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I'm using Pop!_OS 20.10 and I have an intermittent problem that seems to happen reliably when I disconnect and reconnect my USB microphone "too often" or "too many times". I would like to at least learn about a workaround less drastic than rebooting my machine.

It goes like this: I disconnect my USB microphone, then I reconnect it. If I do this 2 or 3 times within 30 seconds, eventually pulseaudio tells me this:

    D: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: /dev/snd/controlC1 is accessible: yes                                                             
    D: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-7/1-7:1.0/sound/card1 is busy: no                         
    D: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: Loading module-alsa-card with arguments 'device_id="1" name="usb-Blue_Microphones_Yeti_Stereo_Microphone-00" card_name="alsa_card.usb-Blue_Microphones_Yeti_Stereo_Microphone-00" namereg_fail=false tsched=yes fixed_latency_range=no ignore_dB=no deferred_volume=yes use_ucm=yes avoid_resampling=no card_properties="module-udev-detect.discovered=1"'                        
    D: [pulseaudio] reserve-wrap.c: Device 'Audio1' already locked.
    E: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to load module "module-alsa-card" (argument: "device_id="1" name="usb-Blue_Microphones_Yeti_Stereo_Microphone-00" card_name="alsa_card.usb-Blue_Microphones_Yeti_Stereo_Microphone-00" namereg_fail=false tsched=yes fixed_latency_range=no ignore_dB=no deferred_volume=yes use_ucm=yes avoid_resampling=no card_properties="module-udev-detect.discovered=1""): initialization failed.
    I: [pulseaudio] module-udev-detect.c: Card /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-7/1-7:1.0/sound/card1 (alsa_card.usb-Blue_Microphones_Yeti_Stereo_Microphone-00) failed to load module.
    I: [pulseaudio] client.c: Created 3 "Native client (UNIX socket client)"

I don't see my microphone in the various pulseaudio tools, even though aplay lists the device in aplay -l

    card 1: Microphone [Yeti Stereo Microphone], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
      Subdevices: 1/1
      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

If I reboot, then I can connect my USB microphone again, but I'm looking for a workaround less drastic than this that would reset whatever state is messed up when I disconnect and reconnect the USB audio device "too often".

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  • If I do this 2 or 3 times within 30 seconds Out of curiosity, why would you that, are you trying to fix some other issue by reconnecting? – Eduardo Trápani Feb 22 at 14:51
  • No. I discovered the problem accidentally and then I figured out that this reliably reproduces the problem. I was moving devices from the USB port to a hub one day and then suddenly Pop! wouldn't detect any microphones. That's how I stumbled upon the problem. – J. B. Rainsberger Feb 22 at 18:51
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I followed some of the comments here:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/-/issues/809

Killing pipewire and then restarting pulseaudio fixed the problem:

systemctl --user stop pipewire.service
systemctl --user restart pulseaudio.service

It appears to be a race between pipewire and pulseaudio. I don't know anything about pipewire, but it sometimes seems to grab a lock on the USB audio device before pulseaudio can access it.

To permanently disable pipewire:

sudo systemctl --global stop pipewire.service
sudo systemctl --global disable pipewire.service

I don't know what service(s) pipewire provides that I might miss, but so far nothing :)

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  • I only regret that I can't do more than upvote, mark this the correct answer, and thank you directly with this comment. – J. B. Rainsberger 2 days ago

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