I've noted the same problem with my AWE32. The problem seems to occur
particularly when there is not a lot of 'free' memory available to the
system. That doesn't necessarily mean that its being used by programs,
just that there be a lot of buffers/cache. My system:
Kernel: 2.0.31-pre10
System: Dual P166, 64MB RAM
Sometimes if there isn't enough free memory I can't get mp3's/wav's
to play at all! (free reports:)
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 63304 60180 3124 26004 13448
-/+ buffers: 46732 4183980
Swap: 120956 128 120828 21784
I get the following errors:
bplay: /dev/dsp: Out of memory
Also sometimes:
Can't open /dev/dsp!
Or:
Can't allocate DMA etc.
Running something memory intensive and then halting it midway seems to
resolve the problem. For example, when I did:
make -j -l zImage and waited a few seconds then ctrl-c'd out of it I was
once again able to play wav's and mp3's. Free memory reports considerably
more free RAM after doing this. Circa 13-14megs usually.
If anyone has any suggestions, they're appreciated,
Peter McLachlan
My beautiful! my beautiful!
That standest meekly by
With thy proudly arched and glossy neck,
And dark and fiery eye;
"An Arab's Farewell to his Steed"-Caroline Norton