restart sound ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid

December 21, 2008 | In Linux | 6 Comments

ubuntu is apparently switching to pulse audio in 8.10 and future releases. Till they get it correct, some fixes for when sound stalls:


sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart

But sometimes this won’t work if something is really holding on to the sound so do:

#############################################
The Fix
#############################################
## List open files; search for pcm using sudo to search all directories!!
name@comp:~$ sudo lsof | grep pcm
## shows the process id(s) of any sound processes .
## kill them:
name@comp:~$ kill -9 5079
name@comp:~$ kill -9 5080
## restart alsa sound:
sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart


clears any locked audio usage and allows to restart ubuntu sound with no reboot!

The output of the “sudo lsof | grep pcm” command above may look something like this:

lsof: WARNING: can’t stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/gare/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
pulseaudi 6961 gare mem CHR 116,5 13126 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p
pulseaudi 6961 gare 43u CHR 116,5 13126 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p

This fix is based on the locked Ubuntu forum thread here. The key difference is to use “sudo” to get all sound usages.

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