[SOLVED] Soundproblem. Sound is scrambled (audacious, vlc, firefox) ; Testsound is ok ; ubuntu 20.04 lts

gabelbart · 01-22-2021, 04:55 PM

Hi! The sound from my PC is what I would describe as scrambled, the frequencies of voices seem to be affected the most - that is with the exception of the Testsound, which appears to be just fine. That makes me suspect, that it's not entirely a soundcard-problem.

It occured on 16.04 lts first and upgrading to 20.04 lts didn't fix it.

The actual soundproblem is hard to describe, which makes it hard to search for. Physical problems with the jack or the headphones are unlikely because of the clear Testsound - checked different headphones anyway - the same result.

I went through the "soundtroubleshooting" on help.ubuntu so i'm pretty sure, nothing is set to mute, the system recognizes the soundcard, the soundmodules are installed, and I found out that my soundcard was at least supported by ubuntu 14.04 , though it's not on the list on alsa-project.org

Information:

lspci

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-LM (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #2 (rev d4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C226 Series Chipset Family Server Advanced SKU LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
02:00.0 PCI bridge: Texas Instruments XIO2001 PCI Express-to-PCI Bridge

lshw:

Code:

*-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1b
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
             version: 04
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
             resources: irq:31 memory:f7c30000-f7c33fff

current distro: ubuntu 20.04 LTS ; 5.4.0-64-generic

Does anyone have an idea, what the problem is and how I can fix it?
I am happy to post more information if neccessary

ondoho · 01-23-2021, 03:28 AM

It might have sth to do with pulseaudio.
Let's try:

Code:

systemctl --user -n999 status pulseaudio

gabelbart · 01-23-2021, 01:58 PM

OK.

systemctl --user -n999 status pulseaudio:

Code:

● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor >
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-01-23 09:38:30 CET; 10h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1113 (pulseaudio)
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/pulseaudio.service
             └─1113 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Jan 23 09:38:28 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Starting Sound Service...
Jan 23 09:38:30 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Started Sound Service.
Jan 23 09:38:54 jh-PowerEdge-T20 pulseaudio[1113]: GetManagedObjects() failed: >
lines 1-11/11 (END)



● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor p>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-01-23 09:38:30 CET; 10h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1113 (pulseaudio)
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/pulseaudio.service
             └─1113 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Jan 23 09:38:28 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Starting Sound Service...
Jan 23 09:38:30 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Started Sound Service.
Jan 23 09:38:54 jh-PowerEdge-T20 pulseaudio[1113]: GetManagedObjects() failed: o>
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lines 1-11/11 (END)



● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor pr>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-01-23 09:38:30 CET; 10h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1113 (pulseaudio)
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/pulseaudio.service
             └─1113 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Jan 23 09:38:28 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Starting Sound Service...
Jan 23 09:38:30 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Started Sound Service.
Jan 23 09:38:54 jh-PowerEdge-T20 pulseaudio[1113]: GetManagedObjects() failed: or>
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lines 1-11/11 (END)



● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor pre>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-01-23 09:38:30 CET; 10h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1113 (pulseaudio)
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/pulseaudio.service
             └─1113 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Jan 23 09:38:28 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Starting Sound Service...
Jan 23 09:38:30 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Started Sound Service.
Jan 23 09:38:54 jh-PowerEdge-T20 pulseaudio[1113]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org>
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lines 1-11/11 (END)

then it goes on until it reaches

Code:

lines 1-11/11 (END)...skipping...
● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-01-23 09:38:30 CET; 10h ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 1113 (pulseaudio)
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/pulseaudio.service
             └─1113 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Jan 23 09:38:28 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Starting Sound Service...
Jan 23 09:38:30 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1107]: Started Sound Service.
Jan 23 09:38:54 jh-PowerEdge-T20 pulseaudio[1113]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote >
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lines 1-11/11 (END)

then it gets stuck. Process still running - closing terminal would kill it. It's been 10 minutes now...

Found this errormessage:

Quote:

org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

here

Quote:

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...sa-4175670700/

Does any of it help?

ondoho · 01-24-2021, 12:54 AM

No, i don't think that error is relevant to your problem.
I still think pulseaudio is the culprit though; or at least, it's the first place to look.
Try this:

Code:

systemctl --user stop pulseaudio
# wait a few sec
pulseaudio --log-target=stderr --log-time --log-level=3

Then, reproduce the problem. When you paste the code, indicate the timeframe that corresponds to the problem your experiencing.

gabelbart · 01-24-2021, 09:56 AM

Thank you very much for your answer!
After stopping pulseaudio, waiting e few seconds

pulseaudio --log-target=stderr --log-time --log-level=3

gave me this:

Code:

(   0.000|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Operation not permitted
(   0.000|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Operation not permitted
(   0.004|   0.004) I: [pulseaudio] core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: This is PulseAudio 13.99.1
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Machine ID is c0c7e56a585a434c87df70257a0631da.
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using runtime directory /run/user/1000/pulse.
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using state directory /home/jh/.config/pulse.
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Using modules directory /usr/lib/pulse-13.99.1/modules.
(   0.004|   0.000) I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Running in system mode: no
(   0.004|   0.000) E: [pulseaudio] pid.c: Daemon already running.
(   0.004|   0.000) E: [pulseaudio] main.c: pa_pid_file_create() failed.

I didn't really understand what you meant with reproducing the problem. did you mean running

systemctl --user -n999 status pulseaudio

again? It instantly gave me that and froze:

Code:

● pulseaudio.service - Sound Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pulseaudio.service; enabled; vendor >
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2021-01-24 16:12:55 CET; 2min 11s ago
TriggeredBy: ● pulseaudio.socket
   Main PID: 10163 (pulseaudio)
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/pulseaudio.service
             └─10163 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal

Jan 24 16:12:55 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1218]: Starting Sound Service...
Jan 24 16:12:55 jh-PowerEdge-T20 systemd[1218]: Started Sound Service.
Jan 24 16:13:20 jh-PowerEdge-T20 pulseaudio[10163]: GetManagedObjects() failed:>

I searched for

E: pid.c: Daemon Already Running
E: main.c: pa_pid_file_create() failed.

suggestions were:

pulseaudio --kill followed by pulseaudio --start

apt remove pulseaudio

chown myusername:myusername -R /home/myusername (suggested by a redditor)

I did the first - no change; didn't dare to do the second (should I reinstall Pulseaudio?) and don't even understand the third.
archlinux suggested setting the default audio to analog (from HDMI), but my soundsettings ARE set to "headphone - built in audio" - actually that's my ONLY option. Obviously there was a lot more, but nothing really made sense to me.Through all of this the soundproblem is still existing.

Any thoughts?

ondoho · 01-25-2021, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gabelbart

I didn't really understand what you meant with reproducing the problem.

Well why did you start this thread?
Because sound is scrambled.
That's your problem.
So make some scrambled sound, watch the terminal where you started pulseaudio. Did that produce additional output? Show us.

Quote:

apt remove pulseaudio

That is always an option.
My desktop computer does not use pulseaudio at all, nor does it require it.
My laptop otoh uses pulseaudio because of bluetooth speakers.

gabelbart · 01-25-2021, 02:17 PM

Sorry, I'm doing my best.

I started Pulseaudio, let Audacious produce sound, but no output in the terminal. I went on and removed Pulseaudio, but the sound is still bad. AND the testsound isn't working anymore.
So I guess the problem is elsewhere

btw: I ordered a new soundcard to make sure it's not a hardwarefailure

ondoho · 01-26-2021, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gabelbart

I went on and removed Pulseaudio, but the sound is still bad.

Did you fully reboot after that?

gabelbart · 01-27-2021, 01:42 PM

yes, eventually, same result.
I just found out, that when I set the balance to either left or right the sound is ok on both speakers. The old problem reappears when I set the leaver to the middle. I now realize, that the "scrambling" could be the sound of the two stereo channels interfering with each other since they both end up on both speakers... Still no Testsound via Soundsettings; works via commandline,though.

Got the new soundcard - exactly the same . looking on the bright side, I now know how to get at least bearable audio...

Does the channel-mix-up-info help? Seems not to be the hardware after all

ondoho · 01-27-2021, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gabelbart

I now realize, that it could be the sound of the two stereo channels interfering with each other since they both end up on both speakers...

Did you create yourself a custom pair of active speakers?
Can you try with some run-of-the-mill earplugs/phones instead?

gabelbart · 01-29-2021, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Can you try with some run-of-the-mill earplugs/phones instead?

made me doublechecked everything. Turns out, the new soundcard works perfect with different headphones. So soundcard AND headphones have a somewhat similar defect, or something like that. (I had only tried new Headphones with the old soundcard and thus ruled out the old headphones as a reason for the dodgy sound - prematurely).
That' that solved.
@ondoho: Sorry for the commotion and thank you for sticking with me!