This problem comes and goes but today it isn't going away so I figure I'll ask around for help.

So what happens is that skype appears to be working, I make a call, can hear it ringing and as soon as the phone gets picked up(using skypeout) the sound cuts out completely for skype and STAYS off until I reload alsa and restart pulseaudio.
If I try to close skype it just hangs there indefinitely, I am forced to kill the process in terminal just to shut it down. When I restart it the lack of sounds persists and will persist unti I reload alsa and restart pulse.

All other sound applications are functioning beautifully and are unaffected by this and for the most part skype has worked perfectly fine with pulseaudio before this


This is the error log I am getting with skype:

ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)

RtApiAlsa: underrun detected.

ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1569:(audioservice_expect) BT_GET_CAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)


Any ideas?

Figured out the solution:

http://blog.netflowdevelopments.com/2009/0...kype-in-ubuntu/

Summary:

* edit ~/.pulse/daemon.conf (or /etc/pulse/daemon.conf if you run as system)
* Hash out realtime-scheduling and realtime-priority
* Unhash high-priority and nice-level
* set nice level to 3 (not -3 or -11 for that matter)

I just installed Skype on my computer, which is running Ubuntu 9.04, and I have a similar problem. Once a call starts, the sound is perfect for maybe a minute - then it cuts out. The other user can still hear me talking, but I can't hear them. Then Skype won't close; I have to end the program from the terminal and then restart the computer before it works again.

This fix looks like it might work for me, but two questions:

1. The linked post mentions something about "fiddling with pulse's daemon.config and enabling real-time scheduling" as the source of the problem. I haven't done that, so this may not be the right fix.

2. I'm not Ubuntu-literate enough to understand how to implement the solution.

Any advice?