<chapter id="sound">
<title>Troubleshooting sound problems</title>

<para>&kde; uses the &arts; sound system which is complex and powerful,
making it difficult for some users to troubleshoot when things go
wrong. Here are some tips to help you diagnose what it's doing when your
sound misbehaves :</para>

<qandaset>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>How can I troubleshoot sound related problems in &kde;?</para>
</question>

<answer><para> To check that sound is working independently of &arts;, make
sure that <command>artsd</command> isn't running and then try playing sound
through <application>XMMS</application> or another multimedia application
that isn't a part of &kde;. If that application doesn't play sound, then
your general sound setup is probably broken and it's not a &kde;
problem.</para>

<para>Try playing sound with
<userinput><command>artsplay</command><option><replaceable>
/path/to/some/soundfile</replaceable></option></userinput>. Try various
formats, ogg, mp3 and wav.  Any error messages there might be useful in
pointing you in the right direction.</para>

<para>Try setting the &arts; output method to <acronym>OSS</acronym>. In the
&kcontrolcenter; go to <menuchoice><guimenu>Sound &amp; Multimedia</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Sound System</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. On the
<guilabel>Hardware</guilabel> tab, under <guilabel>Select the audio
device</guilabel> choose <guilabel>Open Sound System</guilabel>. If you are
running <acronym>alsa</acronym> this will use the <acronym>OSS</acronym>
emulation, which may give better or worse results.</para>

<para>Running <userinput><command>artsd</command><option> -l
0</option></userinput> from a terminal will give you a lot of debug output,
some of which might help you to diagnose the problem. Trying this in
conjunction with using <command>artsplay</command> in a second terminal can give a wealth of information. If an <application>artsd</application> instance is already running, exit it with <userinput><command>artsshell
</command><parameter>terminate</parameter></userinput></para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question><para>
I've upgraded to the latest version of &kde; keeping my old configuration, and my system sounds don't work anymore!</para></question>
<answer><para>
Assuming you've installed &arts; correctly and you still have the codecs installed your previous &kde; installation needed, chances are this is a small problem with your <filename>knotifyrc</filename>. To confirm this, try creating an entirely new user and seeing if system notifications work under the new account. If they do, try moving your <filename>$<envar>KDEHOME</envar>/share/config/knotifyrc</filename> out of the way for your original user to see if this solves the problem.
</para></answer>
</qandaentry>


</qandaset>

</chapter>

