Latest kernel (6.8.0-40) breaks Jellyfin and other media playback

General Help
1

EDIT: I found a possible fix in this post. I'm still testing to see if it stays working properly.

EDIT2: Unfortunately there's still occasional audio/video stuttering. It's not a lot, but enough to be annoying. If anyone has any ideas?

EDIT 3: After testing for several hours, it seems while this solution does indeed get it working, there's still occasional audio/video stutters. Looks like 6.8.0-40 is a no go if you're having this issue, but YMMV. Good luck.

Just did an update on two zorin 17.1 systems (older intel NUCs), and both stopped being able to play back video with Jellyfin. Tried updating directly from their github releases instead of flatpak, still no dice. Even Youtube playback wouldn't work. The video would load, and immediately stop playback, occasionally progressing a frame or two randomly.

Kernel 6.8.0-40

Reverting to Kernel 6.5.0-45 Restored playback functionality.

2

Can you please start the involved mediaplayer via terminal, it may come with any clues what's going on. Also:

sudo apt install inxi
inxi -Fz
inxi -Ga
3

when i have some time i can do that, but what is inxi?

4

It's an info application so we can see which driver and computer specs are involved.

5

My wife and daughter are watching stuff on the tvs right now, so i'll have to wait till later to run 6.8.0-40 again, but here's the console output for the commands you requested. Both machines are identical.

inxi -Fz
https://gist.github.com/Jadan1213/dee7a98e821c723e30df9301233fd355

inxi -Ga
https://gist.github.com/Jadan1213/366fd70387ae0c17cf2bd43f6ef6361f

6

Looks normally, nothing to put a finger on there. You can also try to switch between xorg and wayland to see if it have any effect under kernel 6.8.x
you can (when you have time) log out and click username, a cog shuold appear, click it and choose either wayland or xorg.

7

if i recall, I disabled wayland and am using xorg because i was having issues using meshcentral with wayland on the machines.

1 Like
8

I think I have the same problems, came up yesterday after the update. Not just video playback is affected but everything with sound. My machines are from the same CPU generation, a D54250WYKH NUC and a Gigabyte GB-BXi3-4010.
Tried to reboot into xorg, no difference.
I remember other Linux distributions had garbled sound issues with these machines, Zorin worked with them without problems. Maybe it is some general driver issue that finally came up in this distribution too?

9

Not the distribution, the Linux kernel, which is outside Team Zorin's remit. It might also be due in part that Zorin 17 is based on 22.04 and not 24.04, but I could be wrong.

10

What graphics do you have?
See this re 6.8 and Nvidia from devs: After update, display is really slow and screen is tearing - #6 by AZorin

11

That NUC has built in Intel HD Graphics 4400.

12

This is exactly it. I just reinstalled 6.8.0-40, and tested it. As soon as i mute the sound, the video starts playing. If i un-mute, video stops again.

13

EDIT: After some testing, it introduces audio/video stutter. I'm going to see if i can find a way to fix that.

EDIT 2: After clearing all the files from ~/$USER/.config/pulse and rebooting, the audio seems to be playing properly. I'm going to test it for a while and see what happens.

EDIT 3: After testing for several hours, it seems while this solution does indeed get it working, there's still occasional audio/video stutters. Looks like 6.8.0-40 is a no go if you're having this issue, but YMMV. Good luck.

Ok, here's a method i found to fix it.

sudo apt install wireplumber pipewire-pulse
systemctl --user --now disable pulseaudio.service pulseaudio.socket
systemctl --user mask pulseaudio
systemctl --user --now enable pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

Now reboot, and audio/video should play.

Source: How to Install and Configure PipeWire in Linux - Make Tech Easier

There is a section that says to remove pulseaudio, don't do this because it will try to remove half the damn system with it.

1 Like
14

I decided to test the 6.8.0-40 kernel. I am using Nvidia 3060 with 555 driver.

At first, I had no issues - for about three or four days, all was well. But after that initial time, I began to notice lagging, stuttering and other odd graphical glitches. Given the influx of reports, including from non-Nvidia users; I would avoid the 6.8 kernel.
Jumping from 6.5 to 6.8 is a strange and unusual kernel progression to see on Zorin OS.
Looking into it; it looks highly likely that the impetus for such a drastic jump was seeking better Wayland support. This makes sense given that 17 defaults to Wayland, now.

1 Like
16

In another thread, someone mentioned using driver 550.

17

But wouldn't a Desktop Environment Main-Update deliver a better Wayland Support and not the Kernel?

18

Kernel support for Wayland is also necessary, for hardware support for the Wayland protocol.

19

This is probably it: After update, display is really slow and screen is tearing - #6 by AZorin

20

It was actually this one that i saw After upgrade to ZorinPro no smooth animations and stutters

(although this is not the topic of this thread in particular)

21

So far the steps in my earlier post (with edits), has everything working properly.

Above post...