Microphone stops working after some time

[TheKrokodil]

I'm currently using Ubuntu on my Thinkpad R51e, and got nearly everything to work after some time. But there is still something quite annoying: I'm using PulseAudio (which I, by the way, had to run in system instance mode, as otherwise the sound was all splitted into 1sec parts combined with 0,5sec part freezes) and can use the microphone in the gnome sound recorder, team speak, ... without any problems just after starting the system.

But after some random time, which can be from 5min to 2 hours, the microphone suddendly stops working. The PulseAudio volume meter just won't display anything anymore; in the PulseAudio sink properties the latency of the microphone sink shows the time since the microphone didn't work (in sec..); Every newly started recording program will just freeze. If I press the record button in the gnome sound recorder, It will initiate recording but freeze at 0 sec without any sound level activity; and if pressed again it will freeze entirely.

Anyone any idea? Restarting Pulseaudio via /etc/init.d/pulseaudio hasn't helped; and the same error occured just when removing pulseaudio completly and using alsa. Would be glad for any help.

Thinkpad R51e
Soundcard: 00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Modem is blacklisted.

lsmod:

snd_atiixp             24204  8 
snd_ac97_codec        112292  1 snd_atiixp
ac97_bus                9856  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            46336  0 
snd_mixer_oss          22656  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                83204  6 snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy          10756  0 
snd_seq_oss            37760  0 
snd_seq_midi           14336  0 
snd_rawmidi            29696  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     15104  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                56880  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              29704  5 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14988  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd                    62628  20 snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore              15200  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         16904  2 snd_atiixp,snd_pcm

[TheKrokodil]

Anyone able to help?

[TheKrokodil]

*push*

[TheKrokodil]

Yet another *bump*..

..no one?

[BinaryMn]

bump. i'm having the same problem.

[JoWi]

I'm having the same problem:
Hardware: Laptop hp 6735s

$ lspci | grep -i audio 
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

Running Ubuntu Lucid (10.04), PulseAudio. The problem was equally present with 9.10.

Right after booting, the microphone works nice. I'm usually using it with Skype.

When making a "Skype Test Call", then Skype asks me to record a message for 10 seconds, afterwards, it plays a "bing", then it plays my message back to me and continues with another "bing".

After some time skyping, the microphone stops working.

When the mic does not work, and I make a "Skype Test Call", then Skype asks me to record my message, afterwards I hear the "bing", and instantly afterwards the second "bing" - there is NO 10-seconds-break between the "bing"s. In this state, if opening the "Audio Settings" window from the volume control icon, the "recording level" meter is frozen. Any audio recording software doesn't work neither.

Most of the times, I can repair the mic by closing all apps and performing

sudo alsa force-reload

However, after repairing, the first "Skype Test Call" will always end up with the following: After recording my message, I hear the first "bing", then I hear my voice, but totally scrambled, not understandable and reduced to approx 2 seconds, then the second "bing" as normal. The second "Skype Test Call" afterwards then works perfectly and I can use the mic normally.

Here are some programs which usually make the microphone stop working:

• Any program causing high cpu usage
• Thunderbird
• Firefox, having a site with a Flash animation open
• Ubuntu update manager

(90% reproducibility to make the mic stop working. However, if not starting any program during talking, the microphone will work for hours without problems. With Update manager 100% reproducibility.)

(The procedures I have explained with "Skype Test Call" have been confirmed by talking to real persons, thus this is NOT a "Skype Test Call" specific problem.)

Can someone out there please give an advice or help fixing this?

[JoWi]

Any ideas?

[lidex]

Anyone able to help?

Try this. Using a Terminal="Applications->Accessories->Terminal"
Open this file for editing:

 gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Insert this line at the bottom:

 options snd-hda-intel model=thinkpad

Save. Close. Reboot. Check your levels in alsamixer.

 alsamixer

Press <F6> to select the correct soundcard.
Press <F3> to show playback levels. <F4> selects capture levels [or use <Tab>]
Use the left/right arrow keys to select and up/down arrow keys to change levels. <M> to mute/unmute.
Go to "System ->Preferences ->Sound" and make sure the correct soundcard is default and adjust your profile on the hardware tab.

[Stay]

The same problem here on my desktop Acer aspire T660:

$ lspci | grep -i audio 
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

I tried to add proposed option to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf like:

options snd-hda-intel model=acer
or
options snd-hda-intel model=acer-aspire

but after adding it and rebooting, micro didn't work at all.

Any input on this matter is very appreciated!

[lidex]

If this is happening with skype, make sure to disable skype preference to allow it to change mixer levels.