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Audio cuts off frequently - alsa

Disclaimer: I do not understand how to work with or fix audio servers.

1. I had pulse-audio on my install out-of-the-box. It was having so many issues that I could not even get pavucontrol to start for me to diagnose the issues.

2. I uninstalled pulse and decided to go with only alsa (because I had only alsa before and it worked well until I did a reinstall on this system). Only alsa solution worked better than pulse - it works 10/100 times which is better than pulse's 0/100. But now I am frequently running into the issue of the sound getting cut off abruptly. mpv shows the following as the cause:

Code: [Select]
AO: [alsa] 48000Hz stereo 2ch float
VO: [gpu] 1280x720 yuv420p
[ao/alsa] Device lost, trying to recover...
[ao/alsa] pcm drop error: No such device
AV: 01:30:01 / 14:53:33 (10%) A-V:  0.000ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:5204:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:5204:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1342:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5204:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:5727:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2675:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
[ao/alsa] Playback open error: No such file or directory
AV: 01:30:01 / 14:53:33 (10%) A-V:  0.000Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
[ao/jack] cannot open server
AV: 01:30:01 / 14:53:33 (10%) A-V:  0.000[ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to connect PipeWire event context (errno: 112)
ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:5204:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:5204:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1342:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5204:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:5727:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2675:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
[ao/openal] could not open device
[ao] Failed to initialize audio driver 'openal'
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.

3. I tried to follow Gentoo wiki's guide on alsa but when I ran
Code: [Select]
aplay -L
, I discovered this:

Code: [Select]
default:CARD=HID
    USB Audio and HID, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=HID
    USB Audio and HID, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=HID,DEV=0
    USB Audio and HID, USB Audio
    Front output / input

4. I am looking for a solution that makes the audio just werktm and would prefer to have just alsa without the bloat of pulse and pipewire. Can someone please point me towards the how-to of further diagnosing the problem and possibly resolving it?
#FreeHongKong

Re: Audio cuts off frequently - alsa

Reply #1
Hello,

I'm trying to guess possible causes:
- defective sound card?
- bad driver?
- bad contact (if it is an external USB card)?

Have you tried with another kernel (linux-lts) or with a live ISO?

An init problem?
What init are you using?

My little “alsa only” kitchen:
https://forum.artixlinux.org/index.php/topic,4318.msg27848.html#msg27848

 

Re: Audio cuts off frequently - alsa

Reply #2
Thanks @tintin.

I tested both my alsa set up and the set up you shared the link for in my laptop (running anti-X) and it worked perfectly. Your reply helped me look into my PC's hardware and I found out that the poor soundcard and the lack of a dedicated graphics card have made alsa not work properly with audio and videos.
#FreeHongKong