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

[Andrey Semashev]

On 10/1/18 4:20 PM, Hakan Bayındır wrote:
> 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.

I'm having the same problem on Kubuntu 18.10, PulseAudio 12.2. `pactl 
list cards` does not list D2X but it is clearly present in `aplay -L` 
and `alsa-info` output.

Were you able to resolve or debug the problem?