Hi, I've also encountered "(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to create IPC shm instance" problem.
In my case mplayer complained after upgrade: ... alsa-init: requested format: 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 9 alsa-init: using ALSA 1.0.12 alsa-init: setup for 1/2 channel(s) alsa-init: using device default alsa-lib: pcm_dmix.c:846:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to create IPC shm instance alsa-init: playback open error: Invalid argument Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound. Some detail on hardware $ lspci | grep -i multi 0000:00:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI] (rev 01) and alsa $ dpkg -l | grep alsa ii alsa-base 1.0.11-2 ALSA driver configuration files ii alsa-firmware-loaders 1.0.11-1 ALSA software loaders for specific hardware ii alsa-oss 1.0.11-1 ALSA wrapper for OSS applications ii alsa-tools 1.0.11-1 Console based ALSA utilities for specific ha ii alsa-utils 1.0.11-4 ALSA utilities Then I did # apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils alsa-tools alsa-oss alsa-firmware-loaders resulting in $ dpkg -l | grep alsa ii alsa-base 1.0.12-1 ALSA driver configuration files ii alsa-firmware-loaders 1.0.12-1 ALSA software loaders for specific hardware ii alsa-oss 1.0.12-1 ALSA wrapper for OSS applications ii alsa-tools 1.0.12-1 Console based ALSA utilities for specific ha ii alsa-utils 1.0.12-1 ALSA utilities After upgrade I got again ... alsa-lib: pcm_dmix.c:846:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to create IPC shm instance ... As a last result I tried to reload alsa $ sudo /etc/init.d/alsa unload /etc/init.d/alsa: Warning: Processes using sound devices: 2333(mixer_applet2) 2888(xmms) 3533(xmms). Unloading ALSA sound driver modules:. Strange, someone using it? Let's terminate him $ killall xmms and now to my astonishment mplayer works fine ... alsa-init: using device default alsa: 47040 Hz/2 channels/4 bpf/65536 bytes buffer/Signed 16 bit Little Endian AO: [alsa] 47040Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample) Starting playback... ... Observed on sporadically upgraded Sid machine (my friend is on slow dialup). Well, I'm confused, but maybe someone can shed some light on it. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
