[mythtv-users] RE: sound cutting out?

[Johnson, Thor]

Ok, I tried bumping to 2.6.9-gentoo-r1, reinstalling the alsa package, and revving the NVidia kernel, but I still have the same problem:  Without apparent reason, the sound *quits* (-1 bytes of 4096 read when recording, Audio Buffer Overflow on playback).  With the new version, I can restore it to normalcy by unloading the alsa modules and reloading them (heh... mythtv isn't amused.)

It seems to be only mythtv that has the problem (I watched a dvd using xine yesterday; then again the problem is quite intermittent), and it happens on playback, recording, or both (using intel8x0 driver for NForce1 on-board sound).  This also happens when I used a USB soundcard (genericish $39 version at Fry's).

I looked in /var/log/everything/current (using metalog... should I change?), but I don't see any Alsa messages indicating burps...

Anyone else having this problem, any suggestions, or any idea how to debug the sucker?
Or any sources on an inexpensive MoBo for SocketA with (onboard or oncard) LAN+Sound+TV-out?

TIA,
Thor Johnson


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From: Johnson, Thor 
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 11:28 PM
To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
Subject: sound cutting out?

Argh...
 
My mythbox (nForce1, onboard video & sound) was working perfectly until 0.15... at 0.15 sometimes the sound would flake out (funny pitches, volume would jump around), but it was kinda OK (and it seemed to happen mostly when the other parts of the PC went berserk).
 
Now with 0.16 (and it seems to be getting more and more often), the sound will quit, sometimes between shows, sometimes in the middle of shows; it doesn't even matter if you're recording only or doing playback&recording  or just playback (though just playback seems to provoke the beastie less).
 
When it happens, I get the message "only read -1 bytes from /dev/dsp" on the mythbackend log (I put a tail on the file and auto-reboot... but today it has been rebooting every 5 minutes or so it seems).
 
My system:
  MSI odd-brand nForce1 board with 1 PCI slot (had to disable ACPI to get it to cooperate)
  Onboard nForce sound/video/net, using alsa-0.9.0, nvidia drivers, and nvnet -- not trying SPDIF yet...
  Gentoo linux Linux version 2.4.20-gaming-r3 kernel compiled w/GCC 3.2.3
  /mnt/storage 100GB XFS partition, now constanly 90-98% full...
 
I've tried:
  Using nvidia's sound module (got lost trying to get devfs to make the devices)
  Using alsa:default for the mythfrontend (same problem)
  Using alsa:default for mythbackend(couldn't get it to take...)
  Using "Aggressive Soundcard Buffering"-- seemed to make the problem worse
 
Questions:
  1. Am I just making a stupid mistake? (where please ;)
  2. Is there a good way to debug these kinds of things (not a crash... just sound quits)?
 
Thanks!
-Thor Johnson
 
PS... anyone know how to get outlook web access to do plain text?