Hi,

What you have right now sounds to me like a buffer overrun issue. For
starters, I would start up a terminal
(Applications->Accessories->Terminal in default GNOME desktop) and
enter the command <lspci -v | less>. Use the cursor keys (or j, k, f,
b) to scroll. You'll get more precise identifying information about
your built-in PC98 audio or your SoundBlaster as well as the kernel
driver title and module. You can use (and post) this to start
diagnosing the problem and find out if you need to do any
configuration file tweaking or the like.

Have you checked your system log (System->Administration->Log File
Viewer->user.log)? I bet you will see reports from alsa-util and maybe
ratelimit via pulseaudio. This information could be of use.

You could try changing your audio output, as well. In VLC, go to
Audio->Output Module and try different sound systems. (Pulseaudio is
Ubuntu's default.) If you find one that's not giving you problems, you
can set GStreamer to default to it following the instructions in
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/03/how-to-switch-to-alsa-or-oss-instead-of.html .

Finally, one thing that has helped me in the past is upgrading ALSA
(the usual back-end system for the Pulseaudio layer). The latest is
1.0.24, and you can upgrade past the version you have from Canonical
using a PPA: https://launchpad.net/~ricotz/+archive/unstable?field.series_filter=maverick .
(The instructions are there on the page if you need them. Run Update
Manager afterwards to get the new packages.) If this causes issues,
you can remove the PPA from your software sources list and reinstall
the packages. (I remember back when a big shell script was written to
do all this....)

I really hope this helps. Sound issues damage the desktop Linux experience!

On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 6:10 PM, Nicholas Almond < njalmond@ncsu.[redacted] > wrote:
> I have a custom built pc with a Gigabyte MB (I'm not sure of the model #
> offhand) and an AMD Athlon 7750 Dual-Core Processor, I am currently running
> Windows 7 with no issues, other than the fact that it is windows...
> I want to run Ubuntu Linux on it, but any time that I have had Ubuntu on it,
> the audio doesn't work right.  I have not tried a clean install, but I have
> used the wubi, but that should act the same way as a clean install right?
> Specifically, when I play audio files, using the on-board sound card (I also
> tried a SoundBlaster Audigy, same issue) and several different music players
> (VLC, Banshee, Movie Player, Rhythmbox), the sound is choppy, almost like an
> old cd player that would skip if something bumped it.  The skips are
> inconsistent and can start anywhere from the beginning of the song to one
> minute into it.  I have tried mp3s, AACs, and oggs, all have the same
> issue.  However, I did not have this issue playing a video file (.m2ts in
> this case) in VLC.
> Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to how to solve or identify the
> source of this problem?
>
> Thanks,
> Nick
>

--
Nathan Wilson
Computer Engineering, NC State University