Restart Ubuntu sound processes via command line

Question

I tried to hibernate Ubuntu (which fails, but thats another issue) and resumed my system.

After this, the sound doesn't get played.

What command can/should I run to restart the ubuntu sound system.

Did [Dan Walker’s answer](https://superuser.com/q/17312/150988#17315) work for you? If it did, it would be nice if you would add a comment saying so. If not, why did you accept it? You should accept an answer [only if it works for you](https://superuser.com/help/accepted-answer). — Scott - Слава Україні, Aug 04 '18 at 19:33

score 131 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 04 '18 at 18:54

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As suggested by mikewhatever in his answer to this question on Ask Ubuntu:

pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload

edited Aug 04 '18 at 18:54

Scott - Слава Україні

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answered Aug 04 '18 at 18:14

Equanimous Guy

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This is the one that worked for me, on Ubuntu 18.04 ("bionic") – Dan Stowell Jan 21 '19 at 08:14
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Works on 20.04 as well. – Stefan Falk Mar 15 '20 at 15:23
Works on KDE Neon 5.18. – A.L. Apr 09 '20 at 14:15
this is the best solution, because after the notebook sleep and I used to listen music I had strange noises, now with this restart everything is Ok !!! Great ! Great ! – MadMad666 May 31 '20 at 00:54
Works on 20.10 too. – Gabriel Belingueres Apr 23 '21 at 12:25
In my case, I am using 20.04, if I start an android emulator and then watching Youtube, the sound from the Youtube will have sort of electronic noise. Using this command fixed the problem. – r0ng Jun 07 '21 at 09:28
Works on Pop OS 20.04 as well! Thank you! – Rocket Mar 31 '22 at 17:06
Also fine on Ubuntu 22.04 ! – milembar Apr 29 '22 at 18:50
Saved me a reboot on Ubuntu 20. Much appreciated. – Geolim4 May 23 '22 at 14:22
This is what I have (and working) to re-scan all audio devices on Ubuntu 16.04 - `pulseaudio -k && pactl load-module module-detect` – tdwong.star Apr 21 '23 at 01:06

score 34 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '19 at 07:22

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PulseAudio is a user service, so run systemctl with the --user flag.

systemctl --user restart pulseaudio

answered Aug 29 '19 at 07:22

JSON C11

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I get `Job for pulseaudio.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl --user status pulseaudio.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.` Any advice? – xjcl Jan 24 '20 at 23:53
@json-c11 Does this restart ALSA too? – Pranav Feb 24 '21 at 10:00

Dan Walker · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-02T19:06:47.613

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If Ubuntu is still using Alsa for its sound engine (I'm not sure as its been awhile since I've used it), you can restart by typing sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart into the terminal.

Since it doesn't seem to be working, you might need to make sure that nothing is trying to use it. (example shamelessly stolen from the Ubuntu forums)

name@comp:~$ lsof | grep pcm
sh 5079 name 70u CHR 116,6 13639 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p

name@comp:~$ kill -9 5079

edited Aug 02 '09 at 19:06

answered Aug 02 '09 at 18:58

Dan Walker

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You may also have to restart pulse-audio. – Dana the Sane Aug 02 '09 at 19:04
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Nice try. Good answer. But in my case, doesn't solve the problem. Yes, to my best knowledge, I use ALSA itself. – lprsd Aug 02 '09 at 19:04
Any specific order to follow. Restarted both. No luck. I am confident, by restarting my system, sound will work. But I dont want to. – lprsd Aug 02 '09 at 19:06
Seems like I will have to kill firefox, chrome, and gnome-panel. As good as restarting the system :| . Anyway, thanks! – lprsd Aug 02 '09 at 19:11
That's what I ended up having to do @LakshmanPrasad - I had, easily, 12-18 pulse processes. Cut that down to ~6 after closing everything except gnome. It's easier, if not too windows-y to just restart. – Ned Burgher Oct 09 '20 at 19:26

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 25 '18 at 15:50

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Ubuntu swichted to pulseaudio some time ago, so it would be:

sudo /etc/init.d/pulseaudio restart

EDIT: In case that doesn't cut it, you could also rmmod and modprobe the kernel modules used for sound. Which those are probably depends on your sound card. lsmod might give you a clue...

edited Mar 25 '18 at 15:50

Stephen Rauch

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answered Aug 02 '09 at 19:06

Kim

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score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 25 '18 at 15:48

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Alsa Usage:

 /sbin/alsa {unload|reload|force-unload|force-reload|suspend|resume}


sudo alsa reload

edited Mar 25 '18 at 15:48

Community

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answered Apr 30 '16 at 15:08

Juan Cruz

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Can you expand your answer a little to explain it? Thanks. – fixer1234 Apr 30 '16 at 19:47

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 22 '20 at 04:53

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I reverted to a previous kernel after a reboot. Sound was restored. I found out that the newer upgraded kernel did not have the extra modules installed like the older one did. lsmod listed no sound modules.

answered Jan 22 '20 at 04:53

Don Harter

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Restart Ubuntu sound processes via command line

6 Answers6