Audio is Driving Me Mad

[logan01]

For the past 3 weeks or so, my audio has diminished on my laptop using Kubuntu 14.04. I also have Windows 10 on the same laptop and it's great with the audio.

My ignorance of audio, drivers, and such:

Do both OS share common audio-related drivers?

My laptop is an HP and at times I download the most current drivers per recommendation from HP. Do these impact only the Windows side? That's where the notifications appear from HP. I assume they play no role when I'm logged in to the Kubuntu side of my laptop.

Is the memory on my Kubuntu side all of a sudden lacking and can't keep up with audio / video?

I discovered the issues while watching / playing a youtube music video therefore I thought it might be a streaming issue.

Downloaded mp3s and mp4s are just as bad. Today I listened to a youtube. It was the video of the giant alligator on the Florida golf course. A short video with a guy talking. I barely understood what he was saying.

The audio/video doesn't stop and the video side continues flawlessly. The audio can get to a point once or more times and sounds like a skip or as though it skips and then walks over itself as though trying to make up for lost time.

Can my audio related stuff (software) be purged from Kubuntu and I can start anew? If so, I need guidance please.

[sithlord48]

your drivers for [windows | linux] are not affecting your other [linux | windows] install.

try with compositing off (alt+shift+f12 toggles it) see if that changes anything. if it does check your compositing settings.

youtube can be funny some times . I have problems with it on some computers when using firefox and not on others using firefox but i don't have issues if i use chromium for youtube . (try chromium if your not )

there is always the possibility that your driver for linux is not correct also. can you tell us what audio chipset you have? video would be good to know also . run the command lshw and paste the audio / video sections .

[logan01]

richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$ lshw
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
richard-hp-15-notebook-pc 
    description: Computer
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: vsyscall32
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       physical id: 0
     *-memory
          description: System memory
          physical id: 0
          size: 7874MiB
     *-cpu
          product: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU  N2830  @ 2.16GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 1
          bus info: cpu@0
          size: 1211MHz
          capacity: 1211MHz
          width: 64 bits
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer rdrand lahf_lm 3dnowprefetch ida arat epb dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid tsc_adjust smep erms cpufreq
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC Transaction Register
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 0e
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=iosf_mbi_pci
          resources: irq:0
        *-display
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0                                                                                                                                                         
             version: 0e                                                                                                                                                                        
             width: 32 bits                                                                                                                                                                     
             clock: 33MHz                                                                                                                                                                       
             capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
             resources: irq:91 memory:90000000-903fffff memory:80000000-8fffffff ioport:3050(size=8)
        *-storage
             description: SATA controller
             product: Atom Processor E3800 Series SATA AHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 13
             bus info: pci@0000:00:13.0
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: storage ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
             resources: irq:89 ioport:3048(size=8) ioport:305c(size=4) ioport:3040(size=8) ioport:3058(size=4) ioport:3020(size=32) memory:90914000-909147ff
        *-usb
             description: USB controller
             product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series USB xHCI
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 14
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.0
             version: 0e
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: xhci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=xhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:87 memory:90900000-9090ffff
        *-generic
             description: Encryption controller
             product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1a
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=mei_txe latency=0
             resources: irq:92 memory:90800000-908fffff memory:90700000-907fffff
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1b
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
             version: 0e
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
             resources: irq:94 memory:90910000-90913fff
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:16 memory:90600000-906fffff
           *-generic
                description: Unassigned class
                product: RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                version: 01
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=rtsx_pci latency=0
                resources: irq:88 memory:90600000-90600fff
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:17 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:90500000-905fffff
           *-network
                description: Wireless interface
                product: RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
                logical name: wlan0
                version: 01
                serial: 74:29:af:63:7b:70
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8188ee driverversion=3.19.0-59-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.212 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
                resources: irq:93 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:90500000-90503fff
        *-pci:2
             description: PCI bridge
             product: Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.2
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:18 ioport:1000(size=4096) memory:90400000-904fffff
           *-network
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 08
                serial: d0:bf:9c:86:55:c6
                size: 10Mbit/s
                capacity: 100Mbit/s
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8106e-2_0.0.1 04/23/13 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
                resources: irq:90 ioport:1000(size=256) memory:90404000-90404fff memory:90400000-90403fff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power Control Unit
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=lpc_ich latency=0
             resources: irq:0
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: Atom Processor E3800 Series SMBus Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 0e
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:90915000-9091501f ioport:3000(size=32)
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$

[logan01]

Here's two suggested Terminal commands I ran:

[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo aplay -l[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica][sudo] password for richard: [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC3227 Analog [ALC3227 Analog][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]  Subdevices: 1/1[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]  Subdevices: 1/1[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#282828][FONT=helvetica]richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$ 

richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$ lspci -v | grep -A7 -i "audio"
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller (rev 0e)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 21de
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 94
        Memory at 90910000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor E3800 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 0e) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$ 
[/FONT][/COLOR]

[logan01]

I ran VLC in Terminal. I then opened a .mp3 to check for any error messages. The last two entries are from exiting VLC.

richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$ vlc
VLC media player 2.1.6 Rincewind (revision 2.1.6-0-gea01d28)
[0x1486118] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Object::connect: No such signal org::freedesktop::UPower::DeviceAdded(QDBusObjectPath)
Object::connect: No such signal org::freedesktop::UPower::DeviceRemoved(QDBusObjectPath)
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
[0x7f0d1c001248] main vout display error: Failed to resize display
QtDBus: cannot relay signals from parent QObject(0x7f0d5c55abb0 "scheduler") unless they are emitted in the object's thread QThread(0x7f0d5c000b90 ""). Current thread is QThread(0x14862d0 "").
QtDBus: cannot relay signals from parent QObject(0x7f0d5c522e30 "") unless they are emitted in the object's thread QThread(0x7f0d5c000b90 ""). Current thread is QThread(0x14862d0 "").
richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$

[logan01]

Can the HDMI indicated in the Terminal (post #4) be causing my issue. Here's the results of running alsamixer in Terminal:

[logan01]

Moments ago, I hooked my older stand alone hard drive to the laptop. It has mostly music on it. I played for songs from it and had no issues. I just now played 2 songs that are on my laptop (Kubuntu) hard drive. No issues. What I just played a song directly from youtube with no issues. What the crap? The only 2 differences are (1), the external hard drive is plugged in to the laptop, (2), this morning I had a small "software" update downloaded which I installed.

[Snowhog]

Wouldn't have been 'hooking up the external hard drive'; most likely the software update. It happens. Be happy. Do the happy dance.

[logan01]

Wouldn't have been 'hooking up the external hard drive'; most likely the software update. It happens. Be happy. Do the happy dance.

Happy dance, happy dance. Better lucky than good. Though I wish I knew what I was doing.

[Nasty7]

logan01, did you get it figured out?

I was wondering what would happen if you typed "S" while you are in alsamixer instead of "F6" and will that allow you to choose your Default Device? Tell me how it goes.

Also was wondering, if you went ahead and shut down the "Internal Mic Boost", just use the Right arrow to move to that device and Mute it or turn it all the way down. Were you using the Internal Mic?

And, if you could post the exact Model of your pc it might produce some better hits as to what is going on. Could be the Hardware, and again, we might get some better search hits this way.

Cheers, Nasty7

[logan01]

Haven't figured it out. I typed "S" moments ago and it gave me the blue window below. I didn't know what to do therefore I did nothing. I also "zeroed-out" Internal Mic Boost as indicated in the second graphic. Is there an app to download which will display all my internals similar to Belarc Advisor for Windows? I found one named (Hardinfo) if it's worth a hoot. As I post this, I will restart my laptop and give an audio file or two a try.

[logan01]

It's still messed up. Just watched a youtube music video (Adele). The video appears fine but anywhere along the audio track (randomly), it will experience a skip, stutter, etc. Probably best described as a stutter because I don't think it actually skips anything. Same deal happened with a mp3 saved to my hard drive. Conducted an experiment. Streamed 2 songs from Youtube. Each one is a slow song with excellent "clarity" in both instruments and vocals. They both "stuttered". Downloaded them. I have 3 media players; VLC, Amarok, Dragon Player. They stuttered in VLC and not in the other two. I have no idea how streaming works though I assume it's not playing through one of those 3 media players.

[Nasty7]

Okay, sorry I could not be of help. If it were me I would choose "Default" but I have a Backup Image if needed. I still don't think it should say "Intel VallyView2 HDMI under the "Chip" line at the top Left of your alsamixer screen, but I could be wrong. I would also compare the differences while using a LiveDVD as Al pointed out. Then at least you know if a simple setting has changed. I really studied up on this but it is all quite confusing.

Did you check the Audio settings in BIOS?

A lot of info I read was saying that these sound devices share other apps, so if you are doing something in another app that needs the sound it would interfere and make this stuttering, like between pulseaudio and alsa, but it is hard to know which app might be using it. Some were also saying to only use alsa alone, or, use only pulse audio alone.

What pc Model do you have? I could do some more searches with it. Unfortunately my skills are not all that great.

Is there an app to download which will display all my internals similar to Belarc Advisor for Windows?

As far as I know not like Belarc, but you could do this in Terminal in Ubuntu's then hit Enter.

sudo lshw -short

I like inxi best but Ubuntu don't come with that by Default. You need to install it:

sudo apt-get install inxi

Then to get the output

inxi -Fx

"hardinfo" is very good, it's free install it! Then just type into the Menu to open, "Run hardinfo" I don't think any of this will give the Model # and that would help for searches.

[logan01]

Sorry about that. The notebook is a hp 15-f033wm. I upped the RAM to 8GB.

System:    Host: richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC Kernel: 3.19.0-61-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.4) 
           Desktop: KDE 4.13.3 (Qt 4.8.6) Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP 15 Notebook PC version: 096A100003405F00050660180
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 233F version: 06.16 Bios: Insyde version: F.23 date: 08/05/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Celeron CPU N2830 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 8652.8 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 499.741 MHz 2: 499.741 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Bay Trail GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.19.0-61-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 1000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: d0:bf:9c:86:55:c6
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8188ee port: 2000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 74:29:af:63:7b:70
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (3.8% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST500LT012 size: 500.1GB temp: 39C 
Partition: ID: / size: 28G used: 12G (45%) fs: ext4 ID: /home size: 55G used: 6.1G (12%) fs: ext4 
           ID: swap-1 size: 8.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 199 Uptime: 11:37 Memory: 2074.9/7874.7MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: N/A 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.11) inxi: 1.9.17 
richard@richard-HP-15-Notebook-PC:~$

[logan01]

I find nothing about audio settings in BIOS. Looks like audio settings would be under the Advanced tab of BIOS. I have no Advanced tab. Perhaps laptops don't have that.