Audio cuts after playing for a while

prolixu · 09-07-2020, 07:18 PM

I've had this problem in Arch, Solus and now in Qubes. I have no idea what is wrong. Someone once told me that "cache isn't being filled after being depleted." Some info about my system:

Code:

[user@dom0 ~]$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CX20756 Analog [CX20756 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Code:

[user@dom0 ~]$ aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    Default Audio Device
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20756 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=1
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=2
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 2
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=3
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 3
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=PCH,DEV=4
    HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 4
    HDMI Audio Output

I tried:

I put the following in /etc/asound.conf

Code:

defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 0

I put the following in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Code:

options snd-hda-intel model=auto

I don't think these solutions are related to my problem since my problem isn't not being able to use the sound device at all, it's that I can't use it after the first (usually) 5 seconds. I've also

Unmuted everything with alsamixer and disabled auto-mute. Then did
Code:
```
sudo alsactl store
```

I am kinda hopeless here. What can I do? Is there a possibility this is a hardware issue?

GPGAgent · 09-12-2020, 05:51 PM

What are you playing? File type please, size and bitrate and duration might help.

Shadow_7 · 09-12-2020, 06:08 PM

first five seconds of use till a reboot? or first five seconds after each attempt?

$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 5 -D default

$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 5 -D pulse

$ speaker-test -c 2 -l 5 -D hw:0

Which device? speakers on laptop? speakers in monitor? headphone jack? Other surround type jacks? digital audio cable (analog / optical)? S/PDIF

The snd-hda-intel driver does cover a lot of various devices and chipsets. Your kernel / driver might be an older version that doesn't support your newer hardware. One of those problems that goes away if you wait six months, or use a newer kernel via other distro or kernel from source type options. Could be other things like sound daemons locking the device (pulseaudio / jackd / pipewire / ...) after it's initial use. Various version of pulseaudio that get quirky. Using pavucontrol to disable and enable the card might recover the usability of said device. Even though it was enabled and working before it wasn't.