A couple of months ago I upgraded my Linux distribution from Debian 3.0 to Debian 3.1. After the upgrade the sounds started crackling when something happens on the screen. Like if I scroll the window or switch a tab on the web browser. But stuff like compiling the kernel doesn't make the sounds crackle alone. Weirdly enough, the sounds in Nexuiz work fine too, and watching videos with mplayer.


At first I thought I simply botched the upgrade so I backed up my files and installed Slackware 11.0. It didn't help and the sounds still crackle.

I've tried pretty much everything, I've recompiled the kernel a couple of times(the old kernel from 3.0 Debian didn't work either), changed video card drivers(I haven't tried the version that worked with 3.0 but since the default "nv" drivers fail too I don't think it's important). The only thing I haven't tried is using plain OSS instead of ALSA.

List of computer hardware:
-Slackware 11.0(well that's not hardware I hear you saying)
-AMD Duron 1200
-384Mb
-Soundblaster 128PCI
-Nvidia Geforce 4200

It sounds to me like your window manager is trying to play some sound file for a notification but either the sound file doesn't exist or it is corrupted. You didn't mention what window manager you are using but if you were running KDE, for instance, you could run kcontrol, go to Sound & Multimedia -> Notifications. On that page you could turn off all sounds for two sections: The KDE Window Manager and KDE System Notifications.

I use evilwm. It does not have any sounds.