Gentoo + Firefox + Flash + Sound + 24 hours = Fail.

jba · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 35 Location: new york, ny

I have a hard time believing that i'm the only one with this problem, but I can't seem to find a solution (forum search isn't exactly helping) - only some non-gentoo related suggestions to downgrade flash to v9. (which isn't really a suggestion, as flash10 support is pretty much required these days).

Synopsis: I run Firefox 3.0.6 &/or Opera 9.63 on gentoo on three desktop workstations (home, work, consulting gig), running 2.6.27-gentoo-r7, 2.6.24-gentoo-r3, and 2.6.25-gentoo-r8 respectively. Flash (version 10.0 r15) audio stops working after firefox has been running for anywhere between 8 and 24 hours.

ALSA enabled without any sound daemons. All latest stable packages available via portage.

Sound works great, i can run firefox + flash video + mplayer + vlc all at the same time without issue - and often will have some music streaming in via mplayer, and check out a youtube video without a problem.

The problem appears to be somewhere between flash and alsa. After 8-24 hours of running firefox, flash audio ceases to work. Like clockwork, i unlock my desktop after having been away overnight, and click on a flash video link, and the video will play with no sound for about 2 seconds and then stop (apparently hung on a write to the audio subsystem). The only way to get flash audio/video back is to restart firefox via a gentle 'killall firefox'. Mplayer and other apps continue to play sound without an issue.

As you can see, it doesn't appear to be kernel version specific. I have run daemons like esd in the past, but found that native alsa worked better (until running into this issue).

What am i missing here? Anyone else having this issue? Anyone know a fix? Next time it happens i'll try to get a strace on ffox.

(thanks, as always).

anfpunk · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:59 pm Post subject:

I'm having a similar problem. Except I'm using OSS4. Basically, anytime I close Firefox, I have to recompile libflashsupport or flash audio wont work.

Shamus397 · Apprentice Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 218 Location: Ur-th

I'm having this exact problem as well, so it's not just you.

I'm going to try downgrading to v9 to see if that helps at all.

Shamus397 · Apprentice Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 218 Location: Ur-th

Same problem with v9.

Could just be a stale cache though, I'll have to try restarting FF and see if the problem recurrs.

It occurs to me that this could be a FF (I'm on 3.0.3 ATM) problem and not a flash problem... I'll upgrade to 3.0.7 and try again with v10.

jba · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 35 Location: new york, ny

jba · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 35 Location: new york, ny

jba · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 35 Location: new york, ny

Yep, that did it. Thanks adobe!!

jchau · n00b Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 74

I've had the same problem too.

jchau · n00b Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 74

I realized that I upgraded to =net-www/netscape-flash-10.0.22.87 but, I still got messed up audio after playing for a while tonight (I have a flash-based music player running). It appears to be the same problem as before, so the problem does not appear to be solved by the upgrade.

jba · n00b Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 35 Location: new york, ny

ck42 · l33t Joined: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 789

You can add me to the list as well. Currently running Flash 10.0.22.87
What I've done until now is restart alsa...which then killed FF.
I've never timed how long it takes before the audio stops working, but I'm sure we're dealing with the same issue here. VERY annoying.

Found something that appears to be working so far:
Create a file called rc in ~/.mozilla/firefox that contains, FIREFOX_DSP=auto
restart firefox.

This had the immediate affect of getting my sound going again w/o doing ANYTHING else. Now it's just a waiting game to see how long it last.

ck42 · l33t Joined: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 789

So much for that. Back to no audio again.

Shades3D · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2002 Posts: 39

This problem has existed for a long time now. I've had it across several gentoo installs. I haven't tested it with other browsers other than firefox, but it does happen to me. Though sometimes instead of no sound, it seems the sound gets stuck (like you'll hear a repeating bit of sound instead of no sound at all). Its happened on several versions of firefox, several versions of Alsa, and several versions of flash with several kernels. I'm not at home to put my configuration in the collection, but figured I'd add my hat to the people having the problem.

_________________
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hunky · l33t Joined: 19 Nov 2003 Posts: 910 Location: Alaska

Same problem here forever. If firefox runs awhile, then it begins slowing down. Not sure it is related to flash, but could be. But when I click on close tab, it takes several seconds. If I backspace on some typed text, it hesitates. Videos quit working and sound from them goes into a weird staccato. (Not sure if problem exists without trying to play a video or not - I could explore that a bit.) Running latest netscape-flash in portage. Keep hoping on version upgrades problem would eventually go away, but never has.

burmashave · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 01 Dec 2002 Posts: 82

I stumbled upon this thread while looking for something else. (I'm working on an IDE tape drive issue. One may question the forum search function.) I have the same problem using Firefox, Flash and ALSA, and I've had it across two Gentoo installations. I figgured it was some sort of config that I had messed up.

fwmartin · n00b Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 4

I've been having this problem too. I've found a quick way to get sound working again after it messes up.

In firefox disable flash (tools -> add - ons -> plugins) and then enable it again. You'll probably need to reload the flash pages after that.

shira · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 27 Aug 2002 Posts: 122

Yeah, I've also experienced those symptoms. To me, they seem to be isolated to the 10.x series, although I'm not positive. When I'm at work, my RHEL5 workstation (with flash 10.something) gets about 6 hours of working sound before I'm forced to restart FF. When I tried using the 10.x series at home (on my Gentoo workstation), it was more like 8 working hours.

I've stuck to using the 9.x version for now, hoping that Adobe gets their act together eventually.

lordcris · Apprentice Joined: 09 Jul 2002 Posts: 248

this thing happens to me too.
but restarting firefox alone doesn't help.
i have to restart also thunderbird, skype, deluge or mplayer.
sometimes mplayer hangs while playing some trailer and i have to kill it manually to get youtube working again.

jchau · n00b Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 74

defenderBG · l33t Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 817

acroread? why should it? I use kpdf, so I am not too sure if a pdf reader needs a sound service...

jchau · n00b Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 74

MCUnable · n00b Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 3 Location: Seattle, WA

robinmarlow · Apprentice Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 167

I've got the same problem. flash 10.0.22.87 on opera or firefox using alsa only gives no sound after a few hours.
restarting firefox/opera resets the problem for the next few hours then it restarts.

guess this is what proprietary software does for you.

Robin

the_enigma · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 9:09 am Post subject:

Same thing here, running 10.0.22.87 as well.

Also, does anyone else get that odd 1-2 pixel wide window? It's another flash-related problem, opening FF and viewing a page with Flash gives me a very thin window up in the top-left corner of the screen. Currently it has a width of 2, and a height of 796. I can't seem to move or resize it though, and I have no idea if it effects performance (as it only shows up with Firefox running, and disappears when Firefox closes.

jchau · n00b Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 74