alsa busy

[Kam Leo]

On 7/23/06, Ric Moore <wayward4now at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 2006-07-23 at 17:39 +0200, Nigel Henry wrote:
> > On Sunday 23 July 2006 15:52, Ric Moore wrote:
> > > On Sun, 2006-07-23 at 10:38 +0100, Leon wrote:
> > > > Ric Moore <wayward4now at gmail.com> writes:
> > > > > If alsa continues to complain about being in use, after you've turned
> > > > > everything off, is there a lock on it somewhere? Something is amiss,
> > > > > when I installed, I could view DvD movies and have all the system
> > > > > sounds on. Now, it's crapping out. Ric
> > > >
> > > > Check if /dev/dsp is in use by using `fuser /dev/dsp'.
> > >
> > > Evidently not, there was no output using that. It happens with both
> > > Kaffine, XMMS and Totem.
> > >
> > > XMMS, run from command line in a terminal reports this:
> > > Message: wait_for_helper(): select failed: Interrupted system call
> > > Message: waiting failed: 1
> > > Message: helper_cmd_data(): failed
> > > Message: helper has not terminated
> > > Message: Init failed: 1
> > > Message: helper_cmd_data(): failed
> > > Message: helper has not terminated
> > > Message: wait_for_helper(): select failed: Interrupted system call
> > > Message: waiting failed: 1
> > > Message: helper_cmd_data(): failed
> > > Message: helper has not terminated
> > > Message: Init failed: 1
> > > Message: helper_cmd_data(): failed
> > > Message: helper has not terminated
> > >
> > > It's gotta be some flag that "helper" isn't quiting?
> > >
> > > Mplayer works playing the Dvd, but there is no menu option that I can
> > > find, which means watching a half hour of trailers. heheehehe... this is
> > > sure strange. Anyone seen this behavior? Thanx for the help, Ric
> >
> > Hi Ric.  Anything show up on, ps auxw, that looks like it's using sound? Are
> > you able to stop Alsa, then restart it? Then trying the failing apps again.
> > # /etc/rc.d.init.d/alsasound stop
> > # /etc/rc.s/init.d/alsasound start
> I re-installed alsa and there is still no /etc/rc.d/init.d/alsasound
> nothing. Dinking with arts didn't do anything. I can fire up any game
> and there is no problems. I can play mp3s and oggfiles with nary a burp
> in the barrel. It's on DVD playback that there is a complaint. Beats the
> heck outa me. Ric
>

Since the problem only occurs when you are doing DVD playback
shouldn't you be checking the DVD packages for compatibility? Which
repositories have you enabled to get your multimedia packages?