Announcements
The Spotify Stars Program: Celebrating Values Week!

Help Wizard

Step 1

NEXT STEP

Audio cuts out, requires volume change (min-max) to restore

Audio cuts out, requires volume change (min-max) to restore

I have a very weird problem. Linux Mint 18.3, no audio problems with anything apart from Spotify. Asus laptop, Threadripper CPU.

 

For some reason Spotify audio occasionally cuts out. The track is still playing, I can see the progress bar moving, but I get no audio. If I leave it, it will happily move through the whole playlist - silently. If I grab the volume control and move it to both min and max, the audio kicks back in again at max volume, then I can move it back to my desired level and it'll work for a bit. Then, a few minutes later the same thing happens and I'll have to yank the volume control.

 

Any suggestions / bug reports?

Reply
17 Replies

Never heard of this problem before.

 

Which version are you running and did you install it from the debian package or snap?

 

Installed from deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free

Version 1.0.**bleep**.336.g7edcc575

 

What sound interface does Spotify use? Alsa direct, pulse, whatever I fancy?

 

Edit: Is sixty nine considered a swear word?! Makes it difficult to report the version 😞

Same here. It seems that it is not a network issue, because using the Android app in the same Wi-Fi I have no problems.  I followed support tips, but nothing seems to solve the issue.

Switched from the deb to the snap install, bringing the application to version 1.0.72.117.g6bd7cc73.

 

Changing high quality/regular quality makes no difference.

Changing track normalisation makes no difference.

Changing cross-fade makes no difference.

Running spotify as realtime (2 prios above regular, with chrt) makes no difference.

 

Same issue persists.

Tried today and everything is working perfectly. No upgrade in Spotify client done.

Bad news. Cuts came again. In my case changing volume does not help...

Had the same issues yesterday (Ubuntu 16.04, Spotify client 1.0.72.117.g6bd7cc73-35 from official .deb).

 

Tried downgrading to last Spotify release, cleaning Spotify local storage and user profile, but nothing helped. Resetting volume did sometimes help, but issue returned soon after (like every 5 minutes or every few songs). No issues with Android Spotify App on the same LAN/Internet connection.

 

Then the issues were gone suddenly, without any change. At the time I thought that it could be some CDN issue, because stuttering and only seemd to appear when the Spotify client tried to download data from CDN URL http://audio-fa.spotify.com. But issues are back and client is using CDN  http://audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com/ at the moment.

Hi,

 

I have the same/similar problem. The track plays, stutters and then stopps. If I skip to the next track everything is fine until after X Minutes it happens again. If I use spotify via the browser, everything works like a charm.

 

I'm on Debian testing (buster). The problem just occured on 27th of February. I did not update my system. The first time the problem occured, my system uptime was 6 days. A restart of the system and deleting .config/spotify didn't help.


My Version:

$ spotify --version
Spotify version 1.0.**bleep**.336.g7edcc575, Copyright (c) 2017, Spotify Ltd

 

Ok, this is now the third attempt to post this reply. The others two were deleted. I dunno why, but thats a fact 😉

Maybe I don't post the logs this time. Strange...

IMHO, it seems to be a CDN problem. At least from my geo location. My Spotify client is going to use audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com:

$ host audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com
audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com has address 192.121.140.177

There is another CDN address I found:

$ host audio-sp-fra.spotify.com
audio-sp-fra.spotify.com has address 192.121.140.65

Because I can't choose which address spotify is going to use, I edited my /etc/hosts file and added this line yesterday:

192.121.140.65  audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com

 

Since then my audio played w/o a problem. Today I undo this change and I see this in the spotify log:

Requesting data [...] from CDN url: http://audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com[...]
CDN failure [...]. Error: http_error_timeout (12). Http: 0
Requesting data [...] from CDN url: http://audio-fa.spotify.com[...]

IMHO, something is fishy with audio-sp-fra2.spotify.com and today the spotify client chooses on it's own audio-sp-fra.spotify.com

You clearly have a different issue to me. Nothing is logged when audio drops out for me (my logs are remarkably clean actually). Shifting the volume immediately resolves the issue. My issue seems to be related to Linux audio playback as opposed to not getting the data to play.

Yes, I can confirm that we had problems with one link in Europe, during the week. That explains the CDN issues. It should have been properly fixed today.

 

Your issue with volume is something else, that still don't understand. You probably have the entire audio already and the client believes it is playing it because the progress bar is moving.

 

The client tries to use pulseaudio if it can, and should fallback to alsa if it can not find it.


@J03 wrote:

You clearly have a different issue to me. Nothing is logged when audio drops out for me (my logs are remarkably clean actually). Shifting the volume immediately resolves the issue. My issue seems to be related to Linux audio playback as opposed to not getting the data to play.


If you start spotify with --show-console you see nothing at all?

There's plenty in the log, just nothing that seemed bad! 🙂 This is at the point I tried to play from paused, I had to rachet the volume up and down to get output.

 

11:32:32.060 D [gaia_manager.cpp:941 ] GAIA: current state ID updated to -168871579
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2675 ] New GC generation: 179
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2863 ] Offline manager prune stats:
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2864 ] 0 files locked in storage
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2865 ] 0 files unlocked in storage
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2866 ] 0 track keys removed
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2867 ] 0 track keys moved to cache
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2868 ] 0 episode keys removed
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2869 ] 0 episode keys moved to cache
11:37:29.748 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2870 ] 0 keys removed from cache
11:37:29.749 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2871 ] 0 track keys left in store
11:37:29.749 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2872 ] 0 episode keys left in store
11:37:29.749 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2873 ] 53 keys left in cache
11:37:29.749 I [offline_manager_impl.cpp:2874 ] 0 local files removed
12:04:30.115 I [audio_player_queue_impl.cpp:815 ] Pause driver: 0x00007f5784741fc0, 0
12:04:30.115 I [audio_player_queue_impl.cpp:815 ] Pause driver: 0x00007f5784741fc0, 0
12:04:30.128 D [gaia_manager.cpp:941 ] GAIA: current state ID updated to -166952694
12:04:39.021 I [audio_player_queue_entry.cpp:339] Buffering changed for entry: 0x00007f57848c4d78, 1
12:04:39.021 I [audio_player_queue_impl.cpp:671 ] Flush driver: 0x00007f5784741fc0, d
12:04:39.025 I [audio_streamer.cpp:883 ] Encrypted data 64k-latency: 108 ms. Play latency: 1920301 ms
12:04:39.039 I [audio_player_queue_entry.cpp:339] Buffering changed for entry: 0x00007f57848c4d78, 0
12:04:39.059 D [gaia_manager.cpp:941 ] GAIA: current state ID updated to -166943764

 

And this is what pulseaudio had to say:

 

(12531.727| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Calculated software volume: front-left: 65221 / 100% / -0,13 dB, front-right: 65221 / 100% / -0,13 dB (accurate-enough=yes)
(12531.727| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Volume going up to 16383 at 12546523769
(12531.727| 0.000) I: [pulseaudio] module-stream-restore.c: Storing volume/mute/device for stream sink-input-by-media-role:music.
(12531.884| 0.157) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Volume change to 14417 at 12546344629 was written 32 usec late
(12531.885| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Written HW volume did not match with the request: front-left: 14417 / 22% / -39,46 dB, front-right: 14417 / 22% / -39,46 dB (request) != front-left: 14255 / 22% / -39,75 dB, front-right: 14255 / 22% / -39,75 dB
(12532.064| 0.178) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Volume change to 16383 at 12546523769 was written 47 usec late
(12532.265| 0.201) 😧 [pulseaudio] protocol-native.c: Client spotify changes volume of sink input Spotify.
(12532.265| 0.000) 😧 [pulseaudio] sink-input.c: The volume of sink input 2 changed from front-left: 16383 / 25% / -36,13 dB, front-right: 16383 / 25% / -36,13 dB to front-left: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB, front-right: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB.
(12532.265| 0.000) 😧 [pulseaudio] sink-input.c: Sink input 2 reference ratio changed from front-left: 16383 / 25% / -36,13 dB, front-right: 16383 / 25% / -36,13 dB to front-left: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB, front-right: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB.
(12532.265| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Requested volume: front-left: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB, front-right: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB
(12532.265| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Got hardware volume: front-left: 15751 / 24% / -37,15 dB, front-right: 15751 / 24% / -37,15 dB
(12532.265| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Calculated software volume: front-left: 65440 / 100% / -0,04 dB, front-right: 65440 / 100% / -0,04 dB (accurate-enough=yes)
(12532.265| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Volume going down to 15728 at 12547065031
(12532.265| 0.000) I: [pulseaudio] module-stream-restore.c: Storing volume/mute/device for stream sink-input-by-media-role:music.
(12532.605| 0.339) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Volume change to 15728 at 12547065031 was written 31 usec late
(12532.605| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Written HW volume did not match with the request: front-left: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB, front-right: 15728 / 24% / -37,19 dB (request) != front-left: 15541 / 24% / -37,50 dB, front-right: 15541 / 24% / -37,50 dB
(12534.058| 1.453) I: [pulseaudio] module-device-restore.c: Synced.
(12534.058| 0.000) I: [pulseaudio] module-stream-restore.c: Synced.

At the point it mutes during playback I see nothing in the spotify log:

 

12:30:07.338 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:07.338 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (6815744 -> 7340032) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:07.553 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:07.553 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (7340032 -> 7864320) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:07.707 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:07.707 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (7864320 -> 8388608) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:07.963 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:07.963 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (8388608 -> 8912896) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:08.204 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:08.204 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (8912896 -> 9437184) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:08.354 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:08.354 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (9437184 -> 9961472) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:08.603 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:08.603 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (9961472 -> 10485760) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:08.845 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:30:08.846 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (10485760 -> 11010048) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:30:08.994 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:32:38.144 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (11010048 -> 11534336) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:32:38.344 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:32:38.344 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (11534336 -> 12058624) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:32:38.535 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))
12:32:38.535 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:87 ] Requesting data (12058624 -> 12231852) from CDN url: http://audio4-ak.spotify.com.edgesuite.net/audio/d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6?__token__=...
12:32:38.602 I [cdn_chunk_downloader.cpp:231 ] Request for file d734f82e1285334068dd01ddcf989b39813e4fd6 complete (code: success (0))

 

But I do see this in the pulseaudio log:

 

(13477.125| 943.066) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink-input.c: Requesting rewind due to corking
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Requested to rewind 65536 bytes.
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Limited to 50316 bytes.
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: before: 12579
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: after: 12579
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Rewound 50316 bytes.
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Processing rewind...
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: latency = 1338
(13477.125| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink-input.c: Have to rewind 50316 bytes on render memblockq.
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink-input.c: Have to rewind 50316 bytes on implementor.
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] source.c: Processing rewind...
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (204 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (196 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [pulseaudio] module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo becomes idle, timeout in 5 seconds.
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (180 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (168 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (160 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (120 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (112 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (72 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.126| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (64 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.127| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (16 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.127| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo: Found underrun 65316 bytes ago (8 bytes ahead in playback buffer)
(13477.242| 0.114) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] protocol-native.c: Requesting rewind due to end of underrun.
(13477.250| 0.008) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] protocol-native.c: Requesting rewind due to end of underrun.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] protocol-native.c: Requesting rewind due to end of underrun.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] protocol-native.c: Requesting rewind due to end of underrun.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] protocol-native.c: Requesting rewind due to end of underrun.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] protocol-native.c: Requesting rewind due to end of underrun.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink-input.c: Requesting rewind due to uncorking
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Requested to rewind 65536 bytes.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: (13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [pulseaudio] module-suspend-on-idle.c: Limited to 43296 bytes.Sink alsa_output.pci-0000_12_00.3.analog-stereo becomes busy, resuming.

(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: before: 10824
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: after: 10824
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] alsa-sink.c: Rewound 43296 bytes.
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: Processing rewind...
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] sink.c: latency = 1353
(13477.250| 0.000) 😧 [alsa-sink-ALC256 Analog] source.c: Processing rewind...

I tried removing pulseaudio altogether. Spotify will not play anything then 😞 Plenty of Alsa about, but no spotify sound, so maybe I needed to do something different to get spotify and raw alsa to play happy together?

 

I tried manually installing the newest version of pulseaudio (11.1, instead of my old Mint version at 8.n). This makes no difference, I have the same problem as I have always had.

Interestingly, I've moved to using my android phone instead of linux. And still (though less often) have the same problem...

My god. It turns out to be a problem with my speakers!

https://www.ghacks.net/2015/09/25/fix-creative-speakers-stop-playing-audio-out-of-the-blue/

 

Spotify was the only long term thing I played, and its volume levels (obviously) vary. My notifications and youtube were louder and not long running, so I never saw the problem.

Suggested posts