How to easily fix problems with pulseaudio for newbies

[rado84]

This is a simple instruction for newbies about how to fix problem with pulseaudio on Linux, like missing sound from any application, weird static noise from the speakers, or even noise from the microphone when the environment around it is perfectly quiet. I've done this in Mint but as far as I know it should work with all distros.

1. Open terminal.
2. Type

pulseaudio -k

and press enter. This will kill the audio service and the icon from the bottom right corner will disappear. Don't panic - the disappearance of it is completely normal and wanted.
3. Wait for a few seconds and if the icon doesn't reappear, type

pulseaudio -D

This will start the audio service and with it the perfect Linux sound will return.

Note: if the icon did reappear after Step 2, don't proceed to Step 3 or the terminal will return an error and there's a small chance for you to crash the audio service.

The topic was edited to specify pulseaudio because at the time I opened it pipewire didn't exist yet.

 

[Bayou Bengal]

Tested it, and it worked! Thanks! Handy thing to know! This tip should have a sticky!

 

[Justas]

Thanks bro! Worked !

 

[wizardfromoz]

This tip should have a sticky!

Consider it done

Wiz

 

[rado84]

Since I'm lazy and I like everything to be easy, I turned the first command into a desktop shortcut. Here's how:

1. Create an empty file without extension and place it wherever you want.
2. Open the file and in it type (without the quotes) "pulseaudio -k". Save the file and close it.
3. Right click on the file, go to "Properties", "Preferences" or whatever your File Manager calls that section of the context menu. Click on the tab "Rights" and then on the checkbox "Make this file executable".
4. Go to your desktop, right click on an empty space and select "create a new launcher here".
5. Browse for the file and select it. In title type whatever you want.
6. Click on the checkbox "Launch in terminal", select an icon for it and click OK.

And that's it - you have a one-click-away way to fix your sound when the problem occurs.

 

[wizardfromoz]

I wouldn't call it lazy (OK, I'm lazy too) - I would call it innovative

Rado you might just want to tell some of the folks how to make the file executable, with an example

Cheers

Wizard

 

[rado84]

I just added it to the post, altough I think it's pretty obvious on the "how to".

 

[mistermike]

Since I'm lazy and I like everything to be easy, I turned the first command into a desktop shortcut. Here's how:

1. Create an empty file without extension and place it wherever you want.
2. Open the file and in it type (without the quotes) "pulseaudio -k". Save the file and close it.
3. Right click on the file, go to "Properties", "Preferences" or whatever your File Manager calls that section of the context menu. Click on the tab "Rights" and then on the checkbox "Make this file executable".
4. Go to your desktop, right click on an empty space and select "create a new launcher here".
5. Browse for the file and select it. In title type whatever you want.
6. Click on the checkbox "Launch in terminal", select an icon for it and click OK.

And that's it - you have a one-click-away way to fix your sound when the problem occurs.

pure genius.

 

[omepositer]

This is a simple instruction for newbies about how to fix problem with the sound on Linux, like missing sound from any application, weird static noise from the speakers, or even noise from the microphone when the environment around it is perfectly quiet. I've done this in Mint but as far as I know it should work with all distros.

1. Open terminal.
2. Type

pulseaudio -k

and press enter. This will kill the audio service and the icon from the bottom right corner will disappear. Don't panic - the disappearance of it is completely normal and wanted.
3. Wait for a few seconds and if the icon doesn't reappear, type

pulseaudio -D

This will start the audio service and with it the perfect Linux sound will return.

Note: if the icon did reappear after Step 2, don't proceed to Step 3 or the terminal will return an error and there's a small chance for you to crash the audio service.

Fantastic, the initial "pulseaudio -k" worked when I've tried so many other methods. I'll have a look at the more sophisticated version when I'm a bit more confident.

 

[rado84]

pure genius.

LOL, far from that. It's just that before I started this topic I had some audio crackling problems and from all solutions only this one worked, so I decided to share it.

 

[ScrambledEggs]

Hey y'all, I came to this forum to post a question as to why I get static noise when I plug in a speaker to my machine. Can anyone tell me where the static noise is coming from? What produces it?

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @ScrambledEggs

If the answer to your question is not found with the above solutions, then just start your own Thread in this subforum, as you have started others previously.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[Deleted member 111282]

Since I'm lazy and I like everything to be easy, I turned the first command into a desktop shortcut. Here's how:

1. Create an empty file without extension and place it wherever you want.
2. Open the file and in it type (without the quotes) "pulseaudio -k". Save the file and close it.
3. Right click on the file, go to "Properties", "Preferences" or whatever your File Manager calls that section of the context menu. Click on the tab "Rights" and then on the checkbox "Make this file executable".
4. Go to your desktop, right click on an empty space and select "create a new launcher here".
5. Browse for the file and select it. In title type whatever you want.
6. Click on the checkbox "Launch in terminal", select an icon for it and click OK.

And that's it - you have a one-click-away way to fix your sound when the problem occurs.

Does it matter which file it is?

 

[simis]

@f33dm3bits That was easy. Thanks again.

 

[f33dm3bits]

@f33dm3bits That was easy. Thanks again.

If this fixed your issue than yes it was easy. I didn't expect it would since pulseaudio is restarted after you boot your system, I expected it to be something else that's why I thought it would be better to create a new topic.

 

[simis]

If this fixed your issue than yes it was easy. I didn't expect it would since pulseaudio is restarted after you boot your system, I expected it to be something else that's why I thought it would be better to create a new topic.

Strangely, that only made it go away for a few minutes and now I've got a lot of machine noise again and it's not working anymore.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Strangely, that only made it go away for a few minutes and now I've got a lot of machine noise again and it's not working anymore.

Create new topic then as I suggested

 

[Fanboi]

Strangely, that only made it go away for a few minutes and now I've got a lot of machine noise again and it's not working anymore.

Not knowing your setup, I'm going out on a lomb and assuming you're using analobgue. TBH, I don't know that the HDMI is the problem because you are getting some sound, but this is worth a shot:

1. Disable it ...
When you boot, on the GRUB menu, select (highlight) the default item and press "e".
Now you can edit the boot parameter. Look for

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="blah blah blah"

and add "radeon.audio=0". Then boot. This should disable it, but of course this is considered the "outdated" method, but it's easy. Anyway, if that works, just add it to your boot parameters by editing the /etc/default/grub file, finding the above line and adding the above parameter (you need to edit as root or via sudo).

If not, try blacklisting the driver:

sudo -i

// Check if the module is there:
lsmod | grep radeon

// If it is, then
echo "blacklist radeon" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

update-initramfs

reboot

2. Change priority/primary device...
If that does not work, run "pactl list cards" and give us the output. You can also view your cards in ALSA by runnin "alsamixer" and selecting card (F5/F6 IIRC).

3. See if it's not Pulse causing it by using pure ALSA.

pulseaudio -k
aplay <path/to/mp3>

You may have a latency issue (which I'm suspecting, but may be way off on).

Anyways, try/do everything suggested, give us the details if needed, and we'll go from there. I'm hoping for your sake it's not this issue coz it's tedious fighting with Pulse.

EDIT: As @f33dm3bits suggested, start a new topic and just post what's relevant from these (maybe a link to your first post in this thread for reference).

 

[tekayo]

I have a Latitude 3400 and the icon did not go away and i am running the latest version of Ubuntu. Should I switch to Mint or will I have the same problem?

 

[Crippled2013]

That tip doesn't work with my distro because pulse audio is not used.