The overall question that my whole problem is kind of based on is regarding sound in linux. Should I be using alsa or pulse or what?I'm using pulse at the moment and this is my problem: I was in the midst of configuring awesome and playing some music at  same time when I restarted awesome and found sound no long functioned. After debugging and frustration I restarted and sound still doesn't work. When run in super verbose mode pulseaudio gives much output (see bottom of post) but I think the key line is this:D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9.21/modules/module-udev-detect.so': successD: module-udev-detect.c: /dev/snd/controlC0 is accessible: noD: module-udev-detect.c: /dev/snd/controlC29 is accessible: noAny guesses?Full log:rob@lennyubuntu:~$ pulseaudio -vvvvI: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Operation not permittedI: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Operation not permittedD: core-rtclock.c: Timer slack is set to 50 us.D: core-util.c: RealtimeKit worked.I: core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.I: main.c: This is PulseAudio 0.9.21-63-gd3efa-dirtyD: main.c: Compilation host: i486-pc-linux-gnuD: main.c: Compilation CFLAGS: -g -O2 -g -Wall -O3 -Wall -W -Wextra -pipe -Wno-long-long -Winline -Wvla -Wno-overlength-strings -Wunsafe-loop-optimizations -Wundef -Wformat=2 -Wlogical-op -Wsign-compare -Wformat-security -Wmissing-include-dirs -Wformat-nonliteral -Wold-style-definition -Wpointer-arith -Winit-self -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -Wredundant-decls -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-noreturn -Wshadow -Wendif-labels -Wcast-align -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -Wwrite-strings -Wno-unused-parameter -ffast-math -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fno-common -fdiagnostics-show-optionD: main.c: Running on host: Linux i686 2.6.32-24-generic-pae #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Aug 20 15:37:22 UTC 2010D: main.c: Found 2 CPUs.I: main.c: Page size is 4096 bytesD: main.c: Compiled with Valgrind support: noD: main.c: Running in valgrind mode: noD: main.c: Running in VM: noD: main.c: Optimized build: yesD: main.c: All asserts enabled.I: main.c: Machine ID is 37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393.I: main.c: Session ID is 37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-1284741785.538707-879649589.I: main.c: Using runtime directory /home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-runtime.I: main.c: Using state directory /home/rob/.pulse.I: main.c: Using modules directory /usr/lib/pulse-0.9.21/modules.I: main.c: Running in system mode: noI: main.c: Fresh high-resolution timers available! Bon appetit!I: cpu-x86.c: CPU flags: CMOV MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4_1 I: svolume_mmx.c: Initialising MMX optimized functions.I: remap_mmx.c: Initialising MMX optimized remappers.I: svolume_sse.c: Initialising SSE2 optimized functions.I: remap_sse.c: Initialising SSE2 optimized remappers.I: sconv_sse.c: Initialising SSE2 optimized conversions.D: memblock.c: Using shared memory pool with 1024 slots of size 64.0 KiB each, total size is 64.0 MiB, maximum usable slot size is 65496D: database-tdb.c: Opened TDB database '/home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-device-volumes.tdb'I: module-device-restore.c: Sucessfully opened database file '/home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-device-volumes'.I: module.c: Loaded module-device-restore (index: #0; argument: ).D: database-tdb.c: Opened TDB database '/home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-stream-volumes.tdb'I: module-stream-restore.c: Sucessfully opened database file '/home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-stream-volumes'.I: module.c: Loaded module-stream-restore (index: #1; argument: ).D: database-tdb.c: Opened TDB database '/home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-card-database.tdb'I: module-card-restore.c: Sucessfully opened database file '/home/rob/.pulse/37b1a2935e121fd776c640534c92c393-card-database'.I: module.c: Loaded module-card-restore (index: #2; argument: ).I: module.c: Loaded module-augment-properties (index: #3; argument: ).D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9.21/modules/module-udev-detect.so': successD: module-udev-detect.c: /dev/snd/controlC0 is accessible: noD: module-udev-detect.c: /dev/snd/controlC29 is accessible: noI: module-udev-detect.c: Found 2 cards.I: module.c: Loaded module-udev-detect (index: #4; argument: ).D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9.21/modules/module-bluetooth-discover.so': failureD: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9.21/modules/module-esound-protocol-unix.so': successI: module.c: Loaded module-esound-protocol-unix (index: #5; argument: ).I: module.c: Loaded module-native-protocol-unix (index: #6; argument: ).D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9.21/modules/module-gconf.so': failureI: module-default-device-restore.c: Saved default sink 'auto_null' not existant, not restoring default sink setting.I: module-default-device-restore.c: Saved default source 'auto_null.monitor' not existant, not restoring default source setting.I: module.c: Loaded module-default-device-restore (index: #7; argument: ).I: module.c: Loaded module-rescue-streams (index: #8; argument: ).D: module-always-sink.c: Autoloading null-sink as no other sinks detected.I: sink.c: Created sink 0 auto_null with sample spec s16le 2ch 44100Hz and channel map front-left,front-rightI: sink.c:     device.description = Dummy OutputI: sink.c:     device.class = abstractI: sink.c:     device.icon_name = audio-cardD: core-subscribe.c: Dropped redundant event due to change event.I: source.c: Created source 0 auto_null.monitor with sample spec s16le 2ch 44100Hz and channel map front-left,front-rightI: source.c:     device.description = Monitor of Dummy OutputI: source.c:     device.class = monitorI: source.c:     device.icon_name = audio-input-microphoneD: module-null-sink.c: Thread starting upI: module.c: Loaded module-null-sink (index: #9; argument: sink_name=auto_null sink_properties='device.description=Dummy Output').I: module.c: Loaded module-always-sink (index: #10; argument: ).I: module.c: Loaded module-intended-roles (index: #11; argument: ).D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink auto_null becomes idle, timeout in 5 seconds.I: module.c: Loaded module-suspend-on-idle (index: #12; argument: ).D: dbus-util.c: Successfully connected to D-Bus system bus 37167102d347eef17e1632d54c939a90 as :1.19I: client.c: Created 0 ConsoleKit Session /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session1D: module-console-kit.c: Added new session /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session1I: module.c: Loaded module-console-kit (index: #13; argument: ).I: module.c: Loaded module-position-event-sounds (index: #14; argument: ).D: dbus-util.c: Successfully connected to D-Bus session bus 72094675a23ec627dd2a6a7b4c939a9c as :1.8D: main.c: Got org.pulseaudio.Server!I: main.c: Daemon startup complete.D: module-console-kit.c: dbus: interface=org.freedesktop.DBus, path=/org/freedesktop/DBus, member=NameAcquired
Sound Problems with pulseaudio
audio;debugging