Rapid Clicking Sound During all Playback on DELL Laptop with ALSA

I am following the troubleshooting procedure described here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure

This command, from Step 4:

cat /proc/asound/cards; sudo rm /etc/asound.conf; sudo rm -r ~/.pulse ~/.asound* ;sudo rm ~/.pulse-cookie; sudo aptitude install paman gnome-alsamixer libasound2-plugins padevchooser libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio; aplay -l; sudo lshw -C sound; sudo lshw -short;ls -lart /dev/snd; cat /dev/sndstat; lspci -nn; sudo which alsactl; sudo fuser -v /dev/dsp /dev/snd/* ; dpkg -S bin/slmodemd; sudo /etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon status; lsmod | grep snd

Yields this result:

 0 [NM256ZX ]: NM256ZX - NeoMagic NM256ZX
                      NeoMagic NM256ZX at 0xf9bf09a0 & 0xfda00000, irq -1
[sudo] password for dem-boyz:
rm: cannot remove `/etc/asound.conf': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `/home/dem-boyz/.asound*': No such file or directory
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NM256ZX [NeoMagic NM256ZX], device 0: NM256ZX []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  *-multimedia
       description: Multimedia audio controller
       product: NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX Audio]
       vendor: Neomagic Corporation
       physical id: 0.1
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
       version: 00
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm cap_list
       configuration: driver=NeoMagic 256 latency=0
       resources: irq:5 memory:f9800000-f9ffffff(prefetchable) memory:fda00000-fdafffff
H/W path Device Class Description
=====================================================
                              system Latitude CPi R400GT
/0 bus Latitude CPi R400GT
/0/0 memory 64KiB BIOS
/0/400 processor Mobile Pentium II
/0/400/700 memory 32KiB L1 cache
/0/400/701 memory 256KiB L2 cache
/0/1000 memory 256MiB System Memory
/0/1000/0 memory 128MiB DIMM DRAM Synchronous
/0/1000/1 memory 128MiB DIMM DRAM Synchronous
/0/100 bridge 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge
/0/100/1 bridge 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge
/0/100/1/0 display NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX]
/0/100/1/0.1 multimedia NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX Audio]
/0/100/3 bridge PCI1225
/0/100/3.1 bridge PCI1225
/0/100/7 bridge 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA
/0/100/7.1 scsi0 storage 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE
/0/100/7.1/0 /dev/sda disk 60GB TOSHIBA MK6025GA
/0/100/7.1/0/1 /dev/sda1 volume 13GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/100/7.1/0/2 /dev/sda2 volume 28GiB Linux filesystem partition
/0/100/7.1/0/3 /dev/sda3 volume 13GiB Extended partition
/0/100/7.1/0/3/5 /dev/sda5 volume 13GiB Linux filesystem partition
/0/100/7.1/0/3/6 /dev/sda6 volume 643MiB Linux swap / Solaris partition
/0/100/7.1/1 /dev/cdrom disk SCSI CD-ROM
/0/100/7.2 bus 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB
/0/100/7.3 bridge 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI
/0/1 wmaster0 network RTL8180L 802.11b MAC
/1 power LIP868NLDLP
total 0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 2010-02-02 17:58 timer
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 1 2010-02-02 17:58 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 0 2010-02-02 17:58 controlC0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 2010-02-02 17:58 by-path
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 160 2010-02-02 17:58 .
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 24 2010-02-02 17:59 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 16 2010-02-02 17:59 pcmC0D0p
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 3620 2010-02-02 18:02 ..
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.22.1 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux Dem-Boyz-Puter 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 16:20:31 UTC 2009 i686
Config options: 0 0 [NM256ZX ]: NM256ZX - NeoMagic NM256ZX
                      NeoMagic NM256ZX at 0xf9bf09a0 & 0xfda00000, irq -1
[sudo] password for dem-boyz:
rm: cannot remove `/etc/asound.conf': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `/home/dem-boyz/.asound*': No such file or directory
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NM256ZX [NeoMagic NM256ZX], device 0: NM256ZX []
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  *-multimedia
       description: Multimedia audio controller
       product: NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX Audio]
       vendor: Neomagic Corporation
       physical id: 0.1
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
       version: 00
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm cap_list
       configuration: driver=NeoMagic 256 latency=0
       resources: irq:5 memory:f9800000-f9ffffff(prefetchable) memory:fda00000-fdafffff
H/W path Device Class Description
=====================================================
                              system Latitude CPi R400GT
/0 bus Latitude CPi R400GT
/0/0 memory 64KiB BIOS
/0/400 processor Mobile Pentium II
/0/400/700 memory 32KiB L1 cache
/0/400/701 memory 256KiB L2 cache
/0/1000 memory 256MiB System Memory
/0/1000/0 memory 128MiB DIMM DRAM Synchronous
/0/1000/1 memory 128MiB DIMM DRAM Synchronous
/0/100 bridge 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge
/0/100/1 bridge 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge
/0/100/1/0 display NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX]
/0/100/1/0.1 multimedia NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX Audio]
/0/100/3 bridge PCI1225
/0/100/3.1 bridge PCI1225
/0/100/7 bridge 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA
/0/100/7.1 scsi0 storage 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE
/0/100/7.1/0 /dev/sda disk 60GB TOSHIBA MK6025GA
/0/100/7.1/0/1 /dev/sda1 volume 13GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/100/7.1/0/2 /dev/sda2 volume 28GiB Linux filesystem partition
/0/100/7.1/0/3 /dev/sda3 volume 13GiB Extended partition
/0/100/7.1/0/3/5 /dev/sda5 volume 13GiB Linux filesystem partition
/0/100/7.1/0/3/6 /dev/sda6 volume 643MiB Linux swap / Solaris partition
/0/100/7.1/1 /dev/cdrom disk SCSI CD-ROM
/0/100/7.2 bus 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB
/0/100/7.3 bridge 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI
/0/1 wmaster0 network RTL8180L 802.11b MAC
/1 power LIP868NLDLP
total 0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 2010-02-02 17:58 timer
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 1 2010-02-02 17:58 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 0 2010-02-02 17:58 controlC0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 2010-02-02 17:58 by-path
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 160 2010-02-02 17:58 .
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 24 2010-02-02 17:59 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 16 2010-02-02 17:59 pcmC0D0p
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 3620 2010-02-02 18:02 ..
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.22.1 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux Dem-Boyz-Puter 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 16:20:31 UTC 2009 i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
NeoMagic NM256ZX at 0xf9bf09a0 & 0xfda00000, irq -1

Audio devices:
0: (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: SigmaTel STAC9721,23
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge [8086:7190] (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge [8086:7191] (rev 03)
00:03.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1225 [104c:ac1c] (rev 01)
00:03.1 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1225 [104c:ac1c] (rev 01)
00:07.0 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA [8086:7110] (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE [8086:7111] (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB [8086:7112] (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI [8086:7113] (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Neomagic Corporation NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX] [10c8:0006]
01:00.1 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Neomagic Corporation NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX Audio] [10c8:8006]
06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8180L 802.11b MAC [10ec:8180] (rev 20)
/usr/sbin/alsactl
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: dem-boyz 1239 F.... pulseaudio
dpkg: *bin/slmodemd* not found.
sudo: /etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon: command not found
snd_nm256 66012 2
snd_ac97_codec 101536 1 snd_nm256
ac97_bus 1596 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 37472 0
snd_mixer_oss 16220 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 76480 3 snd_nm256,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc 9124 1 snd_pcm
snd_seq_dummy 2752 0
snd_seq_oss 29216 0
snd_seq_midi 6656 0
snd_rawmidi 22336 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 7036 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 50896 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 21540 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 7208 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 61188 16 snd_nm256,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7264 1 snd

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
NeoMagic NM256ZX at 0xf9bf09a0 & 0xfda00000, irq -1

Audio devices:
0: (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: SigmaTel STAC9721,23
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge [8086:7190] (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge [8086:7191] (rev 03)
00:03.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1225 [104c:ac1c] (rev 01)
00:03.1 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1225 [104c:ac1c] (rev 01)
00:07.0 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA [8086:7110] (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE [8086:7111] (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB [8086:7112] (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI [8086:7113] (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Neomagic Corporation NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX] [10c8:0006]
01:00.1 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Neomagic Corporation NM2360 [MagicMedia 256ZX Audio] [10c8:8006]
06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8180L 802.11b MAC [10ec:8180] (rev 20)
/usr/sbin/alsactl
                     USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: dem-boyz 1239 F.... pulseaudio
dpkg: *bin/slmodemd* not found.
sudo: /etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon: command not found
snd_nm256 66012 2
snd_ac97_codec 101536 1 snd_nm256
ac97_bus 1596 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 37472 0
snd_mixer_oss 16220 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 76480 3 snd_nm256,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc 9124 1 snd_pcm
snd_seq_dummy 2752 0
snd_seq_oss 29216 0
snd_seq_midi 6656 0
snd_rawmidi 22336 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 7036 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 50896 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 21540 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 7208 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 61188 16 snd_nm256,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7264 1 snd

I was unable to complete the procedure described in Step 6, with this command:

pavucontrol

I get an error pop up window, and the following message in the Terminal:

(pavucontrol:1631): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_main_quit: assertion `main_loops != NULL' failed

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1335395
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1391973

Thank you for such a rapid response actionparsnip!

Unfortunately, I have already contributed to both those threads you suggest (as username Kixtosh). In fact, I started one of them myself, and added the appropriate tags for the problem in both of them ... to no avail thus far! I don't seem to be the only one with this problem, but I haven't found a solution yet, despite searching around in the forum responses!

Have you tried Pulse or OSA?

No, I haven't tried to do anything with Pulse or OSA.

Thank you!

sorry meant OSS

I thought you might have meant OSS ;-) ... but no, I haven't tried that yet either.

Looks like those are 2 avenues for you to try

I'm guessing Pulse should be the first avenue of investigation, since that's what's installed now, or would you advise just changing to OSS, since that was probably what was working with the Knoppix 3.7 Live CD I tried in 2005?

Either way, can you point me in the right direction with a link to the proper procedure perhaps?

I've just figured something out that may help determine what is going wrong (I apologize in advance if it seems as though I'm grasping at straws, or flailing around like a stranded whale).

I installed Karmic on two laptops at the same time. They're both about the same age, with similar specifications, although one is the Dell listed as the problem in this thread, and the other is a Toshiba Portégé (sound seems to be working normally on the Toshiba). Otherwise, both sound installations should be identical, since I've tried all the upgrades attempted to fix the Dell on the Toshiba as well to help me figure them out. So, here's what I've just recently noticed:

Using the pavucontrol command in Terminal:

1) The volume controls window is displayed, but no sound is audible on the Toshiba.
2) The volume controls window is also displayed on the DELL, but the horrible clicking sound is heard constantly, unless I mute the output, or close the window.

Does this provide any clue as to what I should attempt to solve my issue? Does this mean that PulseAudio is the problem, not ALSA, for example? Any suggestions

New developments:

(1) I removed PulseAudio with this command in Terminal:

sudo apt-get purge gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio vlc-plugin-pulse pulseaudio

(2) I couldn't find a way to adjust the sound at this point. ALSA mixer was there, but there was no sound at all and I couldn't seem to figure out how to turn it on. No panel speaker icon either.

(3) I added PulseAudio back again with this command, and everything seems to be working about 95% normally now (see below), after making a few adjustments:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Remarks:

(A) During start-up, I still hear the horrible clicking sound when the "ubuntu" splash screen displays, but the sound animation for the desktop plays normally when the desktop starts to load up. I'll have to figure out a way to mute the splash screen sequence to avoid this.

(B) I wanted to display the current information, to compare with what I posted above, but pastebin does not seem to be functioning normally just now. I'll try again later, in case this can help anyone's research into this topic.

(C) I hope I can reproduce this result, since I really want to install Xubuntu on this laptop with rather modest resources. I also intend to install Xubuntu 10.4 when it is available, and keep using it until the next LTS release, so being able to reproduce the result as necessary would be useful. It might also help others who read the thread on this topic in the forums to understand why it worked.

Thanks, and best regards. I'll post the pastebin information later, if I can get it to work!

Finally got Pastebin to work. Here is the link:

Your ALSA information is located at http://pastebin.ca/1786774

I'll try and compare the two myself, FWIW, . In any case, I'm beginning to wonder if this should not be considered a PulseAudio issue, rather than an ALSA issue. Perhaps I should attempt to reclassify the thread as such?

I'm going to mark the issue as solved now that the pastebin information is available (although I still have to iron out that splash screen audio).

Any thoughts on the topic are welcome!

Well, it seems as if the output from pastebin before and after the solution is strictly identical (unless I missed something), word for word, line by line, letter for letter and digit for digit.

Does this mean ALSA is not the source of the original issue? How can I better inform the community of which direction to take for a solution when a similar problem is encountered?

I forgot to update this report earlier, but I was able to get sound working completely, with no problems that I was able to identify, simply by installing Lubuntu 10.04. Peppermint also works with no sound problems at the time of posting.

LUbuntu rocks (Well LXDE on any Linux OS rocks). If it works then stick with it :)