ALSA makes my computer grind to a halt.

[Papapishu]

I've recently switched from the 2.4 to 2.6 ck kernel, and thought that since most audio programs nowadays run only ALSA, i'd try it out, again.
I had tried it before, but I didn't like it because it didn't seem logical (OSS had the /dev devices for example, and furthermore, OSS just worked...), it loaded some 20 modules (things like that makes me paranoid), and it didn't seem to have anything extra to offer compared to OSS (except maybe size).

But I compiled my 2.6 kernel which worked, and made the alsa code into modules (at least 21 one them), which are loaded at startup.
Sound plays after I unmute the mixer (an operation which is totally against all reason, b.t.w.)
Pretty soon I start seeing that whenever I use ALSA, for example when listening to music while working, first of all, it makes everything lag, and within a minute, the whole computer is totally locked.
The only things that work are the mouse and the sound, that continues playing without any problems.
The only thing I can do to regain control over my computer is to hardware-reboot it.

When I disable the alsasound startup script, or run the old kernel using OSS, everything works fine, and the sound have never given me any trouble whatsoever.

I've tried to recompile it into the kernel and skip the bootscript.
Sound works, but after a few minutes, everything starts to lag, and before I can do a thing, the computer locks up again, right when I was typing the first version of this post.

I've read some complaints about ALSA making things slower, but nothing about it totally locking up the computer.
I have followed the Gentoo manual and all tips I've found here and there, but can't get it to work without locking the computer.
Have I missed something very important or is ALSA just a piece-o-...?
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#359074

[Sipi]

You didn't write which DE or WM you use.
If you use KDE with arts enabled, you should explicitely set arts' output device in Control Center to ALSA.
Usually, it is auto by default, and it causes lagging problems.

Hope this helps...

Sipi

[Papapishu]

I use fluxbox, so I don't use aRTS or anything.
I've only installed the alsa tools to be able to mix and so.

Is there any other info I should give?
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#359074