Strangest Linux Problem Ever

[matobinder]

Problem solved!

It was this bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hedgewars/+bug/454879

It's an SDL audio issue, and virtually all linux OpenGL games are SDL-based.

So the solution was to remove libsdl1.2debian-alsa and install libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio.
Go figure right?

Great to hear this is fixed. And basically a great bit THANK YOU for posting the details and solution of the problem. This just helped me out.

[unimatrix]

Solution

Problem solved!

It was this bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hedgewars/+bug/454879

It's an SDL audio issue, and virtually all linux OpenGL games are SDL-based.

So the solution was to remove libsdl1.2debian-alsa and install libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio.
Go figure right?

[kraftman]

Best thing to do is to rip pulseaudio out of the system entirely. Unfortunately you're using Ubuntu so that's not an option; it infects everything right down to gdm.

Thankfully Kubuntu doesn't use it. There's some pulseaudio package installed, but It's not running.

[kayosiii]

Like the others I would tend to suspect pulse-audio as the culprit. I would try removing it from the system temporarily. and see if that aleviates the problem.

The following forum thread discusses how to remove pulse audio from jaunty.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1193561

good luck.

Otherwise a few other things to try -
1) check the seating of the card, have a look at the contacts I had an old soundcard (audiowerks2) that was very sensitive to this as it got older.
2) talk to the alsa developers about the specifics of your soundcard.

[Ant P.]

Best thing to do is to rip pulseaudio out of the system entirely. Unfortunately you're using Ubuntu so that's not an option; it infects everything right down to gdm.

[RealNC]

Well, try without pulseaudio and let the game use ALSA directly. Also try ALSA's OSS support just to check.

[unimatrix]

What type of soundcard do you have there... If the application is having difficulty getting control of the soundcard it might manifest in the behaviour you are seeing. Try running the applications with sound dissabled.

Oh my... You're right.
I just took the sound card out of my computer, and the problem went away.

Well this sucks, because I paid a lot for it.
It's an Echo Gina 3G, using the driver module snd_echo3g with alsa & pulseaudio (strangely pulseaudio itself seems to work fine all the time).
I actually had to use the Medibuntu repository to install the alsa-firmware package to make it work.

So what are my options now?

[kayosiii]

What type of soundcard do you have there... If the application is having difficulty getting control of the soundcard it might manifest in the behaviour you are seeing. Try running the applications with sound dissabled.

[unimatrix]

As I've said. I've switched my graphic card FROM nVidia TO ATI and the problem did not go away.

[kraftman]

Maybe it's the strangest nvidia problem? Did you post a bug report somewhere?