Sound doesn't play in Firefox on Linux (although occasionally it does)

[tvendelin]

Exact URL of where the bug happened

https://lichess.org/training/L1akd
Actually happens when I play just as well

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Install Void Linux
2. Install Firefox
3. Go to Lichess website
4. Play a game

What did you expect to happen?

Sound should play

What happened instead?

Silence, and a lost game partly because of missing sound feedback.

Operating system

Void Linux

Browser and version (or alternate access method)

Firefox 133.0 (64-bit)

Additional information

I have followed all the instructions here: https://lichess.org/faq#autoplay

[nathanielkaiserxyz]

Unable to reproduce on void linux with firefox 133.0.

Have you check the obvious stuff, slider in the top right? do any other websites not work?

are you using pulseaudio?

pulseaudio: pactl list

ALSA: aplay -l (if this isnt working your sound isnt working)

[tvendelin]

@nathanielkaiserxyz as stated in the original report, I have gone through all Lichess suggestions. The sound works OK for everything except Lichess. Even for Lichess, it occasionally works again. So, I'm not surprised you couldn't reproduce it. I have never experienced this glitch, say, watching YouTube videos using the same Firefox.

~>aplay -l 
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [VP3256-4K]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC1220 Analog [ALC1220 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 1: ALC1220 Digital [ALC1220 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

UPDATE:
I've just restarted the window manager (dwm), and now it works again.

[gbtami]

Works for me. XUbuntu 24.04, Firefox 132.0.2.
I think this is your linux stack issue, nothing to do on lichess side.

[tvendelin]

@gbtami I've got no problem with sound on any other web site. By the way, Surf shows just a blank page for lichess.org, although moving cursor in the window detects links. Again, tried against several other sites, works fine.

[gbtami]

@tvendelin you said after restarting dwm it worked again. This indicates that in "clean" environment firefox+lichess works OK. lichess can't check if your environment get "dirty" later on.
If it works OK after every dwm restart, I'm right. If this is not the case, the problem could be somewhere else.

[tvendelin]

@gbtami I'll take notes of such future occurrences and post it here. This might take some time, because, as I said, it happens occasionally.

[tvendelin]

OK, here's first example:

• open firefox without tabs
• open chatGPT, do nothing
• open Lichess, go to puzzles = no sound, red speaker icon displayed
• close all tabs (effectively closing Firefox)
• open Firefox
• open Lichess, go to puzzles, sound works.

[tvendelin]

@gbtami I think you were right. Installing pulseaudio seem to have fixed this and some other sound-related erratic issues. I'm closing the issue now.