On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 15:21:15 +0100, Richard Zidlicky rz@linux-m68k.org said:
> On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:03:00 -0700, "Nathanael D. Noblet" nathanael@gnat.ca said:
NDN> So it seems it is related to thunderbird. I have the preference set to NDN> play a sound when new mail arrives. After it has, sounds is messed NDN> up... Bug with thunderbird I presume?
RZ> there is a known kernel bug where PA hangs with a kernel lock issue, RZ> can you see if that is what is hapenning?
RZ> http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0912.0/02272.html
Oddly, I just today had one of those "oh duh" moments. So when firefox froze again I killed pulseaudio and sure enough firefox immediately came back to me. Which means it was definitely tied to the sound.
I didn't see anything in that message, however, that lead me to any new thoughts on what I should test. I don't have any kernel circular looping reports like the one shown in the message above. Nor do I have extra audio stuff plugged in at all.
RZ> In my case I am finding it can have very funny effects, like compiz RZ> segfaulting.
Yeah, it's amazing how dependent we are on sound these days :-/
On my recently upgraded mythtv system I end up having to kill pulseaudio before starting the mythfrontend as well.