[PLUG] Flash 9 Ubuntu audio problem solved

[Bill Jonas <bill@billjonas.com>]

Hi all,

I know it's been a while since I've posted here, but I just wanted to
share a solution to a problem with you.  I actually hadn't asked for
help on this, but I figured that it would be good to share, since Google
didn't know the answer to my question.  PLUG should have enough Google
juice for this. :-)

Situation
=========
Sound in Flash 7 was out of sync (I think that part of the
problem is ALSA vs. OSS.), and nothing I'd tried worked.  I was really
excited, therefore about the Flash 9 beta, but audio didn't work at
*all*, period.  If I ran gflashplayer from an xterm, it would go for a
while, and then I'd get these three error messages repeated over and
over, in sequence (taken from the final release, but the beta was very
similar):

ALSA lib pcm_direct.c:187:(make_local_socket) socket failed: Too many open files
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:894:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to connect client
ALSA lib pcm_hw.c:1355:(_snd_pcm_hw_open) Invalid value for card

I figured it was a problem with the beta and that it would be sorted out
in the final release, but the final release exhibited the same problem.

Also, mpg321 had started acting up.  The sound was distorted: The pitch
was a few notes too high, and the tempo was too fast.  I didn't realize
that these problems were related.  mpg123 still worked fine, though, so
I just made do with that.

Environment
===========
Sound card: SoundBlaster Live! value (emu10k1 chipset, snd_emu10k1 ALSA
module)
Distribution: Ubuntu Edgy, upgraded from Dapper (Kubuntu desktop,
actually).  I can't recall how far back I'd originally installed this
system, if it was Breezy, Hoary, or Warty.  It could've been as far back
as Warty.
Kernel: The latest Ubuntu-packaged kernel, 2.6.17-10-386.

There is an on-board audio controller on my motherboard (I think), but
it is disabled in the BIOS.

Solution
========
Delete /etc/asound.conf.  (Well, what I actually did was 'mv
/etc/asound.conf /etc/asound.conf.bak', but you get the idea.)

I haven't yet noticed any ill effects.  I think that asound.conf isn't
too terribly important if you have just one sound card.

I suspect that some upgraded version of ALSA changed subtly between the
original installation of my system and this version, causing breakage.
(A friend of mine who did a fresh install of Edgy reported no problems
with the new Flash 9.) Also, /etc/asound.conf isn't owned by any
package, so I'm not sure what generates it.  The string 'asound.conf' is
mentioned in the postrm script for alsa-utils, and there's a
/usr/share/gnome/help/desktopguide/sample/asound.conf_configuresoundproperly
that belongs to ubuntu-docs.list.

But it's working great for me now without the file, so YMMV.

I hope this helps someone else out.

-- 
Bill Jonas    *    bill@billjonas.com    *    http://www.billjonas.com/
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your front door.  You step
into the Road,  and if you don't keep your feet,  there  is  no knowing
where you might be swept off to."  --  Bilbo Baggins
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug