I've been having trouble with my audio settings after performing system updates on Arch Linux. Each time I update and restart, I lose sound completely—my microphone doesn't pick up anything either. Even media players like Rhythmbox and YouTube in Firefox fail to play audio, with YouTube just stuck on a loading screen. Discord isn't detecting my mic at all. I've reverted to a snapshot where the sound works, but I'm not sure where to begin troubleshooting the changes that happened after the update. Any advice on what I should check or monitor to identify the issue?
2 Answers
It sounds like you might be dealing with some configuration changes to your audio system. For instance, WirePlumber, which manages PipeWire sessions, switched its configuration format from Lua to JSON in recent versions. If you switched from PulseAudio to PipeWire, that could also be a factor. I recommend backing up or renaming your configuration files in the ~/.config directory, especially the ones for WirePlumber, PipeWire, and PulseAudio. After renaming them, see if you can reconfigure your audio settings from scratch. You can find guidance on setting things up properly online if needed.
Honestly, why not just switch to Windows? It might save you from these headaches.
I get it! Just thought I’d throw it out there, but good luck!
Haha, I appreciate the advice, but I prefer sticking with Linux. It's just a learning curve!