[SOLVED]Sound to speakers stops working randomly

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Nona
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[SOLVED]Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Hello,

Opening new thread as advised:

Laptop: Acer Aspire E1 421
Kernel: 4.15.0-29-generic
Update status: up to date

Sound just disappear in speakers at random playing time, for example when playing Youtube video in Chromium or Firefox.
If I connect headset - sound still there.

Tried all possible and impossible things in pavucontrol GUI ...
Tried deleting the files in ~/.config/pulse/ then in the terminal type pulseaudio -k and this is not helping either.

-------------------------------------
inxi -Fxz
System: Host: charm-Aspire-E1-421 Kernel: 4.15.0-29-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.28) Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: Acer product: Aspire E1-421 v: V2.04
Mobo: Acer model: EA40_BZ v: Type2 - A01 Board Version
Bios: Insyde v: V2.04 date: 09/06/2012
CPU: Dual core AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 5589
clock speeds: max: 1400 MHz 1: 1124 MHz 2: 1203 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 7310]
bus-ID: 00:01.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@60.10hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD PALM (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.15.0-29-generic, LLVM 4.0.0)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Wrestler HDMI Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:01.1
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-29-generic
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet
driver: atl1c v: 1.0.1.1-NAPI port: 2000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath9k bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (2.5% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000BPVT size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 455G used: 8.3G (2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.97GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 66.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 67.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 151 Uptime: 33 min Memory: 845.0/3639.2MB
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35
-------------------------------------
aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: CX20584 Analog [CX20584 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
-------------------------------------
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Hi Nona.

I think I have the fix for you, but first need to see the results from cat /proc/asound/modules run in the terminal.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Hi MrEen,

cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_hda_intel
1 snd_hda_intel
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Alright. In the terminal type gksudo xed /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and scroll to the bottom of the file and add these two lines:

Code: Select all

options snd slots=snd_hda_intel
options snd_hda_intel index=1
Save the file, reboot and test your sound.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Same result - sound lasts from couple of seconds to couple of minute.
"Speakers (unavailable)" but sound is OK in Headphones.
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Okay. Delete those two lines are replace them with this instead:

Code: Select all

options snd-hda-intel power_save=1
Save the file then follow that with sudo alsa force-reload in the terminal then test your sound again and report back.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Well, it made a difference - sound lasts longer, ~6-8 minutes instead of previous 3-4 maximum.
During that time plunging-unplugging headphones correctly switches from headphone to Speaker.
At the end it still mutes itself.
Another difference: switching to different Youtube video brings sound back for another 6-7 minutes, no more.
Waiting something like 5-10 minutes and click Play button brings sound back.

Buffer issue ?
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Possibly heat issue. Maybe time to do a little cleaning inside?

If you're willing to risk it, I think this might stop the sound cutting out completely, but if it is a heat issue, I guess it could eventually fry the sound chip:

Code: Select all

options snd_hda_intel power_save=0 power_save_controller=N
Just replace the line you added last time with that. I do know that others have used that, but cannot remember the outcomes.

Good luck.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Last option - same result.
The laptop is clean inside and out.
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

I'm sorry. I didn't spot that when the speakers cut out, the headphones still work. That's a little weird.

Try this. Reboot and start playing something with sound. When the speakers cut out, type this in the terminal: dmesg | tail and hopefully we can find out what's cauing this.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

I was monitoring dmesg, syslog and Xorg.0.log, trying to spot any message during sound disappearance from speakers ( switch to headphones ).
Nothing ...
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Okay, we'll try something new.

In the terminal, type killall pulseaudio followed by pulseaudio -vvvv --log-time=1 > ~/pulselog.log 2>&1

Start a movie or something, and after the speakers cut out, go to the terminal and press Ctrl-C to stop pulseaudio logging. Hopefully the last few lines of ~/pulselog.log will then tell us what is happening.
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MrEen
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Another possible workaround.

In the terminal, type gksudo xed /etc/pulse/default.pa and scroll down to find the line that says load-module module-udev-detect and add tsched=0 to it. Here's how it should look:

Code: Select all

load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0
Save the file, then issue pulseaudio -k in the terminal. Wait a moment then test the sound.

If this works for you, I suggest going back and undoing any other changes you've made, preferably one at a time with a sound test in between each.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Lost sound to speaker completely after adding "load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0" to /etc/pulse/default.pa
# btw, I am using vi

I started pulseaudio with log option "debug", got a lot of messages in /var/log/syslog

Once sound from speaker gone without any message in a log, this is what shows when I plug headphones:

[pulseaudio] device-port.c: Setting port analog-output-speaker to status no

but, no reverse to "yes" when I unplug headphones.

Meanwhile, kernel was updated to 4.15.0-30-generic with the same result.
Nona
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Re: Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

My apologies for waisted time.
The issue most likely with hardware.
I tried to boot Fedora Live and exactly same sound cutting off from Speaker to headphones in 6-7 minutes.
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MrEen
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Re: [SOLVED]Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by MrEen »

Hi Nona.

I'm still thinking it's a heat issue.

I've found a bunch of results on the web for your model laptop that have the same issue you're having, as well as general heat problems.

A proper hardware fix would attach a small heat sink to the sound chip, but I have no idea how doable that would be for you.

Another more viable option is something like one of these if you have an available USB port.

Hope that helps somewhat.
Nona
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Re: [SOLVED]Sound to speakers stops working randomly

Post by Nona »

Thank you MrEen,

I really hope it was heat issue.
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