Hello everyone,

I am reaching out to the community seeking assistance with a persistent and annoying audio issue I've been facing on my dual-boot system (Windows and Ubuntu). The issue only exists on the Ubuntu side, wherein the audio cuts out for brief moments, akin to switching sources. This happens randomly and sometimes when I click to another window, although not consistently.

Issue Details:
The audio is delivered via HDMI.
Audio occasionally cuts out randomly and when switching between windows.
Only the Ubuntu OS is affected; no such issue is observed in Windows.
Problem persists after numerous troubleshooting steps.

Steps Taken So Far:
Updated System and Drivers:
Updated the system and drivers to ensure everything is up-to-date.

Checked Audio Settings:
Verified the audio settings, but everything seemed normal. No left speaker sound occasionally.

Volume Monitor Bar:
The volume monitor bar in pavucontrol does not indicate any disruptions during the audio cutouts.

Speaker Test:
Ran a speaker test but encountered a "device is busy" error. When the test ran, the audio cut out during the switch between channels.

Process Occupation:
Checked for processes occupying the audio device, found only PulseAudio as the user.

Tweaked PulseAudio Settings:

Modified CPU limit settings in PulseAudio’s configuration.
Tested with various PulseAudio configurations, including real-time scheduling, without any affect.

ALSA Mixer Adjustments:

Explored ALSA Mixer settings; even when all channels were muted, the audio still played? Not sure, maybe ALSA isn't being handed control?

Noticed an "auto-mute" feature enabled but disabling it in ALSA didn't solve the problem.

System and Audio Resource Monitoring:

Attempted to set the CPU governor to performance mode, without success.

Other Observations:
The issue of audio cutting out is highly repeatable when switching back and forth between windows.

Using “cpu-limit=off” in the PulseAudio daemon.conf seemed to provide some improvement but didn’t completely resolve the issue.

Seeking Community Insight:
I’m eager to resolve this persistent issue and am open to trying additional diagnostic steps or solutions that the community might suggest. Detailed insights, similar experiences, or potential fixes are highly appreciated.

System Specs and Information:

Ubuntu Version: 22.04.3 LTS
Kernel Version: 6.2.0-34
Thank you in advance for your assistance and insights!

What peripherals do you have plugged in? You could have a faulty peripheral like a webcam which is causing ubuntu to detect plug and play. That can switch devices in my experience.

If you have peripherals, then try unplugging them and repeat the reproduction steps for cutting audio.

Hi Sag47,
I have no peripherals attached to the machine at all other than a keyboard, mouse and monitor.