Audio stuttering and repeating with HT Omega Fenix sound card

Support Sound
1

I’m new to Linux and installed Manjaro with the Plasma desktop, got used to the layout and fully updated through the built in updater tool. Before and after the updates, I noticed sound stuttering, lagging and repeating. I don’t hear audio from the line out on the card, only the headphones from the HDA header. The digital SPDIF input is not present in recording devices. I have the HT Omega Fenix PCIe sound card, which has the C-Media Oxygen Express-series CM8888 chipset, on a Z97M-G43 motherboard with an i7-5775c and RTX 3060 Ti.

I’ve read through the threads I could find on this subject and attempted the recommended fixes that involve the configuration files in etc/pulse. Then I installed Pipewire, and that didn’t fix the problem either. Changing some of the values in the config files did slightly improve but not totally solve the problem.

This particular C-Media chipset probably isn’t a super common one and the Fenix card specifically is more of an indie company project, so it’s harder to find solutions for it. A year ago, way before I started looking into Linux, the manufacturer drivers actually started having occasional audio freezes on Windows 10. A move to Microsoft’s built in drivers solved those issues and I haven’t had issues in Windows 10 since. So the card is certainly capable of being driven smoothly, it’s just a matter of how. Any help is greatly appreciated.

2

Can you post lspci -v on console ?

3 
    ~  lspci -v                                                             ✔ 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Host Bridge - DMI (rev 0a)
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 0a) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: e000-efff [size=4K] [16-bit]
        Memory behind bridge: f6000000-f70fffff [size=17M] [32-bit]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e0000000-f1ffffff [size=288M] [32-bit]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Controller (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 31
        Memory at f7400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
        Kernel modules: xhci_pci

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family ME Interface #1
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 32
        Memory at f7419000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: mei_me
        Kernel modules: mei_me

00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI Controller #2 (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at f7417000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device d924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 34
        Memory at f7410000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev d0) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 26
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: [disabled] [16-bit]
        Memory behind bridge: [disabled] [32-bit]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: [disabled] [64-bit]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev d0) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: d000-dfff [size=4K] [16-bit]
        Memory behind bridge: f7300000-f73fffff [size=1M] [32-bit]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: f2100000-f21fffff [size=1M] [32-bit]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev d0) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: [disabled] [16-bit]
        Memory behind bridge: f7200000-f72fffff [size=1M] [32-bit]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: [disabled] [64-bit]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev d0) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: [disabled] [16-bit]
        Memory behind bridge: f7100000-f71fffff [size=1M] [32-bit]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: [disabled] [64-bit]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI Controller #1 (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
        Memory at f7416000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Z97 Chipset LPC Controller
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
        Kernel modules: lpc_ich

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 30
        I/O ports at f070 [size=8]
        I/O ports at f060 [size=4]
        I/O ports at f050 [size=8]
        I/O ports at f040 [size=4]
        I/O ports at f020 [size=32]
        Memory at f7415000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 9 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 18
        Memory at f7414000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        I/O ports at f000 [size=32]
        Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
        Kernel modules: i2c_i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 [GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Lite Hash Rate] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device 4663
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 35
        Memory at f6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
        I/O ports at e000 [size=128]
        Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [virtual] [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia

01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
        Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device 4663
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at f7080000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 7924
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
        Memory at f7300000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Memory at f2100000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169

04:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR93xx Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Qualcomm Atheros Device 3112
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
        Memory at f7200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        Expansion ROM at f7220000 [disabled] [size=64K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ath9k
        Kernel modules: ath9k

05:00.0 Audio device: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8888 [Oxygen Express]
        Subsystem: C-Media Electronics Inc HDA Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at f7100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

    ~                                                                       ✔
4

According to this side, the C Media controller is supported:

Can you post inxi -Fza on console ?

5 
    ~  inxi -Fza                                                            ✔ 
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.41-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.1.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=1bf5ce41-19a0-49fa-b947-392aa44e86c6 rw quiet apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.24.5 tk: Qt v: 5.15.4 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1
    dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: MSI product: MS-7924 v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: MSI model: Z97M-G43(MS-7924) v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.12 date: 02/15/2016
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 2S
    serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-5775C bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Broadwell
    gen: core 5 built: 2015-18 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x47 (71) stepping: 1 microcode: 0x22
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB
    L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2188 high: 4203 min/max: 800/4200 scaling:
    driver: intel_cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1536 2: 1281 3: 1265
    4: 2319 5: 1411 6: 4129 7: 4203 8: 1367 bogomips: 52822
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf
    mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: spec_store_bypass
    mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
  Type: spectre_v1
    mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
    STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Lite Hash Rate]
    vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia v: 510.73.05 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm
    non-free: 515.xx+ status: current (as of 2022-06) arch: Ampere
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
    lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:2489 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.3 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 91 s-size: 1072x301mm (42.20x11.85")
    s-diag: 1113mm (43.84")
  Monitor-1: DP-0 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 dpi: 90
    size: 540x300mm (21.26x11.81") diag: 618mm (24.32") modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: DP-4 pos: right res: 1920x1080 dpi: 90
    size: 540x300mm (21.26x11.81") diag: 618mm (24.32") modes: N/A
  Monitor-3: HDMI-0 size-res: N/A modes: N/A
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
    v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 510.73.05 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com.
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: C-Media CM8888 [Oxygen Express] driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 13f6:5011
    class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.41-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.51 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR93xx Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0
    chip-ID: 168c:0030 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: ASUSTek Broadcom BCM20702A0 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-6:6 chip-ID: 0b05:17cb class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 698.65 GiB used: 405.41 GiB (58.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 250GB
    size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 500GB
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 232.59 GiB size: 227.88 GiB (97.98%)
    used: 17.85 GiB (7.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8 C mobo: 27.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 46 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 54%
Info:
  Processes: 259 Uptime: 0m wakeups: 2 Memory: 15.58 GiB
  used: 1.67 GiB (10.7%) Init: systemd v: 250 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.1.0 clang: 13.0.1 Packages: pacman: 1210
  lib: 335 flatpak: 0 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.1.16
  running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.17
    ~                                                                       ✔

I turned off the Realtek HD Audio controller in the BIOS but it didn’t help.

6

Can you update the Bios of Mainboard ?

https://de.msi.com/Motherboard/Z97M-G43/support

7

It’s fully updated. Z97 boards stopped getting updates a while ago.