[linux-audio-user] Dead soundcard, or what?

Here's a new one on me...

Earlier today, my consumer-grade card was working fine. It's an old
Creative aka Ensoniq card, specifically a 5880 AudioPCI (rev 02)
according to lspci. I haven't installed or upgraded any software in a
few days, no problems at all... then just now, I tried to play a CD
and only could hear the left channel.

I fired up alsamixer, which appears to work normally, except that
nothing I do brings up the right channel... it LOOKS like it's up but
I don't hear anything.

Must be cables, right? I checked all the connections, swapped cables,
and confirmed that only the left channel is appearing at the soundcard
output jack.

Maybe it's the internal CD cable? I then tried playing some audio
files (mp3, wav, whatever) and ... this is where it gets really
odd... any app I try appears to hang, and I get no sound at all!

For example, here's an excerpt of the output from strace mpg123:

...
write(2, "MPEG 1.0 layer III, 128 kbit/s, "..., 54MPEG 1.0 layer III,
128 kbit/s, 44100 Hz joint-stereo
) = 54
open("/dev/dsp", O_WRONLY) = 4
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_RESET, 0) = 0
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_SETFMT or SOUND_PCM_READ_BITS, 0x7fff93b8ac2c) = 0
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_STEREO, 0x7fff93b8ac2c) = 0
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_SPEED or SOUND_PCM_READ_RATE, 0x7fff93b8ac44) = 0
close(4) = 0
open("/dev/dsp", O_WRONLY) = 4
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_RESET, 0) = 0
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_SETFMT or SOUND_PCM_READ_BITS, 0x7fff93b8ad4c) = 0
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_STEREO, 0x7fff93b8ad4c) = 0
ioctl(4, SNDCTL_DSP_SPEED or SOUND_PCM_READ_RATE, 0x7fff93b8ad64) = 0
write(4, "\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"...,
16384) = 16384
read(3,
"x\17\23z.E\v/2to\212\370\220<\302\274\r\20\207\26\f=%\321"..., 414) =
414
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "^\r\323\306H\304\3\0172\362b\'8\220e\203\244Ni%\22,\260"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3,
"C\215SrDD\223\t\35\260n)\230\206=#\214\16\r3\20,\274t\201"..., 414) =
414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3, "#\201\223\223J\304\vO\32\362y\v\310\211<b\346\v\354\177"...,
414) = 414
write(4,
"\361\377\370\377\362\377\372\377\360\377\373\377\355\377"..., 16384)
= 16384
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "\f\215\3238@email-addr-hidden\251\351\35$Z%\10\302a\346.\ft\311\30,0\311"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "\f\205\23\0170E\203\0172r]\304(\266a\351>MX\307\26\254"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "\r\214\323e@\305\203\f3\300Wc\330\260a\351.\r\\\307\30"...,
414) = 414
write(4,
"\0\0\374\377\1\0\372\377\3\0\370\377\6\0\370\377\v\0\371"..., 16384)
= 16384
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "\f\rSgJ\305\3\f\35
Pe(\266a\203\226\r]!\26,0o\301M\17\242"..., 414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "\r\4\363PP\306\3\f\33pP\244\370\305a\351.\r\344\325\35"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3,
"\23\4\30310\306\251\3542pUe\310\321=\206>\f\20\257\32\254"..., 414) =
414
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3, "\33\200\323\n6\306\253\f\32\360L\2038\300a,\"\vL\221\32"...,
414) = 414
write(4, "\f\0\t\0\r\0\v\0\17\0\f\0\17\0\n\0\17\0\t\0\17\0\n\0\21"...,
16384) = 16384
read(3, "\377\373\222d", 4) = 4
read(3,
"-\5\322\344*\306\303\f1rM%\30\321a&N\213\234\341\32,$\307"..., 414) =
414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3, "@\200\2\261!\307K\0172pX\247(\345<\303\36\n\220\245\34"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3,
"R\200\2\2560\310K\f1rT\310yL<\303\n\n\220\251!\'\244i\311"..., 414) =
414
write(4,
"\370\377\3\0\371\377\3\0\370\377\3\0\367\377\3\0\366\377"..., 16384)
= -1 EIO (Input/output error)
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3, "h\5\2\332/G\311\346\25\260]H\31\31A&\10\nt\241\36L0\307"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3, "u\f\22\334)\306\213\17\32v]\307\330\365=&\6\v(\251\34,"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3, "|\205\22\343*\3071\3541r]\250i\10<\303f\vp\245\34\3140"...,
414) = 414
read(3, "\377\373\222D", 4) = 4
read(3, "\202\204\23\0048G3\0171\360_\10\210\325=&2\v\264\231\30"...,
414) = 414
write(4,
"\367\377\21\0\367\377\r\0\367\377\r\0\370\377\16\0\372"..., 16384)
= -1 EIO (Input/output error)

... and so on.

I tried restarting alsa (/etc/init.d/alsasound restart), no joy.

I tried shutting down the whole box, restarting it, still no joy.

WTF? Is my hardware fried?

--
Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com