Bug 699062

Summary:	pulseaudio turns sound off, causing skipped or chopped sounds upon resume
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Peter Gückel <pgueckel>
Component:	pulseaudio	Assignee:	Lennart Poettering <lpoetter>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	15	CC:	lkundrak, lpoetter
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2011-05-10 23:48:05 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description Peter Gückel 2011-04-22 21:40:49 UTC

Description of problem:
When no sounds have been generated, one can hear a slight click through the speakers, signifying that sound has been switched off. When an event, either an audible system notification or a command, eg., espeak "hello", triggers the sound system to be switched back on, one again hears a click through the speakers, but the sound either never occurs or it is chopped off or muffled. Triggering the same sound event again or reissuing the speech command causes normal sound output, until sound s again switched off, due to a period of inactivity, and then the same problem reoccurs.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
pulseaudio-0.9.22-5.fc15.x86_64

How reproducible:
Wait for sound to switch off and run a command that emits sound or causes the system to generate an audible system notification.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.
  
Actual results:
No sound, sound chopped off or muffled sound

Expected results:
When sound is switched back on, the sound system must be fully initialized before the sound is emitted.

Additional info:
I haven't experimented with i686 to see whether the problem exists there, too. I will report at a future time.

Comment 1 Peter Gückel 2011-04-22 21:53:29 UTC

I cannot rule out the possibility that the problem is not pulseaudio, but rather, my active speakers turning off. If this turns out to be the case, are there some suggestions as to how to prevent this problematic occurrence? How can is be determined which is the cause?

Comment 2 Peter Gückel 2011-04-22 22:11:39 UTC

I just reread the manual for my active speakers. They turn off exactly 3 minutes after the last sound, which coincided exactly with the 'off' click I hear through the speakers. This suggests it is my speakers (unless you determine otherwise).

Any ideas on what I could do to prevent the initial sound from being chopped off (if it is the speakers)?

Comment 3 Peter Gückel 2011-05-10 23:48:05 UTC

I am sure it is my active speakers that are turning off. Ideally, the system should send inaudible pulses to the speakers to prevent this (most computers use active speakers, so this is not an unusual problem).

Nevertheless, I am cancelling this bug report.