No sound on Vivaldi {Kubuntu 20}

hstoellinger

Hello,
I am using the latest stable and snapshot versions of Vivaldi for Linux (Kubuntu 20.04). Since Just lately (maybe some two to three weeks ago) I cannot play any sound anymore. It DOES play o.k. on Firefox, or - for that matter under Skype. Also got Chrome installed. Sound doesn't get played there either. Seeing as Chrome (and - from what I read - also Microsoft Edge?) and Vivaldi are based on Chromium, I suppose this is a problem to do with Chromium and NOT Vivaldi. Is anybody aware of this situation and - is there a work-around until the Chromium devs bother to fix this. Thanks for any hints
Regards
H. Stoellinger

modedit added Linux version to title

hstoellinger

Hello,
Thanks for answering so quickly! Very commendable!
Below - the hardware connection of Audio...

(1) Connection of Sound Device: inxi -F returns...
Audio: Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-29-generic

(2) Did you checked Vivaldi Settings > Webpages if permission for Sound is Blocked?
yes! everything is "alllowed"

(3) Did you check KDE Mixer if Apps have disabled speaker?
yes! none disallowed

sudo alsactl init returned...
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Realtek ALC889" "HDA:10ec0889,104d3300,00100005 HDA:14f12c06,104d1700,00100000 HDA:10de0003,10de0101,00100000" "0x104d" "0x9040"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method

... still not working afterwards.

As I mentioned earlier, I have the same effect on Chrome.
Again: Skype-sound works o.k., as does under Firefox, when displaying the same page (of course - with the same hw/sw-settings!).
As against my "background-image-Problem" (any news from Chromium? I haven't received a "solution" from them), sound works o.k. on the newest Android version of Vivaldi. This is why I again suspect Chromium...
Thanks for your help
H. Stoellinger

hstoellinger

Well, I just upgraded from Kubuntu 19.10 (kernel 5.3.x) to Kubuntu 20.04 (kernel 5.4.29). You may well be right, since sound is o.k. with the same Vivaldi-Snapshot version on 19.10. I did NOT add any non-free intel-firmware - unless it came along with the fresh Kubuntu 20.04 installation. Maybe I should follow up the issue with Chromium and/or Kubuntu...

hstoellinger

Yes, I downloaded the 64bit-DVD from there. Again, the weird thing for me is that sound is o.k. in Firefox, Skype or when playing files with vlc.

hstoellinger

Just saw that sound works on Chrome (Version 83.0.4103.61 (Official Build) (64-Bit)) now. As I said it has always worked under Firefox or in Skype. Also, on Kubuntu 19.10 sound works as well, but not under 20.04
The output of inxi -F, regarding Audio is as follows (Kubuntu 20.04):

Audio:     Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-33-generic

hstoellinger

Hello,
Thanks for "dealing" with my problem so patiently! I do feel sorry to bother you like this!
The only difference in hw/sw-components that I can see is the audio device: mine being Intel 82801I HD, while yours are all different, supposedly newer, my laptop is quickly becoming an "old bloke"!
I don't see how I could possibly change any systems settings. I will research further.
I'll be back (hopefully with good news!)
Regards
H. S.

hstoellinger

Good suggestions! However, since sound works fine in ALL other applications (such as Chrome 83.0.4103.61, VLC, Firefox, Skype) on Kubuntu 20.04 without any change to the sw/hw-setup, and Vivaldi (both stable and snapshot) are the ONLY apps where sound does NOT work I cannot help thinking that the problem lies within Vivaldi. Also, as I said already - everything is fine with Vivaldi on Kubuntu 19.10. I know this is NOT satisfactory, but I am stuck. I don't have an idea of either the driver-API or the way Vivaldi uses it.
The only difference I can see (through inxi) is that 20.04 (with kernel 5.4) uses Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-55-generic , whereas 19.10 (with kernel 5.3) uses Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.3.0-55-generic.
Maybe I can install the 5.3- version Soundserver on top of kernel 5.4 somehow. But, surely, even if it might work, this cannot really be a viable solution in the long term. I am also somewhat doubtful about creating an issue with k/ubuntu for the reasons mentioned above.
Regards
H. S.

hstoellinger

Thanks a lot for trying to help...
I entered the commands you mention, and this is what I got as an answer:

sudo /opt/vivaldi/update-widevine
Widevine (4.10.1582.2) is already installed and does not need to be updated
2020-06-03 09:22:54-hs@hslaptop:~$ sudo /opt/vivaldi/update-ffmpeg
Proprietary media codecs (80.0.3987.149) was already present
2020-06-03 09:23:14-hs@hslaptop:~$ sudo /opt/vivaldi-snapshot/update-widevine
Widevine (4.10.1582.2) is already installed and does not need to be updated
2020-06-03 09:23:31-hs@hslaptop:~$ sudo /opt/vivaldi-snapshot/update-ffmpeg
Proprietary media codecs (81.0.4044.138) was already present

hstoellinger

Thanks a lot! It now works. No idea what system upgrade "killed" sound on Vivaldi.
I followed the suggestions in
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1165750/sound-isn-t-working-in-ubuntu-18-04
In principle it meant removing/purging and reinstalling alsa-base and pulseaudio, then mv ~/.config/pulse ~/.config/pulse.bak and sudo reboot.
Unfortunately the Audio section in my "Systems Settings" has vanished. I can help myself by running pavucontrol, but this is
not ideal. Any idea how I can get the Miniprogram back to Systems Settings and the control bar? But that's another issue. I won't go through the work of re-installing Kubuntu 20.04 - plus all of my many additions...
Thanks again!

hstoellinger

Eureka!