Jump to content

Sound problems when playing .wav and .ogg files


fuzzylizard
 Share

Recommended Posts

I am having a strange sound problem when ever I go to play wave files. Basically, the processor usage goes to 100% and stays there until I kill the wave file.

 

This all started when I upgraded to kde 3.1.3 using texstar's rpms. It is most noticeable whenever I login. The login process does not play the normal sound, instead the cpu usage goes to 100% according to gkrellm and I have to manually go in a kill the sound. However, the computer will play mp3 files using xmms with no problems.

 

Along with this, if I try to test any of the sound notifiations inside Kopete -- which are all .ogg files -- I get this horrible garbled distorted output that sounds just terrible.

 

Any ideas as to what might be going wrong here?

 

Details:

Mandrake 9.1

KDE 3.1.3-4 texstar

Mobo: ECS something with integrated sound

 

I also can not launch the arts control tool without getting an error. Somethng to the point of

 

unable to launch arts, make sure artsd is running and your kdelibs is not older then kdemulitmedia, which it is not. They are both 3.1.3 with kdelibs being 3.1.3-9 and kdemultimedia being 3.1.3-4.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest GorGor

Look I have no expertise to answer this question so while you wait for a better reply consider these options.

 

1) in (mcc) mdk control centre, services to startup, is sound tick for ON at boot?

 

2) In (kcontrol) Kde control panel , have a look at the sound section, is test sound greyed out when you first look? If so, I suspect your sound config files need to be overwritten. I had to play around with my settings until I got the sound to play on startup of KDE. I use ICE normally so I am working from memory.

 

3) still in kcontrol, up the top area you will find applications that KDE will try to use b4 another. YOu may need to change the order kde tries to open a wav file. You will see what I mean when you do a bit of clicking.

 

good luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look I have no expertise to answer this question so while you wait for a better reply consider these options.

 

1) in (mcc) mdk control centre, services to startup, is sound tick for ON at boot?

 

Yes, sound is set to start at boot. And according to the little messages that get displayed on the screen, ALSA starts with no problems.

 

2)  In (kcontrol) Kde control panel , have a look at the sound section, is test sound greyed out when you first look? If so, I suspect your sound config files need to be overwritten. I had to play around with my settings until I got the sound to play on startup of KDE.  I use ICE normally so I am working from memory.

 

Now this is a problem. The 'test sound' button is greyed out. How do I overwrite or reconfig my config files?

 

Did you also upgrade your qt libraries when upgrading to texstar KDE?

Yep, just did this and no difference. I rebooted and KDE got stuck trying to play the intro/boot wav file -- cpu went to 100% and nothing else would play until I killed the process.

 

The very strange thing is that XMMS will play mp3 files and mplayer will also play mpga files without a problem. However, XMMS is set to use OSS and ALSO, so that may make a difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, if you don't have any important files in your ~/.kde directory (such as kpersonalizer calendars and stuff), you can try deleting that directory then restart kde. Maybe one of the options from Texstar KDE is incompatible with Mandrake's own KDE (Texstar's are newer after all). KDE will rebuild the default configuration then you can check whether your problem still persist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, did that and got an interesting error that hopefully someone can translate for me.

 

Sound server informational message:

Error while initializing the sound driver:

device /dev/dsp can't be opened (Device or resource busy)

The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

 

I also tried sound in Gnome and no go there either. (however, I did not restart X or reboot before trying gnome. I don't know if that makes a difference though)

 

So... How long before 9.2 is released?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest GorGor

test sound greyed out and null device were what I got as well.

 

umm, have you tried in su mode running sndconfig?

 

2) other options are go to the kcontrol sound I/O tab and pulling down the different sound servers and trying a different one than the default which is auto.

 

3) for me I had to install off the cds and run sndconfig as I have a crappy PCI sound card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

test sound greyed out and null device were what I got as well.

 

umm, have you tried in su mode running  sndconfig?

 

2) other options are go to the kcontrol sound I/O tab and pulling down the different sound servers and trying a different one than the default which is auto.

 

3)  for me I had to install off the cds and run sndconfig as I have a crappy PCI sound card.

 

I am trying the second option to see what will happen. I couldn't find sndconfig to run. I tried several different variants of the command as well. (Am I missing something here?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest GorGor

Do you have THREE cds of mdk? try mcc add software and do a search for it.

 

ps if you can't find it, you can go to www.rpmfind.net or do a google search.

 

I am not saying you need it but it won't hurt to try as you currently have got far with the other suggestions.

 

EDIT

 

YOu mention you only know a part of your sound cards name. try reading syslog if its turned on under mcc System Services ...check todays date so the file is not huge and do a keyword seach for ecs or leave it blank if that fails and see what hardware Mdk is detecting.

 

Then you do a google using linux and your sound card name and see what you get.And/or post back here ok?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I installed sndconfig and and according to it found out the name of my sound card and also found out that according to sndconfig, my sound card is not supported. That may explain the problems -- although, not sure how XMMS is using the sound card then though.

 

Anyway, here is the info on the sound card.

 

Silicon Integrated Systems

[siS] SiS7012 PCI Audio Accelerator

 

Anyone know how to get it working?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm.. that card should be supported in mandrake since it's a SIS chipset. Here is a link to how to enable that card.. http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...hlight=sis+7012

 

However, xmms can find that card ok.. so sound should be working. It just that it seems you load something alongside X that take control of that device and doesn't let go.. causing artsd to think that /dev/dsp is busy.

 

Why don't you kill artsd and restart it from the KDE control panel again?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the menu, go to Configuration - KDE - Sound - Sound System.

 

Uncheck the "Start aRTs soundserver on startup" box, then click "Apply". This will ask if you want to shut down the server now. Choose "yes".

 

Before starting it up again, you might want to check the playing of wav and ogg files, see if they work.

 

To turn aRTs back on, follow the same steps, except check the "Start aRTs soundserver on startup" box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I can stop the server. However, if I try to play a wav file, the cpu usage still goes to 100%. If I try to start the sound server using OSS, there is no problem. However, if I try to start it using ALSA, I tend to get an error.

 

Sound server fatal error:

cpu overload, aborting

 

I followed the link listed above and made sure that the correct module was being loaded. That has not solved a thing.

 

I am coming to the conclusion that whatever the program is that actually plays wav and ogg files must be dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you might wanna try updating to KDE3.1.4. i know (among other issues) they address some bugs with aRts & memory leaks. here's the change log from 3.1.3 to 3.1.4.......

KDE change log

 

also, you can try associating wav & ogg files with a different player in KCC->components->file associations & see if that helps (maybe?).

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...