Version: unspecified (using KDE 4.4.3) OS: Linux Hi, If I am in a KDE session and I do a "Switch User" to bring up a new desktop then sound disappears for SOME applications. It is gone in the new session, and it is still gone when I return to the original session. My guess is that KDE wants to switch the sound over to the new session (a good idea) but it doesn't do it right. Nor does KDE restore sound when returning to the original session. I can get sound back to the affected applications by rebooting or doing an "alsactl init" from a command line. That alsactl restores sound suggests that this is an interaction between Switch User and ALSA. Here are some applications which ARE affected by this problem: Firefox Xine Mplayer audacious Here are some applications which are NOT affected: Amarok KDE event notification (Note that whatever Amarok is playing in the original session continues to play in the new session, which is also a bug.) This is a repeatable failure. I lose sound in the affected applications every time I do the "Switch User". It does not matter which user I switch to. I am running Slackware 13.1, the latest, with a 2.6.33.4-smp kernel and KDE 4.4.3. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: Play something with one of the affected applications I mentioned then click through "Application Launcher" --> "Leave" --> "Switch User", and log in. It does not matter which user you switch to. Actual Results: The sound will not work in the affected applications nor does it work when you return to the original session. Expected Results: The ability to play sounds from the current session (and only the current session) should just work whatever session I am in and regardless of what sessions I have been in. Fixed by The Microsoft Solution (Just reboot) or by running "alsactl init" from the command line.
> Note that whatever Amarok is playing in the original session continues to play in the new session, which is also a bug I don't think this is a bug. When I switch to other running sessions (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F1 Terminal) I expect the sound to continue. The failing applications you list are non-KDE applications, so I tend to believe this is a problem with those applications not connecting to a central sound server, but trying to output sound using ALSA directly, which then fails, because there is the KDE sound server running.
Closing based on comment #1, this is indeed not a Phonon bug.