Audio device becomes dummy output

[pwabrahams]

Now and then I discover that I have no sound and the output device is set to "Diummy Output". I don't really think the problem is with the software I have installed, since most of the time the sound works properly. and when it doesn't, I can recover with

pulseaudio --kill
pulseaudio --start

So something I did is throwing pulseaudio into this bad state.

In general, what causes the current output device to be replaced by Dummy Output? And is there a better way to recover than restarting pulseaudio?

[rfakhrai]

Re: Audio device becomes dummy output

We need a little bit more information. Are you using onboard sound? Do you have an external sound card or any other sound device?

I noticed (and responded to) another question of yours about the missing panel. Did you upgrade to 10.10 or do a clean install? I'm just asking in case the upgrade is the cause of these broken features.

[pwabrahams]

My setup

We need a little bit more information. Are you using onboard sound? Do you have an external sound card or any other sound device?

I have an Asus K60IJ laptop with built-in speakers and also a headphone jack, which I connect to external speakers. I've had some difficulties in getting them to work properly, but I seem now to be able to do it using a combination of alsamixer and the pulseaudio volume controls. But when I get the "Dummy output" message, neither of them works no matter what I do with those controls. Which makes sense, since I'm now controlling the output to the (useless) dummy output device rather than to "Internal analog audio stereo".

I rememver seeing an explantion once of what causes the dummy output device to be used, but i'll be damned if I can retrieve it. It had something to do with some other component preemptiing the speakers, but I can't be more specific than that. If I could be more specific, I probably wouldn't have needed to ask this question.

[vinnywright]

Re: Audio device becomes dummy output

@pwabrahams please quit changing the subject of the thread in mid stream it makes things confusing....

a few things could do this from installing new software to one of your players not liking the default output.

you may knead to pay closer attention to just when it happens to find a common factor ...it may just be pulse some seame to have better luck removing it.....if you still can in 10.10?

search up a thread on pulse or removing pulse .

VINNY

[pwabrahams]

Re: Audio device becomes dummy output

@pwabrahams please quit changing the subject of the thread in mid stream it makes things confusing....

I always thought that the titles on individual posts within a thread were like subtitles -- supplementing but not replacing the main title. After all, if they merely reiterate the main title, of what use are they? To be sure, most people don't use them, and I didn't use that ability in this very post.

a few things could do this from installing new software to one of your players not liking the default output.

you may knead to pay closer attention to just when it happens to find a common factor ...it may just be pulse some seame to have better luck removing it.....if you still can in 10.10?

search up a thread on pulse or removing pulse .

Removing or replacing pulsaudio would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. After all, it works most of the time. What seems to throw it off is listening to streaming audio and then doing some unrelated web activity (in a different Firefox tab). The sound just quits and I then see that "Internal audio analog output" has changed to "Dummy output".

I can recover by killing and restarting pulseaudio and (usually) readjusting the volume, which has gone to zero. But I shouldn't need to do that!