VLC just stopped playing audio

Support Software & Applications
1

VLC just stopped playing audio, did nothing, so not sure why. Anyway figured I uninstall then reinstall, anyway the pacmanager says no servers configured for repository, no idea on that, no changes were made since I updated with no issues. Hmmm, seems ok now, not sure why. Did nothing, but still no sound in VLC.
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 2: ALC887-VD Alt Analog [ALC887-VD Alt Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

2

I see this is an old topic with no replies, so maybe the problem was sorted out long ago. I’m replying just in case it relates to a similar problem I’ve had. I typically Suspend/Sleep my PC rather than reboot, and if VLC or Handbrake is running and the PC “sleeps” on unattended automatic Suspend: No audio. (I have a lot of old DVDs and copy them to HDD via Handbrake for viewing with VLC)

Anyway, when the PC auto-sleeps with either of those two apps open, often (not always) there’s no sound when waking the PC. Usually it happens when the PC is crunching a DVD overnight, auto-sleeps after done, and I “wake” it again after some hours.
:eight_pointed_black_star:The issue seems related to “Dummy Audio” output.
:eight_pointed_black_star:There appears to be no way of getting HDMI going again or restarting audio.
:eight_pointed_black_star:“Dummy Audio” shows in Sound Preferences → Output.
:eight_pointed_black_star:The ONLY solution I’ve found is reboot.

3

What happens if You log out and log in again?

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4

Haven’t tried it, since the PC boots in a few seconds since I installed a $70 1TB Samsung Pro nvme SSD. What I hoped for was either a fix, a way to just switch from Dummy Audio back to HDMI, or restarting the audio system so I could write a script to do it. Anyway, restart’s working passably but I posted in case restart works for others.

5

Try restarting PulseAudio:

systemctl --user restart pulseaudio

or reinitialising ALSA devices to default state:

sudo alsactl init
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6

Thanks, FediWarneck. In case anyone’s still following this, I did eventually try logout/in and it made no difference.