Sound problem in Xubuntu 14.04
 

Hi,
I have recently installed Xubuntu 14.04 on my laptop and having some sound issues.The sound stutters,distorts ,buzzes.This happens no matter it is a video or an mp3 playing. Its frequency is unstable as sometimes it starts straightaway when I start playing a music/video or after 30 seconds and so on.And it repeats in short intervals.And whenever this problem occurs ,the sound level indicator pops up with each buzz.Any suggestions are welcome.
Regards.

Hi...

Did this happen as soon as you installed Xubuntu or did it happen after some other event, like installing or uninstalling software, etc.? Did this happen with any other OS?

Also, would you open a terminal and post the output of...

and...

Thanks! :)

Hi ardvark,

Thanks for your reply,
This started as soon as I made a fresh install. I've recently noticed that some days it just doesn't occur, I just listen to audio without any problems, another day all of a sudden this buzzing starts while listening to some audio.So its occurrence is very unstable. I tried installing Linux Mint to the same laptop and there weren't any issues.However I didn't test there for long as I like Xubuntu more.

The outputs are attached.

Thanks again.

Hi...

Thanks for including the output, although nothing stood out to me. Not sure what to make of this. Apart from reinstalling or trying another version of Xubuntu or another distribution, I'm not sure what to suggest. :(

Regards...

do some searches for your audio hardware, e.g.:
"ubuntu audio Intel 82801 stutter distort" and variations of that.

do you have vlc installed?
open the message window (under tools menu), and crank the verbosity up just one step (iirc, to "warnings").
then try to reproduce the problem under vlc, and post the contents of the message window.

Thanks Ardvark,



Yes Ondoho, I have VLC.
Ok I will do that when the problem starts again. Seems to be working properly at the moment.Thanks.
Regards,

You're welcome, hope you get this figured out. :)

Regards...

Ondoho,

I have checked with VLC as you suggested,
I get this message when I reproduce the problem:

pulse warning: starting late (-19707 us)

the number changes each time :

pulse warning: starting late (-18768 us)
pulse warning: starting late (-17348 us)


What can this be about??

starting late...

does it happen with all video and music alike? or only with particular content?

maybe your hardware just isn't up to it?
what are your specs?

or maybe something else is eating resources.
open a terminal window and type "top", then try to see what is using most cpu.

when it starts it happens with all having an audio content,
this is an old laptop , pentium 1.86 , 2 gig ram , but didn't have any problems with playing such content under windows?
can it be related to the low specs?
One thing I have recently noticed is while having this problem, the problem stops when I lower the master volume to less than half power.
Tried top command while listening to music, took a screen shot and attached it here.

Ondoho,

I found a thread describing a similar problem :
http://askubuntu.com/questions/13826...d-choppy-audio

and a suggestion there apparently solved the problem : adding "options snd-hda-intel model=generic" to alsa-base.conf file.

Thanks for your helps.

Hi...

Awesome job! Good find. :)

Regards...