Bug#712209: pulseaudio: getting no audio

[Francesca Ciceri]

Ok, here we go :).


On Sun, Jun 01, 2014 at 06:12:20PM -0400, Felipe Sateler wrote:
> Top may not display it because of limited space. What does `ps -fea |
> grep pulse` say?

Scenario #1: at startup, no audio, pulseaudio is not running, and there's
no /run/user/1000/pulse dir:

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ps -fea |grep pulse
madamez+  1618  1516  0 10:16 pts/0    00:00:00 grep pulse

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ls -lah /run/user/1000/
total 0
drwx------ 4 madamezou madamezou 80 Jun  3 10:16 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root      root      60 Jun  3 10:16 ..
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou 60 Jun  3 10:16 dconf
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou 40 Jun  3 10:16 gvfs

Scenario #2: manually lanching pulseaudio with "pulseaudio -vvvv"
The process is running, the dir is created with madamezou:madamezou but
I still get no audio.

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ps -fea |grep pulse
madamez+  2031  1516  1 10:17 pts/0    00:00:00 pulseaudio -vvvv
madamez+  2040  2031  0 10:17 pts/0    00:00:00
/usr/lib/pulseaudio/pulse/gconf-helper
madamez+  2057  2048  0 10:17 pts/1    00:00:00 grep pulse

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ls -lah /run/user/1000/
total 0
drwx------ 5 madamezou madamezou 100 Jun  3 10:17 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root      root       60 Jun  3 10:16 ..
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  60 Jun  3 10:16 dconf
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  40 Jun  3 10:16 gvfs
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  40 Jun  3 10:18 pulse

Scenario #3: after an "alsactl init": still no sound, process apparently
running, dir is madamezou:madamezou

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ps -fea |grep pulse
madamez+  2060     1  0 10:37 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio
--start --log-target=syslog
madamez+  2069  2060  0 10:37 ?        00:00:00
/usr/lib/pulseaudio/pulse/gconf-helper
madamez+  2091  2084  0 10:37 pts/3    00:00:00 grep pulse

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ls -lah /run/user/1000
total 0
drwx------ 5 madamezou madamezou 100 Jun  3 10:37 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root      root       60 Jun  3 10:35 ..
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  60 Jun  3 10:35 dconf
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  40 Jun  3 10:35 gvfs
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  80 Jun  3 10:37 pulse

Scenario #4: after an "alsactl init" + "pulseaudio -k; pulseaudio -vvvv"
I get audio and this is the situation:

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ps -fea |grep pulse
root      2117  2040  0 10:40 pts/1    00:00:00 pulseaudio -vvvv
root      2121  2117  0 10:40 pts/1    00:00:00
/usr/lib/pulseaudio/pulse/gconf-helper
madamez+  2136  2084  0 10:42 pts/3    00:00:00 grep pulse

madamezou at malatesta:~$ ls -lah /run/user/1000/
total 0
drwx------ 5 madamezou madamezou 100 Jun  3 10:37 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root      root       60 Jun  3 10:35 ..
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  60 Jun  3 10:35 dconf
drwx------ 2 madamezou madamezou  40 Jun  3 10:35 gvfs
drwx------ 2 root      root       80 Jun  3 10:40 pulse

Killing the process here results in losing audio again.

 
> This is a bit confusing for me too ;). Perhaps the permission denied
> results in pulseaudio not starting, and thus you get audio when there
> is no pulseaudio running?

Really no idea :) It's not clear to me, either, even if I'm trying to
isolate all the possible scenarios.
I'm sorry I cannot give more clear information: I'm afraid I really
don't understand what is suppose to happen nor what it's actually
happening.

> What happens if you use aplay -D hw:1,0 -c 2 <wavfile> when pulseaudio
> is not working? Do you get sound? Use aplay -l to find out a suitable
> number to put after the hw: part, and try 1 and 2 for the -c option.

With aplay I get audio, even if pulseaudio is not working.

I used plughw: though, because hw: gave me an error (aplay:
set_params:1239: Channels count non available).

> Also, when pulseaudio is not working, does pavucontrol show you
> anyhing in the output devices?
> 

Yes, pavucontrol shows the bar moving in the "output device" and
"playback" tabs.


Many thanks for your help,
Francesca
-- 
"Working for the rat race
You know you're wasting your time
Working for the rat race
You're no friend of mine"
The Specials, Rat Race
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