I switched from Fedora to Ubuntu a couple weeks ago, and I am very satisfied except for one thing. It seems that only one application can play audio at a time, specifically, when I'm listening to music with Rhythmbox, Gaim doesn't play any sounds. What can I do to fix this?

What sound card do you have? What drivers are you using? Do they support hardware mixing?
good luck.

I don't know exactly what sound card I have, but the spec says: nForce 6-channel Audio.

I have no idea what driver I'm using, whatever the installer set up for me.

Please post the output of the following commands.

/sbin/lspci -v

/sbin/lsmod

If the card and driver doesn't support hardware mixing, you may want to look into software mixing.

http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=FAQ018

http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?pa...oftware+mixing

good luck.

Thanks for your help, here are the two outputs:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?) (r ev a2)
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [40] AGP version 2.0
Capabilities: [60] #08 [2001]

0000:00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

0000:00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

0000:00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

0000:00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

0000:00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

0000:00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [48] #08 [01e1]

0000:00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 169
I/O ports at e400
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 177
Memory at ed080000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 185
Memory at ed083000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 193
Memory at ed086000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] #0a [2080]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

0000:00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 177
Memory at ed087000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at d000 [size=8]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce MultiMedia a udio [Via VT82C686B] (rev a2)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 185
Memory at ed000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1)
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 193
I/O ports at d400
I/O ports at d800 [size=128]
Memory at ed081000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: ec000000-ecffffff
Expansion ROM at 0000c000 [disabled] [size=4K]

0000:00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
I/O ports at f000 [size=16]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [No rmal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: ea000000-ebffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e0000000-e7ffffff

0000:01:08.0 Communication controller: Conexant: Unknown device 2f20
Subsystem: Conexant: Unknown device 2000
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 201
Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at c000 [size=8]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

0000:02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX - n Force GPU] (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: FIRST INTERNATIONAL Computer Inc: Unknown device 904d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 201
Memory at ea000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=512K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 4352 0
vfat 13312 0
fat 41792 1 vfat
proc_intf 3968 0
freq_table 4356 0
cpufreq_userspace 5336 0
cpufreq_powersave 2048 0
button 6936 0
ac 5132 0
battery 9740 0
ipv6 230020 8
af_packet 20872 2
shpchp 87276 0
pciehp 83948 0
pci_hotplug 30640 2 shpchp,pciehp
snd_intel8x0 33068 4
snd_ac97_codec 59268 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss 48168 1
snd_mixer_oss 16640 3 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 85540 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 23172 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 11144 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 4736 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 7296 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 23232 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 7944 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 50660 11 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi, snd_seq_device
soundcore 9824 4 snd
forcedeth 16128 0
ehci_hcd 27780 0
usb_storage 59200 0
joydev 9536 0
usbhid 28864 0
ohci_hcd 19460 0
usbcore 104292 6 ehci_hcd,usb_storage,usbhid,ohci_hcd
nvidia_agp 7580 1
agpgart 31784 2 nvidia_agp
pcspkr 3816 0
rtc 12216 0
isofs 33976 0
udf 79876 0
nls_cp437 6016 1
ntfs 88660 1
md 44744 0
dm_mod 51068 1
capability 4872 0
commoncap 7168 1 capability
nvidia 4821428 12
parport_pc 32064 1
lp 10436 0
parport 37320 2 parport_pc,lp
tsdev 7168 0
evdev 9088 0
ide_cd 38276 0
cdrom 35872 1 ide_cd
mousedev 10124 1
psmouse 17800 0
sd_mod 20480 0
scsi_mod 115148 2 usb_storage,sd_mod
ext3 109544 1
jbd 54552 1 ext3
ide_generic 1664 0
ide_disk 16768 5
amd74xx 13340 1
ide_core 125272 5 usb_storage,ide_cd,ide_generic,ide_disk,amd74xx
unix 25904 829
fan 4236 0
thermal 13200 0
processor 17712 1 thermal
font 8576 0
vesafb 6688 0
cfbcopyarea 3968 1 vesafb
cfbimgblt 3200 1 vesafb
cfbfillrect 3712 1 vesafb

That's about what I expected, you've got an onboard intel compatible sound card, using the alsa drivers. The card and driver do not yet support hardware mixing, so have a look at the links above for software mixing. Keep in mind software mixing will use system resources if you can even get it to work. Keep checking at the alsa site, I'm sure they are still working hard to get the driver and card to support hardware mixing.
good luck.

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll check out the software mixing. It seems like this is a very popular card for machines without hardcore audio... what's stopping them from getting the driver to work?

The card has been been around for a while, but has undergone many changes. Be glad you don't have the amr, or cnr version, which gets really confusing.
good luck.