Intermittently losing sound Xubuntu

[Chris]

Weird one here. My FIL has a relatively new Dell which I set up Xubuntu on
and the sound only works intermittently. When it works it works everywhere,
when it doesn't nothing works. Whether it's local files or internet videos
the pattern is consistent. The only exception is CDs. A physical CD will
always play.

There doesn't seem to be any pattern in when it will/won't work other than
the CDs.

It only has one audio device: the motherboard intel chip using the
"snd_hda_intel" driver. The only output is a set of desktop speakers.

My only hint at a problem is that inxi reports three sound servers:

> inxi -SMA
system:
Host: Vostro Kernel: 5.15.0-48-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Deskto
Distro: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Vostro 3710 V: N/A
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Dell model: OKID6X v: A00 serial: <superuser required>
V: 1.1.66 date: 06/22/2022
Audio:
Device-1: Intel driver: snd hda intel
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-48-generic running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
Sound Server-3: Pipewire v: 0.3.48 running: yes

My suspicion is that the servers are conflicting and the applications are
picking the wrong one randomly, but that's just a guess.

Anyone able to help or point me in the right direction to diagnose the
problem?

Where would I switch off the two servers and keep only one? Which one is
the preferred one of the three?

[Chris]

Chris <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

Whoops. Sorry. Wrong x-post. Ignore.