Skype Weird 'Problem With Sound Device' Issue

smiffy

Using Gentoo ebuild of Skype:

* Make a call - whether within Skype or using Skype out.
* Hang up.
* Try to make another call:
"Problem With Sound Device"

I removed the ebuild package and installed the latest version downloaded from Skype - same problem.

Running from the command line, after you've made that first call, either immediately or when the second call is made, you get:

/dev/dsp2: Device or resource busy
Message appears twice. /dev/dsp2 is my Logitech USB headset.

I know nothing about sound on Linux; do we have lockfiles or something that could be causing this problem? I have not seen this problem when running "vanilla" Skype under SuSE Linux - on those rare occasions that it detected my headset without a reboot ;-)

Tested this with my USB webcam (which also uses USB sound) disconnected - no difference.
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Matthew Smith

SZwarts · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:42 am Post subject:

I can't reproduce your problem, so I have no clue if this actually helps, but...

I like to start skype with alsa instead of oss, you need aoss for this

smiffy · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:07 pm Post subject:

Thanks - I'll give it a go and report back...

EDIT - um...

SZwarts · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:09 pm Post subject:

media-libs/alsa-oss

You do have alsa right? Hardware mixing/dmixing?
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only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars

iarwain · Apprentice Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 253

Try it again deleting /opt/skype/sound/hangup.wav

smiffy · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:46 pm Post subject:

Thank you for the replies.

SZwarts - I had Alsa installed, not Alsa/OSS (believed OSS to be long deprecated and Skype supporting Alsa). Installed this, tried doing it through aoss, made no difference, either with the recent Skype binary or the Gentoo ebuild.

Iarwain - moved the .wav, made no difference.

Problem sometimes occurs after first call, sometimes after second or third. Always get the 'device busy' error.

I can guarantee to reproduce it calling someone who is offline, even if I cancel before it tries to download the greeting. If I wait, AS SOON AS I see 'Greeting Download' in the Skype window, the /dev/dsp2: Device or resource busy rears its ugly head.

Will see if similar behaviour occurs on my laptop.
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Matthew Smith

SZwarts · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:23 pm Post subject:

smiffy · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:17 am Post subject:

Hmm, same issue on my laptop...

smiffy · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:39 am Post subject:

I have just made a call (SkypeOut) and the problem is still there. Think I'll need to bounce this to the Skype forum, as suggested.

If only they'd open source...
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Matthew Smith

dj_farid · l33t Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 613

Smiffy, did you get your Skype fixed?
I have similar problems...

smiffy · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:12 pm Post subject:

Never resolved. I have to Skype completely and re-start it after any usage, just to get the audio back.

Never had problems with it when running on same hardware under SuSE - which is weird as switching from SuSE made most of the bugs go away...

You think we should raise this as a bug on Bugzilla? Maybe you could post some of your settings/details here and we can open a bug and refer to this forum thread.
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Matthew Smith

dj_farid · l33t Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 613

I am running AMD64, what about you?

Skype used to work very well with gentoo and my USB phone. Then after upgrading Skype in May or June this summer, I got the exact same problem as you. Tried to find a solution but gave up after some time.
Dualbooting into Windows XP with the exact same hardware worked with Skype.
I have since bought an USB soundcard (Creatives SB Live! external). The new soundcard somehow interferes with the phone, or I have dropped the phone on the floor one time too many

Now when I have the external soundcard plugged in, Skype wont find the phone device at all. I have to unplug and plug it in before I start Skype in order to see the device in the options for Skype. I have the same problem with Skype in Windows XP.

I have to do some more research without having the new soundcard plugged in.

smiffy · Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:09 pm Post subject:

defenderBG · l33t Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 817

well, i had the same problem... (now i cannot start skype at all... but that is another thing...)
i solved your problem like this:

kde menu > control center > sound and multimedia > sound system:
in the bottom there is the "automaticly deactivate, when idle for" (remember by heart...) make the value 5 sec. If you are using the latest, there should be somewhere on the top something like: enable fullduplex (if disabled: enable), if it is not there, then search in the hardware tab of the sound system... that should do the trick...

smiffy · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:34 am Post subject:

Interesting - I will give that a try. Tell me, do you have arts installed? I still have Skype (and everything else) set up with USE="-arts". If you do, I may be able to get my system back to a "normal" configuration...
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Matthew Smith

defenderBG · l33t Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 817

well... yes i had back then arts installed... actually it allows you to have multiple sound-using programms...

there is a good wiki... you might find it usefull:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ALSA_Complete_(includes_dmix)

smiffy · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject:

I have now had time to test this - the sound system timeout may have been the issue for defenderBG, but is not the full answer.

After doing some checks, I found that I had no sound system running in KDE at all.

I have since dumped KDE (too much of a resource hog) and have moved to Fluxbox, which has no sound system. The problem persists.

I can make maybe two calls to echo123, but after that (and sometimes after only one call), I still get the "problem with sound device" error.

The only way to ensure that Skype will work is to close it and restart it after every call. Think it's time this one was lodged on Bugzilla.
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Matthew Smith

smiffy · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:11 pm Post subject:

I have now reported this as a bug:
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152174
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Matthew Smith

andriy155 · n00b Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

What version of Skype are you using?
I had a similar issue with 1.2 but it disappeared with the 1.3 build.
However, there a new problem with the latest update 1.3.0.53-r1: the uplink does not seem to be working - basically the other party cannot hear you. If you are using any other version but 1.3.0.53-r1, I would not recommend upgrading to it, but rather to wait until the new release is available.

smiffy · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:46 am Post subject:

1.2.0.18.

I'll wait to see what the developers say.

Just wish I could drop all voice communications in favour of portable e-mail ;-)

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Matthew Smith