pavucontrol meter, and speaker-test says Playback open error: -16,Device or resource busy

When I quit pavucontrol, both Test Sound and speaker-test produce sound from the speakers again.
Running any app that tries to send audio (VLC, chrome with youtube...) puts the system into this mode where Test Sound does not work. Killing the app makes Test Sound work again.

As suggested elsewhere, I have deleted ~.config/pulse and rebooted. No change. I can kill -9 the pulseaudio daemon and it restarts and there is no change.

Running beep -l 10000 produces no sound from the speakers. However, it does not prevent Test Sound from producing sound from the speakers while the beep is running.

When I plug in some headphones to the PC, the chosen output device instantly changes to "built-In Audio Analogue stereo - Headphones (Plugged In)" and everything works. I can run pavucontrol and see the meter registering, I can use "Test Sound" and hear the test, I can play a stream through VLC and play audio from youtube via chrome. All at once. Pull headphone jack out, it goes back to HDMI output, but no audio comes out.

When I do not have pavucontrol running, but do have VLC running but paused, "Test Sound" produces audio out of HDMI speakers. When I hit play on VLC, no audio comes from HDMI speakers, and "Test Sound" doesn't produce any either. When I hit pause on VLC, "Test Sound" again produces HDMI output sound.

Any suggestions as to what I can try next, please? Thanks!

[MrEen]

If you're running firejail, try this fix: https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... y-Firejail

[Emrys57]

I've never heard of firejail, but I tried it anyway. Now I cannot use the "Test Sound" feature and get audio out. The only thing that works now is speaker-test --channels 2 --rate 48000 --device hw:0,3 which goes direct to the device. And frustratingly, when I remove the .conf file, even after I reboot, still "Test Sound" no longer works. I will have to remove more stuff and see if I can get it back. Thanks, anyway.

[Flemur]

And frustratingly, when I remove the .conf file, even after I reboot, still "Test Sound" no longer works. I will have to remove more stuff and see if I can get it back. Thanks, anyway.

Here's my free advice!

If you un-did all the "firejail" stuff, try

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils --reinstall 

(and "alsa" if you have that package - I don't)

Remove all these files:

Code: Select all

find $HOME -iname "*pulse*" 
find $HOME -iname "*alsa*" 

Install "qasmixer" and check its settings (similar to alsamixer).

Also check pavucontrol for extraneous muting. E.g. speaker gets muted by plugging the 'phones, then it doesn't get unmuted.

You can also try disabling pulseaudio (so it doesn't restart immediately) and see what doesn't work there (new firefox's audio won't work w/o an almost-simple work-around).

[Emrys57]

I did sudo apt-get install --reinstall alsa-base alsa-utils. I don't have 'alsa' itself installed.
I installed QasHctl. I couldn't see anything suspicious, although I didn't understand everything.
I uninstalled pulseaudio and deleted ~/.config/pulse and rebooted and reinstalled pulseaudio.
All the output indications I can find seem to be correct. It's HDMI and not muted and not zero volume and I can get noise out with speaker-test writing to the device.
I can see audio being played on the pavucontrol meter. It claims it's going to HDMI. But nothing comes out.
And I can no longer get the "Test Sound" noises out, even after all that resetting.
I _can_ get VLC out the headphone jack. But not the "Test Sound" noises.
This is exceptionally frustrating.