It seems to have been a hardware problem all-along. I'm not sure what the nature of the problem is precisely but the speaker on my laptop seems to have a malfunction of the sort where ALSA decides to quit sending it a signal after some event. I can now re-boot ALSA and get the sound to come back for a time, but it always cuts out.
*BUT* if I switch to any other audio output mode, like my bluetooth headphones, the sound continues perfectly. Even after ALSA has decided to stop sending a signal to the laptop speakers. So I'll close this thread as resolved. ** Description changed: I can't tell what package is causing the problem. All I know is that shortly after a reboot, the audio dies. It can happen before I hear any sound, or it can happen after watching 5 minutes of Youtube videos. I haven't noticed anything consistent about what causes the audio to vanish. I have been following other similar bugs, especially this one: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/382440 Mhazen's post (9th comment in above launchpad thread) has been somewhat useful. If I create his client.conf file in ~/.pulse and reload ALSA, sometimes audio will come back for a little while. Then it dies again. I also have a thread on the Ubuntu Forum which records my evolving understanding of the problem. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1915782 ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10 Package: pulseaudio 1:1.0-0ubuntu3.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-15.26-generic 3.0.13 Uname: Linux 3.0.0-15-generic x86_64 AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24. AplayDevices: - **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** - card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic] - Subdevices: 1/1 - Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 + **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** + card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic] + Subdevices: 1/1 + Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4 Architecture: amd64 ArecordDevices: - **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices **** - card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic] - Subdevices: 1/1 - Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 + **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices **** + card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: HDA Generic [HDA Generic] + Subdevices: 1/1 + Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 AudioDevicesInUse: - USER PID ACCESS COMMAND - /dev/snd/controlC0: rybu 2295 F.... pulseaudio + USER PID ACCESS COMMAND + /dev/snd/controlC0: rybu 2295 F.... pulseaudio Card0.Amixer.info: - Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf2620000 irq 45' - Mixer name : 'Intel ID 2804' - Components : 'HDA:14f15069,17aa218b,00100302 HDA:80862804,17aa21b5,00100000' - Controls : 6 - Simple ctrls : 4 + Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf2620000 irq 45' + Mixer name : 'Intel ID 2804' + Components : 'HDA:14f15069,17aa218b,00100302 HDA:80862804,17aa21b5,00100000' + Controls : 6 + Simple ctrls : 4 Card29.Amixer.info: - Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 6MHT43WW-1.18' - Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 6MHT43WW-1.18' - Components : '' - Controls : 1 - Simple ctrls : 1 + Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 6MHT43WW-1.18' + Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 6MHT43WW-1.18' + Components : '' + Controls : 1 + Simple ctrls : 1 Card29.Amixer.values: - Simple mixer control 'Console',0 - Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum - Playback channels: Mono - Mono: Playback [on] + Simple mixer control 'Console',0 + Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum + Playback channels: Mono + Mono: Playback [on] Date: Thu Feb 2 23:36:38 2012 EcryptfsInUse: Yes ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/pulseaudio InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007) SourcePackage: pulseaudio UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-16 (109 days ago) dmi.bios.date: 10/26/2010 dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO dmi.bios.version: 6MET81WW (1.41 ) dmi.board.name: 4314DDU dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO dmi.board.version: Not Available dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO dmi.chassis.version: Not Available dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6MET81WW(1.41):bd10/26/2010:svnLENOVO:pn4314DDU:pvrThinkPadT510:rvnLENOVO:rn4314DDU:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable: dmi.product.name: 4314DDU dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T510 dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO ** Changed in: pulseaudio (Ubuntu) Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/925910 Title: Audio dies shortly after reboot or ALSA restart To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/925910/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
