ALSA freezes system at random during use

I'm at my wit's end with this problem. This will be the third Linux forum I've posted this question in, and I haven't gotten a solid answer yet, so I'm hoping someone will know what's happening.

• Distribution: Gentoo
• Kernel: mm-sources-2.6.3_rc1
• ALSA Version: 1.0.2 (built as a module)
• alsa-utils Version: 1.0.2
• alsa-lib Version: 1.0.2
• ALSA Sound Module: snd-usb-audio (Creative Labs Extigy)
• Desktop Environment: KDE 3.2

So I'm trying to make the switch from Windows to Linux on my main workstation and this is my only major problem so far. I'll be using the system as I normally would, and at random points the system will freeze. Complete lockup, the keyboard won't even toggle num lock. After a lot of testing I've narrowed it down to something to do with ALSA. I did this by unloading ALSA from the kernel altogether and trying to get it to freeze without luck. As soon as I loaded ALSA again it froze.

Tests performed and still resulted in a freeze:

• Different kernel (gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.1)
• Different ALSA version (1.0.0)
• Stopping the "alsasound" service
• Setting hardware to "None" in KDE Sound System configuration
• Disabling KDE Sound System altogether
• Different Window Manager (XFCE4)
• Different nvidia kernel module (1.0-5336)
• Using "nv" driver instead of nvidia

Tests performed that resulted in the system not freezing

• Unloading ALSA from the Kernel

Various information that may or may not be helpful

• KDE 3.1 was compiled on gentoo-sources-2.4.x WITHOUT alsa use flag
• KDE 3.2 was compiled on gentoo-sources-2.4.x WITH alsa use flag
• XFCE4 was compiled on mm-sources-2.6.3_rc1 WITH alsa use flag

If I can't use sound then the whole thing is pointless.

If you are using a usb keybord and mouse, maybe the system isn't crashing, it's just some usb(driver?) problem. After a crash does the screen go blank or just freezes? if so check if the clock is updating. serial login might also be useful.
provide us some more HW details.

Freezes, doesn't go blank. I never let it sit long enough to see if the clock updates, so I'll check that next time. But I think it's completely frozen, since I can't CTRL+ALT+Fx to another terminal. Nor can I kill X.

• Motherboard: Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra Platinum
• CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2200+ @ 1.8GHz
• RAM: 1024MB
• HD: 1x Seagate Baracuda IV 40GB, 3x Seagate Baracuda IV 80GB
• CD: Lite-On CD-RW, Lite-On DVD-ROM
• IDE Configuration: 1x 40GB and 1x 80GB on IDE0, CD Drives on IDE1, 2x 80GB on IDE2 (HighPoint 370 RAID controller, built into Kernel, but not in a RAID configuration)
• Keyboard: Generic Dell (PS2)
• Mouse: Logitech MX700 (USB)
• Video: GeForce4 Ti4400
• Sound: Creative Labs Extigy (USB) and C-Media 8xxx (on-board)
• Network: Intel PRO/1000 (PCI, e1000 module from 2.6.x Kernel)
• Misc: IEEE1394 Firewire card (PCI, for iPod)

My iPod was plugged into the dock during all this, and I know that's caused problems for me before when booting Windows after a re-install, so I'll have to try for a while without it and see if that makes a difference.

I can post a dmesg and anything else that might be helpful in a few hours, when I'm done in Windows.

My ideia was that if you were using usb keyboard, the keyboard would be useless if the usb driver failed, but it's ps/2, so it's shouldn't fail.
btw do you have the latest bios flash?

could someone with experience in crash debugging give a hand? i never had a linux crash so i can't be very helpful

I started from scratch last night and reinstalled Gentoo with a different Kernel (2.6.3-rc2-love) and it just froze after I loaded ALSA in the Kernel and changed KDE's sound system from Auto to ALSA.

However, the keyboard wasn't completely frozen. I could toggle numlock, but couldn't kill X or change to another terminal.

Oh well. Maybe I'll give it another go when I build a new computer.

I was hoping someone out there could help, but there have been already 71 views and no answer.
perhaps you could try asking the ALSA people for help?
you can always use the onboard sound in the meantime, I guess it's better than nothing :\

I seem to get the same thing... Freezes, and then nothing. When its music that freezes the computer, i get a hissing/garbled sound in the speakers. Other than that nothing.

When I compiled a new version of ALSA with older gcc compiler (2.96), it did freeze and both the cap lock and scroll lock leds was blinking. I then re-compiled ALSA using the same gcc compiler version (3.2) that was used with the kernel and it stopped freezing. I put a note to myself, when I'm compiling modules I have to use the same gcc compiler version or else bad things will happen. I was upgrading ALSA to 1.0.3 from 1.0.1.

I have this problem also - I can't play xmms, alsaplayer, pysol, or xgalaga without causing
the same sort of lockup.

I'm running gentoo-2.6.5 with the latest emerged system.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Ok. My problem was solved by simply restarting alsa each time the system comes up. I dont know what it is, but right after boot, sound will lock the system. If i go sudo /etc/init.d/alsa restart then sound will work. A quick hack, but it works.

I tried that - locked up just as quick.

Glad it worked for you though.

are you using the kernels alsa, or are you compiling and installing it yourself? try enabling sound support in the kernel, but disabling alsa or oss. then, when you boot up again, compile and install the tarballs from
http://alsa-project.org
and see if it still freezes.