[SOLVED][2010 - beta1] phonon lock up

[nzimas]

In an otherwise smooth install of the brand new 2010 beta1, PulseAudio had to poop no my party
It never worked on my laptop and right now it is the only option i see in the KDE Control Center > Mutimedia tool.

Why is PulseAuadio if in Texstar's own words "it sucks"?

Really don't know how to get around this one.
Even tried to switch from Xine to Gstreamer as PA backend, to no avail.

Frustrating.

[Old-Polack]

In an otherwise smooth install of the brand new 2010 beta1, PulseAudio had to poop no my party
It never worked on my laptop and right now it is the only option i see in the KDE Control Center > Mutimedia tool.

Why is PulseAuadio if in Texstar's own words "it sucks"?

Really don't know how to get around this one.
Even tried to switch from Xine to Gstreamer as PA backend, to no avail.

Frustrating.

Do a full upgrade with Synaptic. Reload --> Mark All Upgrades --> Apply --> Apply. All the pulseaudio packages were redone, so that alsa will again be the default system. Pulse was not meant to be default ever, it was just a glitch in the packaging. I did the upgrades a couple of hours ago and now everything is working properly. You should reboot after the upgrades, to clear your RAM of any lingering artifacts from pulse.

[nzimas]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

For my greatest astonishment, PA actually works smoothly on my system after running pavucontrol
My happiness is now nearly complete
Back on the road with The gang to keep rolling.

[nzimas]

Pulsemedia is definitely not ready for prime time and still don't get any other Output Device option in KCC > General > Multimedia
Running one app is enough to lock the DSP. This is so much 2003, agghhhh

Also very mysterious is the behavior of the PCC Sound condf tool. No matter how many times i tick "Enable Pulse Audio", the setting won't stick.

My soundcard is one of those lousy on-board Intel ‎82801I (ICH9 Family).
Works fairly well if i can pick an Output Device other than PA.

[Village Idiot]

This is so much 2003, agghhhh

hehehe. Yeah. Back in the late nineties I was trying to understand why the driver stopped working for my high-end echo sound card (that is in the puter I'm typing on right now and still working great, for the time being  ).

A whole new driver model on windows to do essentially the same thing but the company (Event Electronics) went belly up in the meantime just after releasing a beta version from hell. No only reinventing the wheel, but replacing it with a hexagon.

A nice thing tho, was the driver source code was then given to ALSA developers. And before long the card was working better than it ever did. And so began my journey toward the Lee-nooks...

 

[Old-Polack]

Pulsemedia is definitely not ready for prime time and still don't get any other Output Device option in KCC > General > Multimedia
Running one app is enough to lock the DSP. This is so much 2003, agghhhh

Also very mysterious is the behavior of the PCC Sound condf tool. No matter how many times i tick "Enable Pulse Audio", the setting won't stick.

My soundcard is one of those lousy on-board Intel ‎82801I (ICH9 Family).
Works fairly well if i can pick an Output Device other than PA.

The idea is to not have pulse taking over everything. Have you run alsaconf as root?

[nzimas]

Have you run alsaconf as root?

Yep, I did it yesterday actually.

I have singled out a point of failure. Amarok, not PA, is to take all the blame.

Action sequence:

KDE session starts > I open Amarok and it plays mp3 files just nice > then I open, say, a youtube video from Firefox; goes like a charm > back to aamarok, opening an mp3 file won't play anymore.


Have ran Amarok from the CLI in order to get more info.
Nothing relevant.

Someone has experienced the exact sme oddity on Special K 9.10

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=230366

Must add that any other app with sound features but Amarok works without a glitch (for instance, Skype).

[muungwana]

I have singled out a point of failure. Amarok, not PA, is to take all the blame.

the point of failure is phonon, not amarok. Any application that uses phonon to play media files will have the same problem. Update your system and try again. There is an update that fixed the problem

[nzimas]

the point of failure is phonon, not amarok. Any application that uses phonon to play media files will have the same problem. Update your system and try again. There is an update that fixed the problem

I have upgraded from Ibiblio.org a couple of times in the past 24h without any luck.
Same pattern of error. Looks like phonon is locked after it is accessed for the first time.
Even non-KDE apps, like Exaile, do not work after playing a YouTube clip.
Funny enough, system sounds still play.

Also ran the exact same tests on a brand new pristine user account.
Same results.

Guess i will have to resort to Gnome 2.28 while this phonon-xine annoyance is finally foxed.

[muungwana]

open "system settings > multimedia" and look for audio devices. Do you have options more than pulse audio? push down pulse audio if it is first on the list and log out and back in and see if the option stuck and the problem is no longer there

[nzimas]

Do you have options more than pulse audio?

I wish
As reported in a post above, I have no other Output Device but PA. In PCLOS 2009 i had choices other than PA, though.
Just wondering why the heck sound has never been a problem for me under GNOME and KDE's attempts to create a decent sound system are such a failure.
Once it was aRTS, now it's Phonon.
Too bad GNOME is not really my thing from a usability and aesthetical perspective.
Anyhow, until the phonon / PA mess is solved, it is saving the day.

[muungwana]

can you try to create a new user and check if other output sound systems are noticed.The problem could be a bad setting somewhere in your user profile. Pulse audio was not meant to be used and i think beta2 will correct this situation.  

i think it is a bit premature to blame phonon. Pulse audio is the one that locks up "/dev/dsp". The problem lies somewhere btw the interaction of those two and putting all the blame on phonon is just not fair.

[nzimas]

Please care to read Reply #8 in this thread
I have tried it from a new user account, yes.

[muungwana]

looks like PA is in love with you and doesnt want to let go 

you can wait for beta2 and reinstall or you can try to build phonon from source and make sure pulse audio support is not build in by not installing pulse audio development package

[nzimas]

you can try to build phonon from source and make sure pulse audio support is not build in by not installing pulse audio development package

Yearning some CLI verbose, therefore i may try this one.
Just worried that by disabling PA altogether i may end up with no Output Device (because right now there are no other alternatives listed)