Robert Tucker wrote:
> Have installed RealPlayer on Debian Sarge and there is a horrid,
> loudish, crackly, static-like background noise.
>
> This problem is not new to me. I had it on Fedora Core 2 but could very
> often get rid of it by "jiggling" things around or giving the system a
> "blast through" by playing say a .wmv file with MPlayer or Xine. I got
> it on Ubuntu when I installed the KDE desktop (everything was alright
> with Gnome), seemed to get rid of it, but got it back again without
> remedy after installing and playing about with MPlayer.
>
> In "Volume Control" varying the PCM control varies both this background
> noise and the desired audio level while varying the VIA DXS controls
> only varies the audio level. (But one requires a certain PCM level to
> get any sound at all, so it's no way of eliminating the noise.)
>
> There is much reference to the problem in the various lists but I've not
> so far found a solution.
>
> Currently I'm trying to investigate the effect of aRTs (as suggested in
> other lists). AFAIK I'm only using aRTs in association with k3b
> (libartsc0, libarts1 - uninstalling k3b and these items did not solve
> the problem). If I try to stop artsd, I get:
>
> # artsd stop
> ALSA lib pcm_hw.c:549snd_pcm_hw_start) SNDRV_PCM_IOCTL_START failed:
> Broken pipe
> ALSA lib pcm_hw.c:549snd_pcm_hw_start) SNDRV_PCM_IOCTL_START failed:
> Broken pipe
>
> If I go to:
>
> Applications>Debian Menu>Apps>System>Services Admin
>
> I get:
>
> "/usr/bin/services-admin" (No such file or directory)
>
> Any suggestions of a way forward would be most welcome.
>
> 2GHz Intel Celeron
> Shuttle AV49VN Mainboard
> VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 (Onboard Audio Controller)

Had similar prblems on laptops and desktops with various brands of sound
cards. I eliminated the "interference" by muting all audio channels
except the master Line-In and PCM (I don't use CD). I found in some
cases that it was the CD channel, in other cases it was the Line-In
channel that was picking up the noise.

Some audio programs like xmms/xine/mplayer/RealPlayer and your favorite
mixer, may be saving volume levels of these channels seperately, which
means that if you do mute all channels except Master and PCM, things
might just go back to the way they were by opening another audio
application.