Problem with sound and Firefox

[don fisher]

When I boot my system I can play music etc. using Rhythmnbox. I also can 
use the volume control. After running Firefox, the pulse application is 
gone (pulseaudio --check returns a 1) and I am not able to restart it. 
But the audio from firefox which must not be using pulse still works 
fine. Sorry, but I am forced to run an old version of the kernel 
(version 3.1.0-7.fc16.x86_64) to get video to work in my Dell 1721 
laptop with a Radeon video card.

The message in /var/log/messages is:

Apr 20 15:52:52 dfpc47 kernel: [20655807.089535] rhythmbox[28699]: 
segfault at 0 ip 00000032888c46e1 sp 00007fff5cf30a00 error 4 in 
librhythmbox-core.so.4.0.0[3288800000+127000]
Apr 20 15:52:54 dfpc47 abrtd: Directory 'ccpp-2014-04-20-15:52:52-28699' 
creation detected
Apr 20 15:52:54 dfpc47 abrt[28741]: Saved core dump of pid 28699 
(/usr/bin/rhythmbox) to /var/spool/abrt/ccpp-2014-04-20-15:52:52-28699 
(113676288 bytes)
Apr 20 15:52:54 dfpc47 abrtd: Size of '/var/spool/abrt' >= 1000 MB, 
deleting 'ccpp-2014-02-05-17:26:08-2212'
Apr 20 15:52:57 dfpc47 abrtd: New problem directory 
/var/spool/abrt/ccpp-2014-04-20-15:52:52-28699, processing
Apr 20 15:53:42 dfpc47 pulseaudio[28780]: socket-server.c: bind(): 
Address already in use
Apr 20 15:53:42 dfpc47 pulseaudio[28780]: module.c: Failed to load 
module "module-esound-protocol-unix" (argument: ""): initialization
failed.

I find the segfault is rough to decode form the core dump. Is there 
something special I need to set up to prevent firefox from killing pulse?

Please have mercy. It has been a couple of years since I posted.
Don

[Vikram Goyal]

On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 10:12:07AM -0700, don fisher wrote:
>  
>  My screen has UXGA resolution. When the system boots all I get is
>  scrambled lines from Fedora. After booting, I can start FVWM2, a
>  rather dumb but very fast window manager, that displays the full
>  1200X1900 pixels correctly. So the driver 3.1.0-7 appears to be OK.
>  After that I had more problems.
>  
>  My question is what is Firefox using for audio output after pulse
>  audio is killed? There must be a conflict here.
>  
>  Don
>   
There is some confusion regarding:

1} Did the apps worked properly before.
2} What's stopping you to upgrade to latest version of fedora.
3} When did the breakage began because as far as readers can understand,
   since you are using FC16 & the support stopped a long time ago, it
   must have been working properly upto a point but it is not clear what
   changed & when.

What I meant by help from my side is that since some basic points are
not clear from the mails, I assumed you might be facing same problems as
I faced. Now, to clarify further, I went through the problem of very low
resolution due to unavailablity of proprietary radeon drivers in FC20
which I came to know only after an upgrade to FC20 & since it has become
quite difficult to setup an xorg.conf (At least, I couldn't accomplish
it), I went through a different/manual path to reset to higher
resolution.

If that is the case then I posted a reply to another thread a couple of
days back which may be of some help to you.

Thanks
-- 
vikram...
         ||||||||
         ||||||||
^^'''''^^||root||^^^'''''''^^
        // \\   ))
       //(( \\// \\
      // /\\ ||   \\
     || / )) ((    \\
-- 
Lawn mower blade in your fan need sharpening
-- 
  *
 ~|~
  =

[Tom Horsley]

On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:27:58 -0700
don fisher wrote:

>  How does this system know whether I 
>  want to listen to my music or some junk add from firefox? 
Every app talking to pulseaudio can decide what to talk to,
but (as far as I know) is supposed to use the default
without an explicit override. I have no idea what caused
random apps to select different outputs on my system,
but at least I got it to stop by disabling all but
one output in pluseaudio :-).

[don fisher]

On 04/22/14 10:16, Tom Horsley wrote:
>  This probably isn't your problem, but maybe it is related:
>
>  Not too long ago I had sound disappear in a random collection
>  of applications. Some could play sound, some couldn't.
>
>  I finally tracked it down to my motherboard supporting
>  two "sound cards" (actually built-in, but it showed up
>  as two devices).
>
>  Apparently someone, somewhere was implementing "load
>  balancing" or some such nonsense (it started happening
>  out of the blue with no hardware changes). If I
>  plugged earphones into the sound output I wasn't
>  using for anything, I could hear the apps where
>  sound had disappeared.
>
>  I finally set the sound profile of the card I wasn't
>  using to "none", and finally everyone started sending
>  sound to the card I was using. (Sheesh!).
>
>  I have no idea why this happened, I had the default
>  sound sink set to the one card I was using everywhere,
>  yet random apps were picking a different one anyway.
>  
Tom,

I have worked with a lot of audio equipment, and there has always been a 
method to select which input you wished to here. From basic tuners to 
mixing boards you have a choice. How does this system know whether I 
want to listen to my music or some junk add from firefox?

Thanks,
Don

[don fisher]

On 04/21/14 22:25, Vikram Goyal wrote:

>  I also have a radeon card for which there is no proprietary driver
>  support now. When I switched to FC 20 I got a horrible resolution of
>  800x600 or maybe lower than that. If that is the issue you are facing
>  then let me know, I might be able to help you out.
>  
My screen has UXGA resolution. When the system boots all I get is 
scrambled lines from Fedora. After booting, I can start FVWM2, a rather 
dumb but very fast window manager, that displays the full 1200X1900 
pixels correctly. So the driver 3.1.0-7 appears to be OK. After that I 
had more problems.

My question is what is Firefox using for audio output after pulse audio 
is killed? There must be a conflict here.

Don

[don fisher]

On 04/22/14 03:07, Paul Cartwright wrote:
>  On 04/21/2014 07:31 PM, don fisher wrote:
> >
> > I find the segfault is rough to decode form the core dump. Is there
> > something special I need to set up to prevent firefox from killing pulse?
> >
> > Please have mercy. It has been a couple of years since I posted.
>  does Chrome or Opera kill pulse?? maybe time to switch browsers...
>  
I use FVWM2 for reasons of speed amd multi screen display. As far as I 
know, it does not kill anything.

Thanks
Don

[Tom Horsley]

This probably isn't your problem, but maybe it is related:

Not too long ago I had sound disappear in a random collection
of applications. Some could play sound, some couldn't.

I finally tracked it down to my motherboard supporting
two "sound cards" (actually built-in, but it showed up
as two devices).

Apparently someone, somewhere was implementing "load
balancing" or some such nonsense (it started happening
out of the blue with no hardware changes). If I
plugged earphones into the sound output I wasn't
using for anything, I could hear the apps where
sound had disappeared.

I finally set the sound profile of the card I wasn't
using to "none", and finally everyone started sending
sound to the card I was using. (Sheesh!).

I have no idea why this happened, I had the default
sound sink set to the one card I was using everywhere,
yet random apps were picking a different one anyway.

[Paul Cartwright]

On 04/21/2014 07:31 PM, don fisher wrote:
>  I find the segfault is rough to decode form the core dump. Is there
>  something special I need to set up to prevent firefox from killing pulse?
>
>  Please have mercy. It has been a couple of years since I posted.  
does Chrome or
Opera kill pulse?? maybe time to switch browsers...

-- 
Paul Cartwright
Registered Linux User #367800 and new counter #561587

[Vikram Goyal]

On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 04:31:29PM -0700, don fisher wrote:
>  When I boot my system I can play music etc. using Rhythmnbox. I also
>  can use the volume control. After running Firefox, the pulse
>  application is gone (pulseaudio --check returns a 1) and I am not
>  able to restart it. But the audio from firefox which must not be
>  using pulse still works fine. Sorry, but I am forced to run an old
>  version of the kernel (version 3.1.0-7.fc16.x86_64) to get video to
>  work in my Dell 1721 laptop with a Radeon video card.
>   
I also have a radeon card for which there is no proprietary driver
support now. When I switched to FC 20 I got a horrible resolution of
800x600 or maybe lower than that. If that is the issue you are facing
then let me know, I might be able to help you out.

-- 
vikram...
         ||||||||
         ||||||||
^^'''''^^||root||^^^'''''''^^
        // \\   ))
       //(( \\// \\
      // /\\ ||   \\
     || / )) ((    \\
-- 
<lilo> "PLEASE RESPECT INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS!"
<lilo> "Please demonstrate intellect." ;)
-- 
  *
 ~|~
  =

[don fisher]

On 04/21/14 17:32, Joe Zeff wrote:
>  On 04/21/2014 05:14 PM, don fisher wrote:
> > I am running Fc16. I have been afraid to upgrade due to the limited
> > support for my video card. I am not trying to restart pulseaudio. I did
> > try after the system failed, but pulseaudio would not restart. I have
> > noticed that when my screen blanks audio pauses, but returns when I move
> > my mouse.
> >
> > Thanks. I can send config files etc. if they would be helpful. I just
> > cannot understand how firefox is using the audio when pulseaudio is
> > gone. Do you think it is attaching the device directly.
>
>  Your config files may help somebody, but not me.  Knowing that you're
>  using F16, before systemd, tells me not to tell you how to restart
>  pulseaudio via systemctl.  And, just to make sure, what DE are you
>  using, because any GUI assistance might be DE-specific.
>
>  Last, have you tried running either F19 or F20 from a LiveCD/USB to see
>  what happens?  You might find out that your card's better supported than
>  you thought, and it will help make sure that your sound issues are or
>  aren't hardware related. 
Zeff,

Thanks for the ideas. The FC16 system does support systemd. I was hoping 
that the fact the Firefox keeps working might be independent of the 
version. What do you think it is writing to?

Don

[Joe Zeff]

On 04/21/2014 05:14 PM, don fisher wrote:
>  I am running Fc16. I have been afraid to upgrade due to the limited
>  support for my video card. I am not trying to restart pulseaudio. I did
>  try after the system failed, but pulseaudio would not restart. I have
>  noticed that when my screen blanks audio pauses, but returns when I move
>  my mouse.
>
>  Thanks. I can send config files etc. if they would be helpful. I just
>  cannot understand how firefox is using the audio when pulseaudio is
>  gone. Do you think it is attaching the device directly. 
Your config files may help somebody, but not me.  Knowing that you're 
using F16, before systemd, tells me not to tell you how to restart 
pulseaudio via systemctl.  And, just to make sure, what DE are you 
using, because any GUI assistance might be DE-specific.

Last, have you tried running either F19 or F20 from a LiveCD/USB to see 
what happens?  You might find out that your card's better supported than 
you thought, and it will help make sure that your sound issues are or 
aren't hardware related.

[don fisher]

On 04/21/14 16:38, Joe Zeff wrote:
>  On 04/21/2014 04:31 PM, don fisher wrote:
> > I find the segfault is rough to decode form the core dump. Is there
> > something special I need to set up to prevent firefox from killing pulse?
>
>  Two things we'll need to know: what version of Fedora are you running
>  and how are you trying to re-start pulseaudio? 
Joe,

I am running Fc16. I have been afraid to upgrade due to the limited 
support for my video card. I am not trying to restart pulseaudio. I did 
try after the system failed, but pulseaudio would not restart. I have 
noticed that when my screen blanks audio pauses, but returns when I move 
my mouse.

Thanks. I can send config files etc. if they would be helpful. I just 
cannot understand how firefox is using the audio when pulseaudio is 
gone. Do you think it is attaching the device directly.

Don

[Joe Zeff]

On 04/21/2014 04:31 PM, don fisher wrote:
>  I find the segfault is rough to decode form the core dump. Is there
>  something special I need to set up to prevent firefox from killing pulse? 
Two things we'll need to know: what version of Fedora are you running 
and how are you trying to re-start pulseaudio?