Re: a sound problem solution?

[Ray Olszewski <ray@comarre.com>]

At 11:33 PM 1/10/2005 -0600, James Miller wrote:
[...]
  So, all would be fine if I could
>just keep my computer from suddenly ceasing to output sound for unknown
>reasons. I'm not really interested in troubleshooting the sound server so
>much as I am in a way of possibly resetting it short of rebooting the
>machine. Is there a way to do this, i.e., to shutdown, then restart the
>sound server to see if I can get the sound back without a reboot?
>
>A few details, in case it's helpful. This is Ubuntu, a Debian variant.
>Sound hardware uses the snd_via82xx module--auto-detected and set up by
>the OS on installation. Things I've noted that cause sound output to
>cease: plugging/unplugging the speakers while the computer is running;
>plugging a usb device into a hub mounted on top of the computer case; and
>today I can't say that anything in particular caused this. The symptom is
>an end to all sounds: no music will play, nor will system sounds. Only the
>PC speaker remains operational. Sound comes back after a reboot. I'm
>hoping there's a way to stop, then restart the sound server and that this
>might resolve the problem when it occurs. I think this distro must use the
>ALSA sound server, if I've understood correctly these technical details.
>
>Any advice? Go back to using a stereo-type device for sound and just use
>my computer for computing, perhaps?


The sound "server"? It's not completely clear what you are referring to.

If you mean the kernel module, the usual way to "restart" it is to rmmod 
it, then modprobe it. If you want more specific advice here, then please 
provide the output of lsmod, as well as identification of the kernel 
involved (uname -a usually provides this).

If you mean whatever app you use to play things ... xmms, as an example ... 
please tell us what you are playing (music? sound accompanying video?) and 
what you are playing it with (xmms? mpg123? xine? mplayer?).

You mention "system sounds". What system sounds does the host generate when 
sound is working? (I ask because my own Linux systems here do not use the 
sound card for anything other than audio playback, including the audio 
associated with video.)

More fundamentally, if the problem is generated by unplugging, then 
replugging a speaker connection to the sound card (or on-mobo sound 
interface), then that suggests a hardware problem ... the connection to 
external speakers is one way only, and the kernel really has no way to 
detect the presense or absence of speakers. What kind of "reboot" restores 
sound (one caused by entering the "reboot" command or an equivalent, or a 
power-cycle reboot)? What hardware is involved?




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