Pulseaudio does not have any sink, no audio output

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1

Hello, my pulseaudio worked fine just a few days ago before I updated my flake and everything went wrong.

I’m using stable nixpkgs (24.05)

pulseaudio does not recognize any sink, except from the combined sink which does not output anything

here’s what is mean: this is the only sink and it does not output any sound at all

$ pactl list sinks                                                                                                                       
Sink #1
	State: RUNNING
	Name: combined
	Description: Simultaneous Output
	Driver: module-combine-sink.c
	Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
	Channel Map: front-left,front-right
	Owner Module: 23
	Mute: no
	Volume: front-left: 62574 /  95% / -1.21 dB,   front-right: 62574 /  95% / -1.21 dB
	       balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	Monitor Source: combined.monitor
	Latency: 58285 usec, configured 40000 usec
	Flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	Properties:
		device.class = "filter"
		device.description = "Simultaneous Output"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card"
	Formats:
		pcm

journalctl output looks kinda fine:

$ journalctl --user-unit=pulseaudio
-- Boot 2178549787ca46009335b06dfec723f6 --
Aug 11 12:18:33 Windows11 systemd[2170]: Starting Sound Service...
Aug 11 12:18:33 Windows11 pulseaudio[2593]: stat('/etc/pulse/default.pa.d'): No such file or directory
Aug 11 12:18:33 Windows11 systemd[2170]: Started Sound Service.
Aug 11 12:29:17 Windows11 pulseaudio[2593]: org.bluez.BatteryProviderManager1.UnregisterBatteryProvider() Failed: org.freedesktop.systemd1.ShuttingDown:Refusing>
Aug 11 12:29:17 Windows11 systemd[2170]: pulseaudio.service: Got notification message from PID 2593, but reception is disabled.
Aug 11 12:29:17 Windows11 systemd[2170]: pulseaudio.service: Consumed 6.872s CPU time, 11.7M memory peak, 0B memory swap peak.
-- Boot 75569505efe64ab698afb91dd02d0b86 --
Aug 11 13:06:21 Windows11 systemd[2169]: Starting Sound Service...
Aug 11 13:06:21 Windows11 pulseaudio[2583]: stat('/etc/pulse/default.pa.d'): No such file or directory
Aug 11 13:06:21 Windows11 systemd[2169]: Started Sound Service.

here’s what in my configuration.nix:

 # Audio
  hardware.pulseaudio = {
    enable = true;
    package = pkgs.pulseaudioFull;
     extraConfig = "load-module module-combine-sink";
  };
  # pipewire is only for screen recording/discord screen share
  services.pipewire.enable = true;

  sound.enable = true;
  security.rtkit.enable = true;

Am i doing something wrong? Please send help

2

can confirm that this might not be pulseaudio problem, switched to pipewire with pulse emulation and still no sink:

configuration:

{pkgs, ...}:{

  sound.enable = true;
  security.rtkit.enable = true;

  services.pipewire = {
    enable = true;

    alsa.enable = true;
    alsa.support32Bit = true;

    # pulseaudio emulation
    pulse.enable = true;

    wireplumber.enable = true;

    extraConfig.pipewire."92-low-latency" = {
      "context.properties" = {
        "default.clock.rate" = 44100;
        "default.clock.quantum" = 512;
        "default.clock.min-quantum" = 512;
        "default.clock.max-quantum" = 512;
      };
    };

  };

  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    # for pactl binary and stuffs
    pkgs.pulseaudioFull
  ];

}

result: same thing

$ pactl list sinks                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Sink #51
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: auto_null
	Description: Dummy Output
	Driver: PipeWire
	Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
	Channel Map: front-left,front-right
	Owner Module: 4294967295
	Mute: no
	Volume: front-left: 65544 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65544 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	       balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	Monitor Source: auto_null.monitor
	Latency: 0 usec, configured 0 usec
	Flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	Properties:
		node.name = "auto_null"
		device.description = "Dummy Output"
		audio.rate = "48000"
		audio.channels = "2"
		audio.position = "FL,FR"
		media.class = "Audio/Sink"
		factory.name = "support.null-audio-sink"
		node.virtual = "true"
		monitor.channel-volumes = "true"
		factory.id = "18"
		clock.quantum-limit = "8192"
		client.id = "50"
		node.driver = "true"
		factory.mode = "merge"
		audio.adapt.follower = ""
		library.name = "audioconvert/libspa-audioconvert"
		object.id = "51"
		object.serial = "51"
	Formats:
		pcm

I was afraid that pipewire might not recognize my hardware
My fear was true

$ pw-cli list-objects | grep node.name                                                                                                                                                       

 		node.name = "Dummy-Driver"
 		node.name = "Freewheel-Driver"
 		node.name = "Midi-Bridge"
 		node.name = "bluez_midi.server"
 		node.name = "auto_null"

how do I fix this

3

for some reason, i upgraded to unstable nixpkgs and it fixes the problem

my hypothesis is that hyprland in my flake might have some issues with the stable nixpkgs, but I’m not sure how. Upgrading to unstable also fixed my mesa driver issues

win-win i guess