Audio problem in Fedora 8

alk77 · 01-31-2008, 04:16 AM

Hello,
I've just gone back to Fedora 8 and I found out that I can't play any audio file (be it mp3, avi, mpeg, whatever). Sound is working with Skype but it doens' work with most other applications. The funny thing is that I had Fedora installed untile a couple of weeks ago and everything was running well. I then switched to Ubuntu 7.10, deelply disliked it, and went back to Fedora only to find out that the same things that were working before are not working now... It's strange how computers work!

Anyway, what is bugging me now is this problem with audio. Everytime I launch an application such as VLC or Totem or Rhythmbox, the system stalls for a couple of seconds, then the file playback starts but I get no sound, i.e. I can see the video of an AVI file but not hear its sound.

I tried launching the apps from the terminal so that I could get some kind of information on the problem and here's the output:

Code:

ale@localhost:~$ vlc Desktop/James\ Taylor\ -\ You\'ve\ Got\ A\ Friend.mp3 
VLC media player 0.8.6d Janus
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
[00000387] esd audio output error: cannot open esound socket (format 0x00001021 at 44100 Hz)
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
JACK tmpdir identified as [/dev/shm]
[00000387] jack audio output error: failed to connect to JACK server
[00000387] oss audio output error: cannot open audio device (/dev/dsp)
[00000387] arts audio output error: arts_init failed (can't connect to aRts soundserver)
[00000313] main playlist: stopping playback
ale@localhost:~$ vlc /media/ACERDATA/Video/Apocalypse.Now.Redux.LIMITED.CD1.DVDRip.DivX-HOSTiLE.avi 
VLC media player 0.8.6d Janus
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
[00000372] esd audio output error: cannot open esound socket (format 0x00001021 at 44100 Hz)
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
JACK tmpdir identified as [/dev/shm]
[00000372] jack audio output error: failed to connect to JACK server
[00000372] oss audio output error: cannot open audio device (/dev/dsp)
[00000372] arts audio output error: arts_init failed (can't connect to aRts soundserver)
[00000313] main playlist: stopping playback
ale@localhost:~$ skype 
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused

All have problems with PulseAudio, but Skype works perfectly well nonetheless.

Can you point to a possible solution?

Thanks
Ale

Simon Bridge · 01-31-2008, 04:58 AM

Quote:

I can't play any audio file (be it mp3, avi, mpeg, whatever).

Test sound with an ogg/vorbis, wave or flacc file. None of those non-free formats will play, out of the box.

Did the test sound play during installation?

However:
PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
... pulseaudio is the main sound server in fedora. It is supposed to replace esd, arts, jack etc.

Note: skype is really nassty (precious) and likes to bypasss ssecurity, yess it duss (gollum). That skype gives sound without a valid sound-server connection suggests you could try turning selinux off.

(BTW: you know your security is tight if you have to explicitly allow a skype connection! Particularly for exchanging files.) However, I've seen information that skype-linux does not use pulseaudio - mayhap it is just using <whatever it wants to> instead?

Another possibility:
# yum remove alsa-plugins-pulseaudio

But these are not really solutions.

If you use totem-gstreamer, make sure you have the pulseaudio packages for gstreamer installed. Make sure the pulseaudio wrapper for alsa is installed.

I don't know what fedora calls these packages - just hunt for pulse-audio stuff in your repos.

Try:
asoundconf set-pulseaudio

This in addition to the links and suggestions from:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...in-fc8-602040/

Hannibal · 01-31-2008, 02:30 PM

Try this as root:

yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-bad

it worked for now i play all audio formats.
This is for dvd and other video playback also as root:

echo -e "remove totem\n install totem-xine totem-xine-plparser libdvdcss libdvdnav xine-lib-extras-nonfree\n run\n quit" | yum -y shell

Simon Bridge · 01-31-2008, 04:57 PM

Hannibal: how does this help with the pulseaudio "permission denied" problem? Do you know that this error occurs when trying to use restrictive formats in fedora?

Also: please edit your profile to show your location and distro. It helps when answering your questions as well as when reading your replies.

ncsuapex · 03-18-2008, 03:49 PM

try doing a lsof | grep dsp as root and see if anything else has your sound card used.

jerkface · 04-15-2008, 08:43 PM

Or lsof | grep pcm

artsd was to blame for me.

CaptainInsane · 04-16-2008, 01:32 AM

I had some similar problems since my last round of updates....

In the Fedora Control Center/Sound & Multimedia/Sound System/Hardware tab
change the selected audio device to Open Sound System or Threaded Open Sound System.

Those both are working, at the moment, for me. ALSA worked for a while, then stopped
for no apparent reason....

justaguy_75ae · 05-18-2008, 05:05 PM

I removed pulse audio on Fedora 8 and I am thinking of doing so on fedora 9 but it seems to work OK on fedora 9 but I have not extensively tested it i need help getting 5.1 sound working I know if I uninstall it I can get alsa to produce 5.1 sound.

arbitatuofm · 12-22-2008, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerkface

Or lsof | grep pcm

artsd was to blame for me.

I am a linux newbie. I typed the command you mentioned and I got the following output

[root@localhost ~]# lsof | grep pcm
knotify4 2749 mem REG 8,3 21104 952600 /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
systemset 20178 mem REG 8,3 21104 952600 /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
nspluginv 20209 mem REG 8,3 21104 952600 /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
artsd 20740 mem REG 8,3 21104 952600 /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so

Can you guide me what to do next?

Thanks.

Simon Bridge · 12-26-2008, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justaguy_75ae

I removed pulse audio on Fedora 8 and I am thinking of doing so on fedora 9 but it seems to work OK on fedora 9 but I have not extensively tested it i need help getting 5.1 sound working I know if I uninstall it I can get alsa to produce 5.1 sound.

Not sure how this fits into the thread here... have you searched the forums for other threads talking about 5.1 surround sound?

@arbitatuofm: did you try any of the suggestions in post #2??

lsof lists the open files - the command lsof | grep pcm has revealed that no artsd libs are open. Your system is using pulse-audio - which we knew already, but is good to have this confirmed.

Have you tried the other suggestion - lsof | grep dsp?

note: what these things are...
pcm = pulse-code modulation
dsp = digital signal processor
... it can be useful to see what your distro is trying to use when it plays sound. It also helps to understand a little of what you are being asked to try.

Ideally, we want to find out which part of the sound system is misbehaving for you.

If the test-sound does not play at installation, then your problems are more fundamental than the above suggestions can cope with.

If non-restrictive formats will play, then the trouble is with the codecs.

See what I mean?

Which is why it is important to answer questions.