Intermittent Loss of Sound

[MrGrynch]

Sometimes, when I launch PBX from the desktop, I don't have any sound in the frontend.  This also happens occasionally when I exit a table and return to the frontend.  The table audio plays just fine.  It's only the frontend that is having the problem. Most of the time, I can close PBX, relaunch it and the problem will be gone.  It's hard to isolate when it started.  I installed the latest version of PBX, but I also added a new sound card to support my SSF.  I've attached a video demonstrating the issue.  I've also attached a log file recorded at the time the problem occurred, as well as my configuration

 

pbx_info.7z

[scutters]

Log file looks good to me so maybe there's a problem logged in event viewer?

Don't think it'll resolve the issue, but you're not quite on the latest PinballX release so update that. Also, are you running any other sound profile programs (pinvol etc), might be worth disabling them just in case and making sure audio drivers are up to date if not already.

[MrGrynch]

15 hours ago, scutters said:

Log file looks good to me so maybe there's a problem logged in event viewer?

Don't think it'll resolve the issue, but you're not quite on the latest PinballX release so update that. Also, are you running any other sound profile programs (pinvol etc), might be worth disabling them just in case and making sure audio drivers are up to date if not already.

Yes, I run PinVol, EQAPO, and Thump.  Not going to disable those.  Audio is fine for the tables, even when launched from the frontend with no sound.  It's only the frontend that has an issue.  Nothing of note in the Event Viewer logs.  Audio drivers are current.  I'll update the frontend and let you know how it goes

[Mike_da_Spike]

I really don't know, but if this is new behaviour, can you try an older version of PinballX, to see if this issue came from an PBX update, or if this is coming from your setup.

I mostly play at night (or early morning), and only have my SSF speakers on (and not the rom/backglass speakers), so I don't have sound most of the time within PBX

 

[scutters]

On 8/24/2022 at 2:23 PM, MrGrynch said:

Yes, I run PinVol, EQAPO, and Thump.  Not going to disable those.

I didn't mean permanently, just temporarily disable and then and see if you can recreate the issue. I don't run any of them and haven't had any issues (which of course doesn't mean that one of them is the cause, but does mean that they are worth ruling out in the absence of anything obvious).

[MrGrynch]

1 hour ago, scutters said:

I didn't mean permanently, just temporarily disable and then and see if you can recreate the issue. I don't run any of them and haven't had any issues (which of course doesn't mean that one of them is the cause, but does mean that they are worth ruling out in the absence of anything obvious).

I'll give it a shot.  I've been running PinVol for a long time, so I dont think thats an issue.  So I'll focus on EQAPO and Thump

[MrGrynch]

I was just able to reproduce the problem with PinVol and EqAPO enabled.  I have the channels copied so I can redirect the center channel to L/R speakers.  It's possible the mapping is not always working, but then that doesnt explain with the tables aren't affected

[Mike_da_Spike]

I dont know those peograms, but will read it, so I know what ot will do.

But could ot be that VP is using real 7.1 ssf sou d and that under pbx you try to move the center channel to another channel, and maybe that dossnt work correct sometimes?

[MrGrynch]

6 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

I dont know those peograms, but will read it, so I know what ot will do.

But could ot be that VP is using real 7.1 ssf sou d and that under pbx you try to move the center channel to another channel, and maybe that dossnt work correct sometimes?

PBX doesn't direct sound through the center channel (mono).  It's using L/R (stereo), so I don't think that's the issue.  Once you copy the channels in Equalizer APO, you have to map the source to the copy or you won't get any sound at all.  If it sometimes fails to make that mapping, then that could explain the behavior.  Just dont know why it would be specific to one program (PBX).  I just verified that when it occurs, if I load a table, and exit back to PBX, the problem persists.  However, sometimes the sound works fine initially and will fail when I exit a table and go back to the frontend.  That doesn't make a ton of sense either.

Another possibility is that PBX is trying to use a different audio output than my USB audio.  I have two others (TV and Realtek on the motherboard).  If that happens, the same effect with occur.  I'm trying to determine that now

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Didnt you disable the audio devices that you won't use in device manager ?

Or you want to user the tv and realtek audio ? Maybe that will help ? 

[MrGrynch]

4 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Didnt you disable the audio devices that you won't use in device manager ?

Or you want to user the tv and realtek audio ? Maybe that will help ? 

I didn't disable them, but maybe I should.  I've got EQAPO configured to only use my USB sound, but... best defense may be not to be there

 

[MrGrynch]

I disabled all audio devices except for the USB.  We'll see how it goes

[Mike_da_Spike]

How is your audio issue going ?

[MrGrynch]

9 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

How is your audio issue going ?

So far so good.  It was very intermittent to begin with so still evaluating.  Looks promising so far

[MrGrynch]

Well, so much for that.. today I had a new experience... see attached video.  I've also had the no audio problem twice :-(

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Odd.. did you screw up your lav codecs ?

[Draco1962]

Besides the LAV codecs, are you 100% certain that all unused sound devices are disabled that shouldn't be enabled?

You may want to attach new copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files since a new and possibly related issue is being reported (separately please - hard to unzip when using a mobile device to examine). Thanks!

[Mike_da_Spike]

11 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

separately please - hard to unzip when using a mobile device to examine

+1

[MrGrynch]

5 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Odd.. did you screw up your lav codecs ?

If I did, it wasn't intentional, as I haven't explicitly touched them since installing.

[MrGrynch]

8 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

Besides the LAV codecs, are you 100% certain that all unused sound devices are disabled that shouldn't be enabled?

You may want to attach new copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files since a new and possibly related issue is being reported (separately please - hard to unzip when using a mobile device to examine). Thanks!

I have attached my Device Manager screen.  You can see the Sony device is disabled.  I disabled the audio on the motherboard via BIOS, so it's not even visible to Windows.  As for the ini and log, I have to wait until it happens again.

[Draco1962]

Check Event Viewer application logs to see if anything stands out as it may pickup something unique to your setup that PinballX is not seeing.

[MrGrynch]

1 minute ago, Draco1962 said:

Check Event Viewer application logs to see if anything stands out as it may pickup something unique to your setup that PinballX is not seeing.

Event Viewer shows nothing of note

[MrGrynch]

The problem is still happening, but I can't seem to capture anything that will reveal why, nor why it is so intermittent.

 

@Draco1962 you can close this