Sound distortion when memory is almost full.
by babaliaris from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5JBP6)
I've noticed that when the memory usage is at 95-99% the sound (if I'm watching YouTube or listening to something) is being distorted and it fixes itself after 10-15 seconds. Every new video, or sound that I'm opening does this.
I'm 90% sure that it's the high memory usage that causes this because I haven't noticed this phenomenon in other circumstances.
I'm running Debian 10.9 (buster) with Xfce alsa audio.
Computer Specs:
Code:$sudo lshw -short
H/W path Device Class Description
=====================================================================
system To be filled by O.E.M.
/0 bus M5A97 R2.0
/0/0 memory 64KiB BIOS
/0/4 processor AMD FX(tm)-6350 Six-Co
/0/4/5 memory 288KiB L1 cache
/0/4/6 memory 6MiB L2 cache
/0/4/7 memory 8MiB L3 cache
/0/2c memory 8GiB System Memory
/0/2c/0 memory 4GiB DIMM DDR3 Synchro
/0/2c/1 memory DIMM Synchronous [empt
/0/2c/2 memory 4GiB DIMM DDR3 Synchro
/0/2c/3 memory DIMM Synchronous [empt
/0/100 bridge RD9x0/RX980 Host Bridg
/0/100/2 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/2/0 display Tahiti PRO [Radeon HD
/0/100/2/0.1 multimedia Tahiti HDMI Audio [Rad
/0/100/4 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/4/0 enp2s0 network RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI
/0/100/5 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/5/0 bus ASM1042A USB 3.0 Host
/0/100/5/0/0 usb1 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/5/0/1 usb2 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/5/0/1/2 scsi4 storage DataTraveler 3.0
/0/100/5/0/1/2/0.0.0 /dev/sdd disk 30GB DataTraveler 3.0
/0/100/5/0/1/2/0.0.0/0 /dev/sdd disk 30GB
/0/100/5/0/1/2/0.0.0/0/1 /dev/sdd1 volume 28GiB Windows FAT volu
/0/100/7 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/7/0 bus ASM1042A USB 3.0 Host
/0/100/7/0/0 usb4 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/7/0/0/2 generic 802.11n WLAN Adapter
/0/100/7/0/1 usb5 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/11 scsi0 storage SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA
/0/100/11/0 /dev/sda disk 1TB WDC WD10EZEX-00B
/0/100/11/0/1 /dev/sda1 volume 931GiB Windows NTFS vo
/0/100/11/1 /dev/sdb disk 500GB Samsung SSD 860
/0/100/11/1/1 /dev/sdb1 volume 99MiB Windows FAT volu
/0/100/11/1/2 /dev/sdb2 volume 15MiB reserved partiti
/0/100/11/1/3 /dev/sdb3 volume 269GiB Windows NTFS vo
/0/100/11/1/4 /dev/sdb4 volume 498MiB Windows NTFS vo
/0/100/11/1/5 /dev/sdb5 volume 3814MiB Linux swap vol
/0/100/11/1/6 /dev/sdb6 volume 191GiB EXT4 volume
/0/100/12 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/12/1 usb8 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/12/1/3 input Dell KB216 Wired Keybo
/0/100/12/1/5 input Gaming Mouse
/0/100/12.2 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/12.2/1 usb3 bus EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/12.2/1/2 multimedia Microsoft LifeCam-VX70
/0/100/13 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/13/1 usb9 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/13.2 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/13.2/1 usb6 bus EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14 bus SBx00 SMBus Controller
/0/100/14.2 multimedia SBx00 Azalia (Intel HD
/0/100/14.3 bridge SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC
/0/100/14.4 bridge SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridg
/0/100/14.5 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/14.5/1 usb10 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/16 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/16/1 usb11 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/16.2 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/16.2/1 usb7 bus EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/16.2/1/3 communication SDM660-MTP _SN:4FC7189
/0/101 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/102 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/103 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/104 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/105 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/106 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/1 system PnP device PNP0c01
/0/2 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/3 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/5 system PnP device PNP0b00
/0/6 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/7 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/8 communication PnP device PNP0501
/0/9 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/a system PnP device PNP0c02
/1 enp0s22f2u3 network Ethernet interface
/2 wlx30b5c214162b network Wireless interface


I'm 90% sure that it's the high memory usage that causes this because I haven't noticed this phenomenon in other circumstances.
I'm running Debian 10.9 (buster) with Xfce alsa audio.
Computer Specs:
Code:$sudo lshw -short
H/W path Device Class Description
=====================================================================
system To be filled by O.E.M.
/0 bus M5A97 R2.0
/0/0 memory 64KiB BIOS
/0/4 processor AMD FX(tm)-6350 Six-Co
/0/4/5 memory 288KiB L1 cache
/0/4/6 memory 6MiB L2 cache
/0/4/7 memory 8MiB L3 cache
/0/2c memory 8GiB System Memory
/0/2c/0 memory 4GiB DIMM DDR3 Synchro
/0/2c/1 memory DIMM Synchronous [empt
/0/2c/2 memory 4GiB DIMM DDR3 Synchro
/0/2c/3 memory DIMM Synchronous [empt
/0/100 bridge RD9x0/RX980 Host Bridg
/0/100/2 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/2/0 display Tahiti PRO [Radeon HD
/0/100/2/0.1 multimedia Tahiti HDMI Audio [Rad
/0/100/4 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/4/0 enp2s0 network RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI
/0/100/5 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/5/0 bus ASM1042A USB 3.0 Host
/0/100/5/0/0 usb1 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/5/0/1 usb2 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/5/0/1/2 scsi4 storage DataTraveler 3.0
/0/100/5/0/1/2/0.0.0 /dev/sdd disk 30GB DataTraveler 3.0
/0/100/5/0/1/2/0.0.0/0 /dev/sdd disk 30GB
/0/100/5/0/1/2/0.0.0/0/1 /dev/sdd1 volume 28GiB Windows FAT volu
/0/100/7 bridge RD890/RD9x0/RX980 PCI
/0/100/7/0 bus ASM1042A USB 3.0 Host
/0/100/7/0/0 usb4 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/7/0/0/2 generic 802.11n WLAN Adapter
/0/100/7/0/1 usb5 bus xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/11 scsi0 storage SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA
/0/100/11/0 /dev/sda disk 1TB WDC WD10EZEX-00B
/0/100/11/0/1 /dev/sda1 volume 931GiB Windows NTFS vo
/0/100/11/1 /dev/sdb disk 500GB Samsung SSD 860
/0/100/11/1/1 /dev/sdb1 volume 99MiB Windows FAT volu
/0/100/11/1/2 /dev/sdb2 volume 15MiB reserved partiti
/0/100/11/1/3 /dev/sdb3 volume 269GiB Windows NTFS vo
/0/100/11/1/4 /dev/sdb4 volume 498MiB Windows NTFS vo
/0/100/11/1/5 /dev/sdb5 volume 3814MiB Linux swap vol
/0/100/11/1/6 /dev/sdb6 volume 191GiB EXT4 volume
/0/100/12 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/12/1 usb8 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/12/1/3 input Dell KB216 Wired Keybo
/0/100/12/1/5 input Gaming Mouse
/0/100/12.2 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/12.2/1 usb3 bus EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/12.2/1/2 multimedia Microsoft LifeCam-VX70
/0/100/13 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/13/1 usb9 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/13.2 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/13.2/1 usb6 bus EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14 bus SBx00 SMBus Controller
/0/100/14.2 multimedia SBx00 Azalia (Intel HD
/0/100/14.3 bridge SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC
/0/100/14.4 bridge SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridg
/0/100/14.5 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/14.5/1 usb10 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/16 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/16/1 usb11 bus OHCI PCI host controll
/0/100/16.2 bus SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
/0/100/16.2/1 usb7 bus EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/16.2/1/3 communication SDM660-MTP _SN:4FC7189
/0/101 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/102 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/103 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/104 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/105 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/106 bridge Family 15h Processor F
/0/1 system PnP device PNP0c01
/0/2 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/3 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/5 system PnP device PNP0b00
/0/6 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/7 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/8 communication PnP device PNP0501
/0/9 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/a system PnP device PNP0c02
/1 enp0s22f2u3 network Ethernet interface
/2 wlx30b5c214162b network Wireless interface