How do I find and kill whatever is using my sound card

Virtuality · 01-10-2008, 12:26 AM

Sometimes when I'm not running anything and I try to listen to music I get an error saying the sound device is already in use;

How do I find and/or kill it / everything that is using the sound card?

Thanks. Gnome on Debian Etch

Uncle_Theodore · 01-10-2008, 12:28 AM

lsof /dev/dsp usually can help.

But most probably, it's artsd. Are you using KDE?

Virtuality · 01-10-2008, 12:39 AM

Using gnome

I don't think its artsd

and lsof /dev/dsp does nothing

Virtuality · 01-11-2008, 09:41 PM

Need help still

0.o · 01-11-2008, 10:10 PM

lsof |grep dsp

Uncle_Theodore · 01-11-2008, 10:19 PM

Well, another suggestion

lsof /dev/snd/*

Does it return anything?

Virtuality · 01-11-2008, 10:28 PM

Code:

COMMAND    PID USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
mixer_app 3868 main   40u   CHR 116,32      7388 /dev/snd/controlC1

Uncle_Theodore · 01-11-2008, 10:36 PM

Look at the output of pstree to see who spawned this mixer_app...

Virtuality · 01-11-2008, 10:42 PM

Code:

init─┬─NetworkManager───{NetworkManager}
     ├─NetworkManagerD
     ├─WoW.exe─┬─explorer.exe───{explorer.exe}
     │         └─5*[{WoW.exe}]
     ├─acpid
     ├─atd
     ├─bluetooth-apple
     ├─bonobo-activati
     ├─clock-applet
     ├─cron
     ├─cupsd
     ├─2*[dbus-daemon]
     ├─dbus-launch
     ├─dhcdbd───dhclient
     ├─events/0
     ├─events/1
     ├─exim4
     ├─firefox-bin───13*[{firefox-bin}]
     ├─firestarter───{firestarter}
     ├─2*[gconfd-2]
     ├─gdm───gdm─┬─Xorg
     │           └─x-session-manag───ssh-agent
     ├─6*[getty]
     ├─gnome-cups-icon
     ├─gnome-keyring-d
     ├─gnome-panel───{gnome-panel}
     ├─gnome-power-man
     ├─gnome-screensav
     ├─gnome-settings-───{gnome-settings-}
     ├─gnome-terminal─┬─bash───su───bash───azureus───java───84*[{java}]
     │                ├─bash───su───bash───pstree
     │                ├─gnome-pty-helpe
     │                └─{gnome-terminal}
     ├─gnome-vfs-daemo───{gnome-vfs-daemo}
     ├─gnome-volume-ma
     ├─hald───hald-runner─┬─hald-addon-acpi
     │                    ├─6*[hald-addon-keyb]
     │                    └─4*[hald-addon-stor]
     ├─inetd
     ├─khelper
     ├─kirqd
     ├─klogd
     ├─knodemgrd_0
     ├─ksoftirqd/0
     ├─ksoftirqd/1
     ├─kthread─┬─aio/0
     │         ├─aio/1
     │         ├─ata/0
     │         ├─ata/1
     │         ├─ata_aux
     │         ├─kacpid
     │         ├─kblockd/0
     │         ├─kblockd/1
     │         ├─khpsbpkt
     │         ├─khubd
     │         ├─kjournald
     │         ├─kmirrord
     │         ├─kpsmoused
     │         ├─kseriod
     │         ├─kswapd0
     │         ├─2*[pdflush]
     │         ├─scsi_eh_0
     │         ├─scsi_eh_1
     │         ├─scsi_eh_2
     │         ├─scsi_eh_3
     │         └─usb-storage
     ├─mapping-daemon
     ├─metacity
     ├─migration/0
     ├─migration/1
     ├─mixer_applet2
     ├─nautilus───{nautilus}
     ├─nm-applet
     ├─notification-ar
     ├─ntpd
     ├─portmap
     ├─rpc.statd
     ├─syslogd
     ├─udevd
     ├─update-notifier
     ├─vino-session
     ├─wineserver
     └─wnck-applet

deepumnit · 01-11-2008, 10:50 PM

Do these commands (lsof, lspci) locate all the lines using /dev/dsp OR /dev/snd OR whatever? I guess, some items like vlc, gnome-volume-manager are missed. You can do one thing: just goto Applications->System Tools->System Monitor. Click on Processes. You will see some processes like gnome-volume manager, vlc etc. if at all you are running. You can kill them. Also, you have to enable the command column in Processes tab before viewing!

Uncle_Theodore · 01-11-2008, 10:50 PM

Yeah. It's the mixer_applet2 probably created by your GNOME sesion. You can try to turn it off or kill, but it's better to try to configure GNOME to share, if it's possible. I don't have GNOME, so I don't know...

Virtuality · 01-11-2008, 11:04 PM

I killed mixer_applet2 and gnome-volume-manager but it still doesn't work. These are the processes that are still running:

bash
bash
bluetooth-applet
bonobo-activation-server
clock-applet
dbus-daemon
dbus-launch
explorer.exe
firebox-bin
gconfd-2
gnome-cups-icon
gnome-keyring-daemon
gnome-panel
gnome-power-manager
gnome-pty-helper
gnome-screensaver
gnome-settings-daemon
gnome-system-monitor
gnome-terminal
gnome-vfs-daemon
mapping-daemon
metacity
nautilus
nm-applet
notification-area-applet
ssh-agent
update-notifier
vino-session
wineserver
wnck-applet
x-session-manager

deepumnit · 01-11-2008, 11:15 PM

What is your objective, I mean, why are you trying this? And yeah, among these processes, which one is using your sound device? You know, then you will have to kill almost all processes! Like, even Nautilus uses your sound device when you enable system sounds. So, why would you want to kill them? I do not understand

Virtuality · 01-11-2008, 11:20 PM

So I can listen to music? :/

It just tells me my sound device is already in use.

deepumnit · 01-11-2008, 11:30 PM

Is it the problem even after restarting? Try going here: (I am actually on Fedora, but have just flicked Debian!) System->(Preferences OR Administration)->Sessions. Here, goto startup tab. You can try disabling things that use your sound device (you can make out from their names) at the start up. And then see if you still have that prob. But, without disabling these, if you can get this working on a restart, better go for it!