Sometimes, a speaker stops working

[magic_missile]

This issue happens rarely. Sometimes it takes days or weeks before it happens. The issue is exactly as in the title, a speaker stops working. I usually notice this when I'm watching YouTube videos on Firefox.

Using the " pulseaudio -k " command though makes both speakers work again (a very quiet pop can be heard after running the command).

Unfortunately, I can't reproduce this issue manually, as it just seems to happen rarely and randomly. But I feel like it should be reported somewhere so it gets looked at, or that there is some awareness of it. I also reported the issue here. Here is my System Reports info:

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.5.0-21-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 6.0.4 tk: GTK 3.24.33
    wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: bluechip AG product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P8B75-M v: Rev X.0x serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1701 date: 08/06/2014
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i5-3570 bits: 64 type: MCP smt: <unsupported> arch: Ivy Bridge
    rev: 9 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3600 high: 3601 min/max: 1600/3800 cores: 1: 3601 2: 3601 3: 3601 4: 3600
    bogomips: 27202
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: nvidia v: 535.161.07
    pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: DVI-D-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c81 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 92 s-size: 530x301mm (20.9x11.9") s-diag: 610mm (24")
  Monitor-1: DVI-D-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 92 size: 531x299mm (20.9x11.8")
    diag: 609mm (24")
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.161.07
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK P8H77-I
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1e20 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107GL High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fb9 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.5.0-21-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK P8 series
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 10.12 TiB used: 9.92 TiB (98.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SV300S37A120G size: 111.79 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: BBF0 scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-08M2NA0 size: 931.51 GiB
    speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: 1A01 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WD60EZRZ-00RWYB1 size: 5.46 TiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    type: HDD rpm: 5700 serial: <filter> rev: 0A80 scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdd vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-00ZF5A0 size: 931.51 GiB
    speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0A80
  ID-5: /dev/sde type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD30EZRX-11SPEB0 size: 2.73 TiB
    type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 1050 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 108.98 GiB used: 91.53 GiB (84.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 512 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 6 GiB used: 7.5 MiB (0.1%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-2: 1-1:2 info: Intel Integrated Rate Matching Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 8087:0024 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-4: 2-1:2 info: Intel Integrated Rate Matching Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 8087:0024 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 2-1.1:3 info: SINOWEALTH Game Mouse type: Mouse,Keyboard driver: hid-generic,usbhid
    interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 256mA chip-ID: 258a:1007 class-ID: 0301
  Device-2: 2-1.2:4 info: China Resource Semico Keyboard type: Keyboard,HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 1a2c:2d23 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: 2-1.3:5 info: Logitech F710 Wireless Gamepad [XInput Mode] type: <vendor specific>
    driver: xpad interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 98mA chip-ID: 046d:c21f class-ID: ff00
    serial: <filter>
  Hub-5: 3-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 4-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 4-2:2 info: Western Digital My Book (WDBFJK) type: Mass Storage driver: usb-storage
    interfaces: 1 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s power: 8mA chip-ID: 1058:1230 class-ID: 0806
    serial: <filter>
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: 37.0 C gpu: nvidia temp: 43 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 817 fan-1: 1266 fan-3: 1313 gpu: nvidia fan: 28%
  Power: 12v: N/A 5v: N/A 3.3v: 3.38 vbat: 3.38
Repos:
  Packages: 2833 apt: 2738 flatpak: 95
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/appimagelauncher-team-stable-jammy.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/appimagelauncher-team-stable-jammy.gpg] https: //ppa.launchpadcontent.net/appimagelauncher-team/stable/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cubic-wizard-release-jammy.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/cubic-wizard-release-jammy.gpg] https: //ppa.launchpadcontent.net/cubic-wizard/release/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb https: //mirrors.hosterion.ro/linuxmint/packages virginia main upstream import backport
    2: deb https: //mirror.efect.ro/ubuntu/archive jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb https: //mirror.efect.ro/ubuntu/archive jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb https: //mirror.efect.ro/ubuntu/archive jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/steam-beta.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-jammy.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https: //dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu jammy main
Info:
  Processes: 301 Uptime: 3h 21m wakeups: 0 Memory: 7.68 GiB used: 5.58 GiB (72.7%) Init: systemd
  v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Unknown python3.10 client
  inxi: 3.3.13

[1000]

1. You can test another sound card.

- Large computers usually have external (not literally) graphics cards.
And these graphics cards sometimes have sound cards and some monitors even have speakers so you can listen through them.
Sound should work via HDMI or Display cable. It probably will not work with a VGA cable.

- A sound card is sometimes sold together with headphones.
It looks like a USB pendrive with a jack input.
Sometimes it has volume buttons and a part of wire.


2. To debug problem you need get error

- You can try get error from crash like this ( this is only example )
journalctl --since "2020-07-10 15:10:00" --until "2020-07-12"

- Read doc from pulseaudio website
* https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Softwa ... r/Running/
* https://linuxmint-troubleshooting-guide ... where.html

[magic_missile]

1. You can test another sound card.

- Large computers usually have external (not literally) graphics cards.
And these graphics cards sometimes have sound cards and some monitors even have speakers so you can listen through them.
Sound should work via HDMI or Display cable. It probably will not work with a VGA cable.

- A sound card is sometimes sold together with headphones.
It looks like a USB pendrive with a jack input.
Sometimes it has volume buttons and a part of wire.


2. To debug problem you need get error

- You can try get error from crash like this ( this is only example )
journalctl --since "2020-07-10 15:10:00" --until "2020-07-12"

- Read doc from pulseaudio website
* https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Softwa ... r/Running/
* https://linuxmint-troubleshooting-guide ... where.html

Thanks for responding! Unfortunately, using another soundcard (or monitor) is not an option at the moment. I will try to use that journalctl command though next time a speaker stops working (didn't happen in weeks so far), and I will update my opened issue here. Maybe that journalctl log I could make will help the pulseaudio developers figure out the details if the issue happens again.