FC3 Distorted / Crackling Sound Problem Possible Solution

farley · #1 15th December 2004, 05:31 PM

I have had a consistent problem with distorted and crackling sound in FC3 using gnome. In searching these forums it appears others are experiencing the same problem. I tried all of the proposed solutions, rebooting after each attempt, including compiling and installing the ALSA drivers from scratch. None of these solutions fixed my sound problem. What finally worked for me was to uncheck "Enable sound server startup" in the Sound preferences panel.

To do this:
Applications->Preferences->Sound
Select the General Tab
Uncheck "Enable sound server startup" if it is checked.
Click "Close"

I rebooted after I did this but you might just need to log out and log back in.
My sound is now clear with no distortion.

It may be possible that it was some combination of all the things I changed but I can state positvely that the sound only cleared up after I unchecked the sound server startup option.

imdeemvp · #2 15th December 2004, 06:49 PM

Thanks for tip. I dont never user sound server startup just enable sound is enough for most of us.

Nachum · #3 15th December 2004, 06:54 PM

Hello!

Where i cam get manuel of FC3

Tanks

deviant03 · #4 15th December 2004, 07:16 PM

farley, just curious what soundcard are you using? By default that option was already unchecked for me under sound but I am still getting "scratchy" audio (both kaffeine and xmms) with my nforce2 (Asus A7N8X) onboard audio. Its not a huge problem but I definitely notice a degradation in sound quality (ie. when heavy bass kicks in) compared to win xp.

sej7278 · #5 15th December 2004, 09:08 PM

I have the same thing with my IWill KK266-R's onboard CMedia 8737, was the same with SUSE 9.1 and FC2. My laptop works fine with FC3 though.

Maybe I'll try my old Santa Cruz or SoundBlaster 128 cards....

I seem to recall having this issue with some old Mandrake 9 and it may have been the sound server (arts starting as well as ALSA).

Turning off the Surround Sounds helps a bit (card doesn't support surround!) and it also seems to make a difference what mixer app you use.

farley · #6 16th December 2004, 02:56 AM

deviant03 - I am using the integrated sound hardware on my Gigabyte GA-8I848P-G motherboard. The specs for the board say it is "Realtek ALC850 7.1-Channel Codec".

crackers · #7 16th December 2004, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deviant03

Its not a huge problem but I definitely notice a degradation in sound quality (ie. when heavy bass kicks in) compared to win xp.

You'll probably need to adjust your equalizer settings (this is what I had to do with XMMS) as the Alsa driver is very good at boosting the lower end of the spectrum and I was over-driving the speakers. If you're not using something that's got an equalizer attached to it, you might need to massage, using the mixer of your choice, the combination of inputs (for audio files, this is the "Wave" input), the Master, and the PCM (actual volume control) and the volume/tone knob on the speakers until you stop over-driving.

deviant03 · #8 18th December 2004, 10:46 PM

Derf.. lowering the volume in xmms did the trick

thanks crackers. Alsa seems to sound pretty damn good now after some "critical listening"

kennon · #9 21st December 2004, 12:33 AM

I noticed that if I go into the ALSA mixer and turn the PCM volume slider way down it significantly decreases/eliminiates the distortion without lowering the volume too much.

Gwadj · #10 24th January 2005, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennon

I noticed that if I go into the ALSA mixer and turn the PCM volume slider way down it significantly decreases/eliminiates the distortion without lowering the volume too much.

I also lowered PCM volume from about 98% to 48% and it helped a lot! Also lowering the 3D Control Sigmatel volume helped. Now my bass is pumping so loud that I couldn't believe it! Furnitures are jumping and neighbors are calling the police!

crackers · #11 25th January 2005, 03:16 AM

And things are right with the world...

Nothing like pumping out "American Idiot" at full Spinal Tap volume!

neilius · #12 25th January 2005, 11:34 AM

You know what's cool about ALSA? It goes up to 11! You see, most sound driver models only go up to 10, and you're playing away at ten, but want to go further... Where can you go from there? Well you can't, but ALSA goes up to 11! Is that louder I hear you ask? Well, it's one louder isn't it?

#13 25th January 2005, 03:49 PM

I had this same problem w/CDs. If for any reason you still want the sound server started, use this

Quote:

/sbin/hdparm -u1 /dev/hdc

Got it from the MPlayer documentation. I had no need to mess w/equalizer settings.