Comment 141 for bug 191027

I was having same problem with the developer branch of intrepid...

1) tried the reinstalling of ubuntu-desktop ... no-go...
2) restarting the pulseaudio server works (and an .xinitrc makes it more painless-of-a-workaround)
3) skip'ed installing the update alsa packages (so can't comment on that)

I was trying to figure out HOW the initial pulseaudio server got started when logging into the X session... it's still not clear, perhaps somebody can clarify this.

BUT (and I forgot how I came to trying this)

I typed:
% asoundconf set-pulseaudio

and this apparently creates an .asoundrc file which includes .asoundrc.asoundconf that points anything NOT default to pulse (is how I read it, could be wrong)

and rebooted and it came up working now (the initial pulseaudio server now works)

Funny thing is now the silly drum pattern during the gdm login screen doesn't make a sound NOR the startup sound file when starting GNOME in an X session. THIS is weird, because when it was working it would previously only do this upon the first session after starting gdm and any logout->login (w/o restart gdm) would cause the GNOME startup sound to NOT play (wierd I know)...

but NOW there is NO sounds inside gdm nor startup sound (an indication of something else not working)... but pulseaudio server seems healthy now.

I think it's a bit of a racing condition (or perhaps a chicken-or-the-egg) and one was pointing at the other and-or visa-versa.

Hope this helps narrow down the searching of the bug.... For now.. I know how to switch it around and get pulseaudio either NOT working (pure alsa), restarting the pulseaudio server (via .xinitrc) and not HAVING to restart pulseaudio server.

--Doug