nforce2 audio problem on 2.6.3

nforce2 audio problem on 2.6.3

[Johan Bilien]

Hi,
                                                                                
Since I moved from linux-2.6.2 to linux-2.6.3-rc2, and then 2.6.3, I am
experiencing a strange problem with all the GStreamer applications: as
soon as GStreamer tries to play out a sound, the system gets extremely
slow, and no sound comes out (although the GStreamer applications do not
complain and seem to be playing the sound find). I have only noticed
this behaviour with GStreamer, xmms, mpg321, VLC  etc. play sounds out,
but the sound suffers small interuptions now and then.

I am using a nforce2 motherboard, and the snd_intel8x0 ALSA driver. I
saw the recent thread regarding this driver being broken in the 1.0
serie, so I apply the patch given in the thread, but still get my
problem.

When I load the driver I get:

Starting ALSA (version 1.0.2c):intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured
49402 usecsintel8x0: clocking to 47425
 intel8x0.
                                                                                 
When I play out something, both with GStreamer and other applications, I
get in syslog:
Feb 14 23:30:36 localhost kernel: ac97_pcm_open: rate = 48000, cfg = 2,
slots = 0x3d8
Feb 14 23:30:36 localhost kernel: setting ac97 reg 0x2c to rate 48000
Feb 14 23:30:36 localhost kernel: setting ac97 reg 0x30 to rate 48000
Feb 14 23:30:36 localhost kernel: setting ac97 reg 0x2e to rate 48000
                                                                                 
14/02 23:33 /proc/asound/card0/codec97#0% ls
ac97#0-0  ac97#0-0+regs
                                                                                 
When I play out something with GStreamer, the card seems to be always in
the PREPARED mode:
                                                                                 
14/02 23:34 /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0% cat status
state: PREPARED
trigger_time: 1076798081.000657025
tstamp      : 1076798081.000708336
delay       : 0
avail       : 8704
avail_max   : 8719
-----
hw_ptr      : 0
appl_ptr    : 0
                                                                                 
I asked the GStreamer crew, they suspected a kernel problem, since
GStreamer has no real playout optimizations, and thus is quite often
among the first application to trigger that kind of problems. And it did
work with the 2.6.2 (ALSA 0.9).
                                                                                 
Tell me if I can provide some more information,
Thanks,
--
Johan


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Re: nforce2 audio problem on 2.6.3

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 19 Feb 2004 09:03:53 +0100,
Johan Bilien wrote:
> 
> Hi,
>                                                                                 
> Since I moved from linux-2.6.2 to linux-2.6.3-rc2, and then 2.6.3, I am
> experiencing a strange problem with all the GStreamer applications: as
> soon as GStreamer tries to play out a sound, the system gets extremely
> slow, and no sound comes out (although the GStreamer applications do not
> complain and seem to be playing the sound find). I have only noticed
> this behaviour with GStreamer, xmms, mpg321, VLC  etc. play sounds out,
> but the sound suffers small interuptions now and then.
> 
> I am using a nforce2 motherboard, and the snd_intel8x0 ALSA driver. I
> saw the recent thread regarding this driver being broken in the 1.0
> serie, so I apply the patch given in the thread, but still get my
> problem.

it likely has nothing to do with the problem of that thread.
it seems that some nforce2 boards generate the unknown interrupts.
i'm not sure whether it's in the ALSA side or in other kernel part.
please try to copy the old ALSA tree from 2.6.2 to 2.6.3 (linux/sound
and include/sound) and try the old driver on 2.6.3.


Takashi


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Re: nforce2 audio problem on 2.6.3

[Johan Bilien]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2004, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > Since I moved from linux-2.6.2 to linux-2.6.3-rc2, and then 2.6.3, I am
> > experiencing a strange problem with all the GStreamer applications: as
> > soon as GStreamer tries to play out a sound, the system gets extremely
> > slow, and no sound comes out (although the GStreamer applications do not
> > complain and seem to be playing the sound find). I have only noticed
> > this behaviour with GStreamer, xmms, mpg321, VLC  etc. play sounds out,
> > but the sound suffers small interuptions now and then.
> > 
> > I am using a nforce2 motherboard, and the snd_intel8x0 ALSA driver. I
> > saw the recent thread regarding this driver being broken in the 1.0
> > serie, so I apply the patch given in the thread, but still get my
> > problem.
> 
> it likely has nothing to do with the problem of that thread.
> it seems that some nforce2 boards generate the unknown interrupts.
> i'm not sure whether it's in the ALSA side or in other kernel part.
> please try to copy the old ALSA tree from 2.6.2 to 2.6.3 (linux/sound
> and include/sound) and try the old driver on 2.6.3.

Going back to the old ALSA tree from 2.6.2 'solves' the problem. I am
not experiencing the gstreamer lock, nor the interuptions in other
programs' playout.

Regarding the nforce interupts problem you mention, I only get it when
APIC is turned on, which is not the case here.
                                                                                
Tell me if I can provide more information,
thanks,
--
Johan



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Re: nforce2 audio problem on 2.6.3

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 19 Feb 2004 21:06:13 +0100,
Johan Bilien wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Feb 19, 2004, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > > Since I moved from linux-2.6.2 to linux-2.6.3-rc2, and then 2.6.3, I am
> > > experiencing a strange problem with all the GStreamer applications: as
> > > soon as GStreamer tries to play out a sound, the system gets extremely
> > > slow, and no sound comes out (although the GStreamer applications do not
> > > complain and seem to be playing the sound find). I have only noticed
> > > this behaviour with GStreamer, xmms, mpg321, VLC  etc. play sounds out,
> > > but the sound suffers small interuptions now and then.
> > > 
> > > I am using a nforce2 motherboard, and the snd_intel8x0 ALSA driver. I
> > > saw the recent thread regarding this driver being broken in the 1.0
> > > serie, so I apply the patch given in the thread, but still get my
> > > problem.
> > 
> > it likely has nothing to do with the problem of that thread.
> > it seems that some nforce2 boards generate the unknown interrupts.
> > i'm not sure whether it's in the ALSA side or in other kernel part.
> > please try to copy the old ALSA tree from 2.6.2 to 2.6.3 (linux/sound
> > and include/sound) and try the old driver on 2.6.3.
> 
> Going back to the old ALSA tree from 2.6.2 'solves' the problem. I am
> not experiencing the gstreamer lock, nor the interuptions in other
> programs' playout.

ok then please feed this to bugtracking system.
provide the contents of files in /proc/asound/card0/codec97#0, too.


Takashi


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Re: nforce2 audio problem on 2.6.3

[Johan Bilien]

On Fri, Feb 20, 2004, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > Going back to the old ALSA tree from 2.6.2 'solves' the problem. I am
> > not experiencing the gstreamer lock, nor the interuptions in other
> > programs' playout.
> 
> ok then please feed this to bugtracking system.
> provide the contents of files in /proc/asound/card0/codec97#0, too.

Reported as #76
-- 
Johan


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