[zmw1]

All:

So I ran into a weird issue TWICE now, I would do a base install of xbmcubuntu on a Zotac ZBOXHD-ID34BR - This worked great initially, I would add my files etc - then sound would stop playing and video would stop playing.

In both cases what seemed to cause this was that I had done an apt-get update - and then would install a package

the first time I did a full upgrade - patched the box, updated everything that needed it. - I couldn't figure out what was going and was frustrated so I went back and did a complete reinstall.

After the reinstall, same behavior, except this time all I did was install VIM

I can't for the life of me figure out why doing any apt install would cause this, but the end result is I would get the following errors in the crash logs

Code:

14:09:18 T:2932398960  NOTICE: running thread: CDVDPlayerAudio::Process()
14:09:18 T:2932398960  NOTICE: Creating audio device with codec id: 86019, channels: 6, sample rate: 48000, no pass-through
14:09:18 T:2932398960   ERROR: PulseAudio: Failed to connect context
14:09:18 T:2932398960   ERROR: PulseAudio: Failed to create context
14:09:18 T:2932398960   ERROR: Unable to open audio mixer
14:09:18 T:2940791664  NOTICE:  fps: 23.976024, pwidth: 704, pheight: 336, dwidth: 614, dheight: 336
14:09:18 T:2940791664  NOTICE: Display resolution DESKTOP : 1920x1080 @ 60.00 - Full Screen (12)

running an aplay -l resulted in me being told it was corrupt.

I have been able to get it to work again by deleting the file and recreating the file to look like this

Code:

pcm.dmixer {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024
ipc_key_add_uid false
ipc_perm 0660
slave{
pcm "hw:1,3"
rate 48000
channels 2
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_time 0
buffer_size 4096
}
}

pcm. !default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

This has fixed the problem - but what I'm worrying is that I no longer have any of the advanced digital decoding and such - I am apparently not the only person with this problem and I for sure would like to get this figured out as it's definitely an issue...

As it stands right now audio is outputting over HDMI, in a 2 channel mode - I'll connect the box to my stereo later and work on it some more... any guidance would be appreciated, I can post the "corrupted" .asoundrc file as well... it was never edited manually or changed by me - if it was changed it got changed either by xbmc or the apt processes...

[makromorphago]

I also got this issue on my exact same ZBox. XBMC for Win didn´t play BR with the player cause the new lib in Eden does not work with the drive...so I thought I would just use XBMCbuntu and now I got this sound issue...
First there was sound after I did all installations (I had to put it to "plug:both" in the audio settings of XBMC). I don´t think that it was after I istalled something new that sound did not work anymore. It was with the next boot. Now I tried the ALSA system in the terminal (# cat /proc/asound/cards). It recognizes the devices. Then I tried playing a file (# aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav). It started playing but I didn´t hear a sound. So I checked the mixer setting and I saw that the volume was put to zero. But I could not increase it. It just doesn´t move (speaker symbol in the taskbar). I didn´t have the time to dig deaper yet but next step would be to configure the Alsamixer (delete the asound.state and reconfigure it). But first I would like bigger fonts!! It´s a real pain in the a** that the fonts are independent of screen resolution too small to read. Any clue how to solve this issue quickly? Do I have to install Gnome or something?

[makromorphago]

Hey Guys.
This is how it worked for me to have sound:
For having sound at all I just used the following settings that should work for everyone I guess:
Custom settings for audio output and paththrough with this entry: plug:both
After installation of the XBMC Audiomixer plugin there was no more sound.
By default it muted the sound. So I changed that in the settings of the plugin.

I use a zotac ZBox ID34BD
Hope this helps Cheers!

[makromorphago]

Hey!
I found a solution. Seems like the crashing got something to do with the asound system and mixed up settings. Here is what I did:
1. A fresh install (might be another solution but nothing worked for me)
2. Deinstalled the xbmc audiomixer (Settings-->Addons-->Programaddons)
3. Exit XBMC and launch into xbmcbuntu (when going back to xbmc you need to log-off and log into xbmc again)
4. Open a terminal and type in: aplay -l (lowercase L)

You should get an output something like this:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0, ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevices #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

In this string of info you care about the information in quotes:
card "1": NVidia [HDA NVidia], device "3": HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]

This is what we are going to use when we manually map the information inside XBMC.

Depending on what device you will use to playback sound there might be different combinations. So remember the card number and the device number you want to use.
For more info see post 4 in this thread:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=127428

5. log-off xbmcbuntu and go back to xbmc.

6. Go to Settings -> System -> Audio Output

Audio output = choose yourself
Speaker Configuration = choose yourself
Boost Level on Downmix = yes
AC3 Capable = choose yourself
DTS Capable = choose yourself

Since we found out the information earlier on aplay -l and found the card and the device you can now do this:
Audio Ouput Device = Custom
custom audio device = PLUGHW:X,Y (Where X is the card and Y is the device)
Passthrough output device = custom
Custom passthrough device = PLUGHW:X,Y (Where X is the card and Y is the device)

Restart XBMC
Now everyhing shoud be working!