ALSA broken pipe

[jduv]

Hello again,

I looked through the forums for something similar to my problem and I didn't come up with anything. Occasionally while playing something in VLC the audio will break and I will get the following messages in a terminal:

Code: Select all

[00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe) [00000325] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe)

What could be causing this? I haven't localized the problem to a specific action, because I can play a song in amarok and a video in VLC and both play simultaneously until something breaks the alsa pipe. It seems to be localized specifically to AVI containers.

I'm running SuSE linux 10.2 with vlc version 0.8.6a. I understand that Linux is a totally different platform with many different things that could go wrong, but VLC works amazingly well on Mac OSX and Windows. I have ran into two very annoying/frustrating issues in Linux so far, but I would really like to continue using VLC. It could be because I'm a semi-noob

[jduv]

I played around with some other sound options, and I still get random broken pipes. I am unable to localize this. Has anyone else ever had a problem like this? My hardware info:

Card Model: CS4614/22/24 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator]

I'm not sure if that's correct, because it's actually a Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz jacked from my old Dell that I bought late 2000.

[jduv]

Another quick update, if I change the Audio channels in VLC, the sound comes back. So for now I'm stuck with switching between Stereo and Reverse Stereo whenever my sound goes out.

[shift]

i have the same problem on my thinkpad t20.

any help would be greatly appreciated...

shift

[shift]

*bump*

help. please.

[juahan]

I have the same problem, but haven't found the solution. Using Ubuntu 6.10 and Santa Cruz soundcard.

[juahan]

Actually, few minutes after I brought it up in here, I seem to found the answer.

Made .asoundrc file to my home-directory with following contens

Code: Select all

pcm.!default { type hw card 0 } ctl.!default { type hw card 0 } pcm.dmixer { type dmix ipc_key 1024 slave { pcm "hw:0,0" # period_time 0 # set to 0 lets period size and buffer size do everything period_time 2 # this is the general standard even though often is set to 0 # period_time 84000 # period_size 512 period_size 1024 # oss period frames this is the one shown as hardware for me # period_size 128 # period_size 2048 # period_size 4096 # not great to go over this # buffer_time 340000 # buffer_size 16384 # this is the one shown as hardware but causes huge mess # buffer_size 8192 # buffer_size 4096 buffer_size 2052 # this is the one i use rate 44100 # can let card decide this on it's own this one is what hardware says # rate 48000 } bindings { 0 0 1 1 } } ctl.dmixer { type hw card 0 }

I'm still not totally sure if it works, but still haven't had sound problems after making the file.

[juahan]

And it worked over 15 minutes without any problems and now, 10 seconds after posting the possible solution, there were broken pipes again The answer still might lie in that alsa config file, but don't really know how to manipulate the file.

[just_popping_in]

I have exactly the same problem
OS: Debian testing
VLC Version 0.8.6a
before the update it worked very well.
However, this might be an issue related to alsa only, because switching to OSS sound solves the problem mostly (some scratch noises still remain).

Strangely alsa works with other applications quite well (including earlier VLC versions).

Best regards

[just_popping_in]

Oh, forgot to post the workaround for non OSS systems.
In VLC switch audio output to OSS.
Starting vlc with:
aoss vlc
should do the trick (at least it did for me).

[gammell]

I have the same problem with VLC and a CS46XX card. I found a bug report here that includes a supposed solution:
https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/1165
Unfortunately it involves compiling.

I'm running XUbuntu 7.04.

[ubunomaeo]

System:
Xubuntu 7.04
Santa Cruz Soundcard
Intel Pentium III 733MHZ

I'm getting the same problem, (alsa error, broken pipe, [with starving & silence errors, depending on movie]
so far I've only tested it on Divx movies, and have tried changing the audio output module through the refresh list, but have had no luck. Have also tried to look around for other applications [kaffeine, medibuntu, mplayer] to play videos but they either won't work or cause more problems..

The audio errors only start to appear after a few minutes [roughly around 3-4 mins], and can only be "solved" through disabling the audio track and enabling it. I'm sure your other "fix" [stereo/mono] works too..

Anyone got any ideas?


*** UPDATE *****

I tried alot of different things, but think I finally got it to work [half an hour into a movie, and no errors]..

All I did was remove and re-install the alsa drivers:

In Console:

sudo apt-get remove alsa
sudo apt-get install alsa


Hope it works!

[desertc]

I tried alot of different things, but think I finally got it to work [half an hour into a movie, and no errors]..
All I did was remove and re-install the alsa drivers:

This did not work for me.

By the way, I have been trying to update the bug #1165 with my information, but the bug tracking site requires "verification" to update. No one has been able to verify me in the #videolan IRC channel in the last four times I checked, so the verification only seems to be preventing new bug information. It has been frustrating to ask for advice how I can report this and help in the chat and get ignored by the twenty or so lurkers in there. (I only found this forum through yet another Google search trying to figure this out.)

This issue is a big program for me, and the VLC is the only application I use having the problem.

Every 5 minutes the sound cuts out for 20-50 seconds while "[00000345] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe)" repeatedly displays through STDERR. The error number can change slightly, 0340 for example.

I also get crackling in the speakers when the volume is turned up in VLC software. No errors when that occurs though.

I do not think these are ALSA problems, despite what the VLC error says. I can run the same videos in Totem and not ever have an issue, not even the crackling at loud software volumes.

I sure hope this gets fixed. VLC is a nice application, and I like the video streaming. But, I am ready to jump to another program, pronto. Let me know what I can do to help.

Ubuntu 7.04 (no metaverse apps loaded - except VLC), AMD64 operating system version (no 32-bit libraries loaded), brand new PCI Turtle Beach - Santa Cruz. Using VLC media player 0.8.6 (wxWidgets interface).

[desertc]

Another quick update, if I change the Audio channels in VLC, the sound comes back. So for now I'm stuck with switching between Stereo and Reverse Stereo whenever my sound goes out.

Yes, I find this works. Annoying work around, but I'll keep the Preferences... window opened, change the ALSA Device Name from "Default" to "CS46xx" or back again, and when I click Save the sound comes back online. Then, I open the window back up so I can do the same thing when it cuts out the next time.

I can also wait 20-50 seconds while the problem fixes itself. (I'm getting good at reading lips.)

[desertc]

[00000348] alsa audio output error: write failed (Broken pipe)

[diamondblast]

Another quick update, if I change the Audio channels in VLC, the sound comes back. So for now I'm stuck with switching between Stereo and Reverse Stereo whenever my sound goes out.

Yes, I find this works. Annoying work around, but I'll keep the Preferences... window opened, change the ALSA Device Name from "Default" to "CS46xx" or back again, and when I click Save the sound comes back online. Then, I open the window back up so I can do the same thing when it cuts out the next time.

I can also wait 20-50 seconds while the problem fixes itself. (I'm getting good at reading lips.)

it works for me too, I just keep playing with the Preferences...
you should teach me reading lips at least something good came out of this mass
thanks all

[phineas]

In case anyone comes by this dead thread:
On my system, this problem was caused by insufficient space in '/tmp' (or possible '/')

[vlc_4_linux_is_flaky]

Sound card:
01:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
Subsystem: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
I/O ports at de00
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: C-Media PCI
Kernel modules: snd-cmipci

Kernel version:
2.6.35-ARCH

VLC version:
VLC media player 1.1.4 The Luggage (revision exported)

[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe
[0x8f8f62c] alsa audio output error: cannot write: Broken pipe