[pulseaudio-discuss] Problems with ASUS Xonar D2X & PulseAudio card detection.

[Hakan Bayındır]

Hello All,

I'm using Debian Testing with KDE desktop, and having problem with
PulseAudio's sound card detection.

The system I'm using has three sound sinks (or cards if you wish):
- nVidia GTX680's sound output over DisplayPort.
- Intel's on board HD audio.
- ASUS Xonar D2X on PCIe (CMedia CM8788) [Preferred & default card].

All of the cards are well supported under Linux, ALSA and PulseAudio,
however PulseAudio is sometimes do not detecting my soundcard and revert
to one of the other cards as it pleases. The problem started with a
kernel update (I don't remember the exact version). What I've diagnosed
is as follows:
- Card is always operational. Present in lspci, initialized correctly
(D2X has hard relays as mute switches and I hear the distinctive CLACK
sound when the card is initialized).
- ALSA always detecting and calling the card settings from persistence
as it should, I verified with ALSA mixer.
- Deleting PulseAudio settings and restarting daemon generally has no help.
- When card is not detected it's completely absent from PulseAudio's
configuration and configuration database.
- I sometimes need to shutdown and restart the PC two to three times to
get the sound card back.
- It's more likely occur if I log-on to my PC late (press the power
button, get a cup of tea, drink some, wander off and login).
- There's no terse/warning/error logs anywhere. Everything is working as
it should on paper, so I cannot debug the problem.

Did anyone experience anything like this? I have the ability to debug
and patch the code if necessary, and if someone can at least show me the
right place for discussing this stuff I'd be grateful.

Thanks in advance,

Best regards,

Hakan