Sound Issues with Zoom Flatpak

h2-1

I'm the inxi author, there's clearly an issue with the raid report, I've never seen that particular bug before.

Can you paste in the output from: cat /proc/mdstat

make sure to put into code blocks to preserve whitespaces, it looks like your system has a specific syntax inxi has never seen before for mdraid, I'm pretty sure it's mdraid anyway.

Brucehankins

h2-1 I'll try and post it tomorrow, not sure I'll have time today.

Brucehankins

h2-1 Here is the output

` $ cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities :
md127 : inactive sda0
2136 blocks super external:imsm

unused devices: <none>`

h2-1

I can safely say I would never have been able to figure this out were it not for your data, thank you.

The problem was that I had never actually seen the case of an inactive mdraid array, and inxi had made some assumptions which did not prove out to be correct, that is, it assumed the data structure would remain the same for active and inactive mdraid arrays. This is not the case. Here's your data working correctly now, thanks.

RAID:
  Device-1: md127 type: mdraid level: N/A status: inactive size: N/A 
  Info: report: N/A blocks: 2136 chunk size: N/A 
  Components: Online: N/A Inactive: 1: sda0

Leandros_Adigard

Brucehankins Were you able to fix the sound drop out issue?

Brucehankins

Leandros_Adigard yes and no. As long as the Zoom flatpak works, sound works fine. When for some reason the flatpak doesn't work properly and I run Zoom through the web browser, it has the problem after suspend/wake or longer periods of inactivy. Using caffeine doesn't seem to effect it, it seems to have to do with interaction with the chrome browser.

I'm going to try having them use Firefox instead and see if the problem presists. Unfortunately, it's during school when it happens, so I can't take the time to grab screenshots and run terminal commands to troubleshoot properly. It's get some audio back (using Bluetooth headset) ASAP so they can finish class. And of course, the kids always shut the pc down when they're done, so reboot and errors are gone.

brent

Brucehankins My experience (almost every day) with Zoom, around learners and colleagues is: standalone app 1000X better than browser experience. My wife who runs W10 agrees, as do other peers. So it's a cross-platform sentiment from what I can tell.
(I use the Snap Zoom fairly effortlessly as far as glitches).

Brucehankins

brent It seems to work well as long as I keep flatpak updated regularly and restart after updates. Do snap packages auto-update on Solus or do you need to run sudo snap refresh in when a package is updated? Is this the snap package you're referring to? I might remove the flathub version and install the snap package just to try it out and see if it makes a difference.

brent

Brucehankins

$ snap find zoom
zoom-client               5.4.57862.0110                ogra               -        ZOOM Cloud Meetings

That's how I installed it (terminal) and version # matches your picture so yes.
Remembering to auto-update my auxiallry apps is something I'm terrible at, but I've never manually updated. And looking at my app my version ends in .920. SO no, zoom did not update itself.
We are watching me fail in real time here.
Now:

sudo snap refresh zoom-client
error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Mount snap "zoom-client" (128) (exit status 1)

Ha! Let me go investigate more.🙂

Brucehankins

brent It may be related to our version of snapd being held back. I had the same issue with the newest snap of Chromium. Which is why I'm going to try and use Firefox instead of Chromium, lol. I figure that will get updated with the regular rolling updates every Friday, and it avoids the problem now of having to go and run flatpak update every week manually.

I really want to learn how to write a script for this, but I just don't have the time right now.

Aaaaaaaaannnnnndddddd, as I type this I realize why installing the Zoom snap wouldn't work....

brent

Brucehankins we're helping each other by going down in flames!

Is there any links about Solus snap packages not being to update based on the status of Snapd?
I will poke around dev tracker.

On the bright side, the old vulnerable version I have works like a charm!

Brucehankins

brent Ask and you shall receive and Dev Tracker that was linked in the comment.

brent

Brucehankins
SAGA OF A MORON:
*felt unsafe with snap zoom from 10 versions ago.
*can't refresh snap due to mounting error you showed me (known @ devtracker)
*'idea'! if I can't refresh zoom on solus we can uninstall old snap zoom and install new snap zoom!
*Solus snap won't install or refresh---WIsh I knew---Since my paycheck depends on this.
*[calmly installs flatpak zoom]
*DUMMY OUPUT in Solus sound settings, DUMMY OUTPUT in Zoom sound settings
*[touches where the jack seats into the plug ever-so-slightly]

*both said DUMMY OUTPUT but now list a device.
**conclusion? crappy cord or crappy 3.5mm jack hole

TESTS sound with headphones on. SOUND finally!!!

I don't know if someone can hear me in a meeting. I don't know if I can hear someone else in a meeting. Waiting for partner to come home to see if I succeed.

Will post followup in event of success or failure. I'm really hoping it's the crappy hardware seating I mentioned...
edit: sp.

brent

Anyone who helps me from making a fool out of myself (I was creating a new help me discussion about that snap install) gets another LIKE.
Thank you for the info. This goes back to August 2020 and the Dev thread ends with Josh's words "I have it handled and I'm tracking it."
Good enough. I subscribed to that thread.
New strategy: I am keeping my outdated Snap Zoom. The snapcraft store has no explicit instructions to update or install in Solus and I'm not going to compile.

brent

PART 2:
plug in speaker jack (this is solus sound settings; it's identical in Zoom sound settings):

twist speaker jack a little (this is solus sound settings; it's identical in Zoom sound settings):

MORE:
Partner came home. I dragged my rig into another room and we Zoomed. Could hear each other thru each of ours' external speakers and cam mics like a normal meeting.
For me, Dummy Output (SO FAR) is a visible hardware issue with jack seating in the desktop's audio port. If port is the right word that is. I have another green 'port' to jack audio into. Haven't gone there yet.

I hope any of this is relevant to you.

Brucehankins

brent it's the same issue with Dummy Output, but my audio is run over HDMI out of my GTX1060 to a tv being used as a monitor. Hooking up headphones or connecting a Bluetooth headset will get it working, but not over the original HDMI port.

The past two days I have had issues connecting the kids to their school meetings with the desktop app and have fallen back to the web browser with Firefox. No issues there as long as we turn on caffeine or keep the pc from suspending.

brent

Brucehankins your hdmi, I gotcha. Not a hardware issue for you.
Had some more anecdotal you might be interested in. Wife and I noticed, in Zoom the last 2 days, that sound virtually disappears when you share screen and check the optimize sound button. It sucks. It would come and go.
A teacher teaches in Zoom mostly with that button checkmarked so he/she can share content. It would be very noticeable on the student end.
We had to uncheck that button after being conditioned to use it for months.

Wonder if this is related?
PS.--I had this in snap zoom last week too.