protonscr

Choppy/crackling notification sound [pure ALSA]

steamclosed reviewedAudio
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#3183 · opened 2014-03-02 by rkfg · updated 2019-07-18 · 7 comments · github
Rrkfg 2014-03-02 github

I don't use PulseAudio, but this happens after some time. I leave Steam client running all day long and maybe 24 hours later its notification sounds become distorted. I run "Verify integrity of game cache" of any installed game and then try to click outside the modal window. Steam plays the notification sound and it has crackling noise. Restarting Steam helps but only for a day or so. Nothing specific in the Steam logs but this may be related (found in /var/log/kern.log):
Mar 2 03:53:29 homecomp kernel: [291391.011482] hda-intel 0000:00:1b.0: Unstable LPIB (65528 >= 8192); disabling LPIB delay counting

Games work fine though once I left Hotline Miami running for a day and after that it also had similar sound issues. On the other hand, I have Google Chrome running for days and it doesn't have these audio issues.

Sysinfo:

Processor Information:
    Vendor:  GenuineIntel
    CPU Family:  0x6
    CPU Model:  0x2a
    CPU Stepping:  0x7
    CPU Type:  0x0
    Speed:  3800 Mhz
    8 logical processors
    4 physical processors
    HyperThreading:  Supported
    FCMOV:  Supported
    SSE2:  Supported
    SSE3:  Supported
    SSSE3:  Supported
    SSE4a:  Unsupported
    SSE41:  Supported
    SSE42:  Supported

Network Information:
    Network Speed:  

Operating System Version:
    Debian GNU/Linux testing (jessie) (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.12-1-amd64
    X Server Vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server Release:  11403000
    X Window Manager:  awesome
    Steam Runtime Version:  steam-runtime-release_2014-02-05

Video Card:
    Driver:  NVIDIA Corporation GeForce GTX 770/PCIe/SSE2

    Driver Version:  4.4.0 NVIDIA 331.49
    OpenGL Version: 4.4
    Desktop Color Depth: 24 bits per pixel
    Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
    VendorID:  0x10de
    DeviceID:  0x1184
    Number of Monitors:  1
    Number of Logical Video Cards:  1
    Primary Display Resolution:  1920 x 1200
    Desktop Resolution: 1920 x 1200
    Primary Display Size: 21.50" x 13.86"  (25.55" diag)
                                            54.6cm x 35.2cm  (64.9cm diag)
    Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
    Primary VRAM: 2048 MB
    Supported MSAA Modes:  2x 4x 8x 16x 

Sound card:
    Audio device: Realtek ALC889

Memory:
    RAM:  32227 Mb

Miscellaneous:
    UI Language:  English
    LANG:  en_US.UTF-8
    Microphone:  Not set
    Total Hard Disk Space Available:  240236 Mb
    Largest Free Hard Disk Block:  19660 Mb

Installed software:

Recent Failure Reports:
    Wed Feb 26 15:31:37 2014 GMT: file ''/tmp/dumps/assert_20140226192930_31.dmp'', upload no: ''Couldn't connect to server''
    Thu Feb 27 17:29:09 2014 GMT: file ''/tmp/dumps/assert_20140227212739_26.dmp'', upload no: ''HTTP response code said error''
Ccjwijtmans 2014-03-11 github

Sometimes game sounds starting bugging out and i think its somehow related to the steam libraries. Dont ask me how. It happens a lot in NS2.

Rrkfg 2014-03-11 github

Never heard this sort of crackling in NS2 and I play it a lot (350 hours on record). There are issues with sound in NS2 itself like sounds getting interrupted by each other (like when a powernode blows at 40% of its HP and other sounds are effectively muted for a while) but AFAIK it's a crossplatform issue. Here I'm only talking about the Steam client.

Ccjwijtmans 2014-03-11 github

How long do you play ns2 continuously, and i have 500 hours. The sound starts cracking and the game becomes laggy(steam sounds start cracking to). It might have something to do with the steam runtime but maybe not. It is a rare event that happens when you play for many hours(maybe 10).

Rrkfg 2014-03-11 github

Not so much. For 2-3 hours in one session, probably. Well, we can test it leaving a DRM-free version of any game from HB running for a day with Steam being off. If it starts crackling then Steam probably has nothing to do with it.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-11-17 github

Hello @rkfg, are you still experiencing this issue on an up to date system?

Rrkfg 2017-11-17 github

I'm using PulseAudio for quite a while now so I can't really test. Don't have such issues now on my system at least.

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-11-17 github

Thanks, I read this issue as a hardware quirk that got exposed by the usage pattern.

Closing.

Nothing extracted yet.