Xubuntu 16.04 Intermitent Sound

Question

Every few seconds, sound stops for a second or so. In sound manager, all inputs/outputs disappear, being replaced with the message: "Establishing connection to PulseAudio. Please wait."

syslog has contained the following sequence of logs, every time this happens, about every nine seconds:

May 23 02:57:46 l dbus[921]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service'    
May 23 02:57:46 l systemd[1]: Starting Network Manager Script Dispatcher Service...    
May 23 02:57:46 l dbus[921]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher'    
May 23 02:57:46 l systemd[1]: Started Network Manager Script Dispatcher Service.    
May 23 02:57:46 l nm-dispatcher: req:1 'dhcp6-change' [enp2s0]: new request (1 scripts)    
May 23 02:57:46 l nm-dispatcher: req:1 'dhcp6-change' [enp2s0]: start running ordered scripts...    
May 23 02:57:49 l rtkit-daemon[13994]: Supervising 0 threads of 0 processes of 1 users.    
May 23 02:57:49 l rtkit-daemon[13994]: Successfully made thread 15619 of process 1918 (n/a) owned by '1000' RT at priority 5.    
May 23 02:57:49 l rtkit-daemon[13994]: Supervising 1 threads of 1 processes of 1 users.    
May 23 02:57:49 l rtkit-daemon[13994]: Supervising 0 threads of 0 processes of 1 users.    
May 23 02:57:49 l rtkit-daemon[13994]: Successfully made thread 15620 of process 1918 (n/a) owned by '1000' RT at priority 5.    
May 23 02:57:49 l rtkit-daemon[13994]: Supervising 1 threads of 1 processes of 1 users.    
May 23 02:58:01 l dhclient[1442]: PRC: Renewing lease on enp2s0.    
May 23 02:58:01 l dhclient[1442]: XMT: Renew on enp2s0, interval 9330ms.    
May 23 02:58:01 l dhclient[1442]: RCV: Reply message on enp2s0 from XXXX::a62b:8cff:XXXX:XXXX.

*replaced part of IPv6 with XXXX.

My hardware is:

• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
• 8GB RAM
• Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. / H87N-WIFI
• Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller (rev 06)
• Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
• Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)

Could be an Intel driver related issue?

Answer 1

I have had a similar problem with both pulseaudio and lost cursor after unlock. The cursor problem still exists in Xubuntu 16.02 but also lost pulseaudio as you describe. My temporary fix which worked for me was to run "pavucontrol" as root (gksudo) in a terminal. It seems that pavucontrol does not "see" the password from the "lockout" input (don't know the proper terms to use here); but the rest of the xfce4 system does. I used "light-locker-command --activate" as a keyboard shortcut to fix the missing cursor after unlock. Are they both related and caused by not picking up the proper permissions? I'm no expert, just have a inquisitive mind. Best, Papa Smuff!

Answer 2

Yes, the sudo pavucontrol failed after a few days, why? Don't know. What I do that has been working for me, at least for now, is "pkill pulseaudio" which resets (respawns?) pavucontrol and all works as expected. Hope this works longer than the sudo fix. Sorry, just trying to be helpful. Best, Papa Smuff