Bug 141541

Created attachment 225481 [details]
alsa-info bad.txt

Update. subtle change in that I can now adjust the volume to some extent, for a while it works as should, then lots of static/buzzing noise and then the crash. Feels like progress!

I'm wondering if my problem relates to issues between pulse-audio and alsa. I appreciate that the alsa info about his (ancient) card were perhaps pre pulse-audio days, yes? Hence all the OSS references... I don't need gui at all for my purposes; can live with only alsa mixer etc, so perhaps remove pulse-audio?

Simple mixer control 'Input VU Meter',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 255
  Front Left: -16069 [-6302%]
  Front Right: -3459 [-1356%]

Simple mixer control 'Output Peak Meter',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 255
  Front Left: -2549 [-1000%]
  Front Right: -888 [-348%]
Simple mixer control 'Output VU Meter',0
  Capabilities: volume
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: 0 - 255
  Front Left: -16069 [-6302%]
  Front Right: -3459 [-1356%]

The values of those peak meters are out of range 0-255

Thanks Raymond. I'll attend to those issues and come back...

	control.11 {
		iface MIXER
		name 'Output VU Meter'
		value.0 -16070
		value.1 -3330
		comment {
			access 'read volatile'
			type INTEGER
			count 2
			range '0 - 255'
		}
	}
	control.12 {
		iface MIXER
		name 'Output Peak Meter'
		value.0 -2550
		value.1 8507
		comment {
			access 'read volatile'
			type INTEGER
			count 2
			range '0 - 255'
		}
	}

	control.14 {
		iface MIXER
		name 'Input VU Meter'
		value.0 -16070
		value.1 -3330
		comment {
			access 'read volatile'
			type INTEGER
			count 2
			range '0 - 255'
		}
	}
	control.15 {
		iface MIXER
		name 'Input Peak Meter'
		value.0 -4113
		value.1 8507
		comment {
			access 'read volatile'
			type INTEGER
			count 2
			range '0 - 255'
		}
	}
}

those controls are volatile which require special application (e.g. alsa-tools) to read the value of controls periodically

Thanks very much Raymond. BTW at this point I've removed pulseaudio.

Those four meters are clearly out of range and need some attention. I had noticed in alsamixer that they appeared un-adjustable, although I note in Gnome alsa mixer they have appear to have sliders that move (see screenshot)

Afraid I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to Alsa. If anyone can advise on how to configure these parameters to acceptable, in range, settings. I'd be grateful. Also if there's any reading to do to understand the 'read volatile' parameter my attention has been drawn to, grateful again. Quick google hasn't got me very far.

Conscious this 'kernel bug' posting is now inappropriate (right?); happy to make this solved, but advise on where to properly discuss such (Alsa?) matters appreciated.

Created attachment 225751 [details]
alsamixer vs gnome mixer

screenshot of alsamixer vs gnome mixer

Hello, I also encounter crashes with vx222 (v1 of the card). Definitely PulseAudio can trigger some bug, but they can happen also with PulseAudio disabled.

I attach kernel crash log from dmesg and alsa-info output.

Created attachment 247681 [details]
alsa-info

Created attachment 247691 [details]
dmesg log after crash

The stack trace indicates some out-of-bounds access.
Does the patch below fix anything?

(The bogus VU meter value is a different issue, and unlikely related with the crash.)

Created attachment 247701 [details]
Test fix patch

Dear Tahashi, thank you for quick reply. I will definitely give it a try, but I have to recompile the driver and it's quite time-consuming. I'll let you know as soon as it's done.

After applying a patch only right channel was working.

It was playing back succesfully for a few minutes and then immediately, without any specific action that could trigger that from my side, it started to beep in the right channel and crashed. dmesg crash is attached.

Created attachment 247721 [details]
dmesg log after crash with test patch applied

I was testing today the VX222 card on Debian Jessie (Kernel 3.16) and I also got crashes. 

When I tried to launch jackd (version 1) with sample rate 192kHz it immediately caused issues.

The logged messages from the kernel were:

vx: cannot start stream

then after a while

vx: cannot start pipe
vx: cannot start pipe

and system became totally dead.

On another attempt when I just used regular 44.1 kHz it just was unstable. At the fist attempt it was working, but then after Jack was shutdown it never allowed me to start again, telling that "device or resource is busy". Then it had crashed similarily to the previous report.

Takashi, if you are willing to work on this would it be helpful if I send you the card? I think I can also think about some renumeration (if it's reasonable).

Created attachment 248461 [details]
Crash screenshot after regular operation on kernel 3.16

Created attachment 248471 [details]
Crash screenshot after 192khz on kernel 3.16

Created attachment 250861 [details]
dmesg log after crash for vx222 v1 on kernel 4.4.0-57-generic from ubuntu 16.04

Created attachment 250871 [details]
Crash screenshot vx222v2 kernel 4.8.0-lowlatency from ubuntu 16.04 #1

Created attachment 250881 [details]
Crash screenshot vx222v2 kernel 4.8.0-lowlatency from ubuntu 16.04 #2

Created attachment 250891 [details]
Crash screenshot vx222v1 kernel 3.13.0 from ubuntu 14.04

Created attachment 250901 [details]
Crash screenshot vx222v2 kernel 3.13.0 from ubuntu 14.04