Qjackctl will not connect/start Jack

[etienne]

Hi there

I am trying to record vocals for a project that needed to be done a few days ago (it just took longer than expected), and now I cannot even start up Jack in Qjackctl, so I am getting worried!

No matter what settings, kHz, bit depth, or even sound card I choose, I always get the same error messages.

First I get three error windows (see attached images), and then when I look in the messages window of Qjackctl, I get a whole string of things that I don't understand.

Error window 1:

JACK Error 1 Screenshot from 2016-08-19 18-57-21.png (23.9 KiB) Viewed 1020 times

Error window 2:

JACK Error 2Screenshot from 2016-08-19 18-57-35.png (27.48 KiB) Viewed 1020 times

Error window 3:

JACK Error 3 Screenshot from 2016-08-19 19-09-33.png (24.99 KiB) Viewed 1020 times

I've Googled the problem(s), but none of the solutions offered have made any difference.

I am using Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit with the low-latency kernel. I've never had any problems before!

Here is the full content from the message window:

Code: Select all

19:12:16.065 Statistics reset.
19:12:16.078 ALSA connection change.
19:12:16.095 D-BUS: Service is available (org.jackaudio.service aka jackdbus).
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
19:12:16.117 ALSA connection graph change.
19:12:17.300 D-BUS: ResetParameterValue('engine:name'): Unknown engine parameter 'name'. (org.jackaudio.Error.UnknownParameter)
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
Fri Aug 19 19:12:17 2016: ERROR: Unknown engine parameter 'name'
19:12:18.468 D-BUS: SetParameterValue('driver:midi-driver', 'raw'): Unknown parameter 'midi-driver' for driver 'alsa'. (org.jackaudio.Error.UnknownParameter)
19:12:19.071 D-BUS: JACK server is starting...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: driver "alsa" selected
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: Unknown parameter 'midi-driver' for driver 'alsa'
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Saving settings to "/home/etienne/.config/jack/conf-jack1.xml" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: ERROR: open() failed to open conf filename.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Starting jack server...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: Using System timer as clock source.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: JACK compiled with System V SHM support.
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: loading driver "alsa" ...
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: apparent rate = 48000
Fri Aug 19 19:12:18 2016: creating alsa driver ... hw:Device,0|hw:Device,0|1024|2|48000|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
Fri Aug 19 19:12:19 2016: ERROR: 
ATTENTION: The playback device "hw:Device,0" is already in use. Please stop the application using it and run JACK again
Fri Aug 19 19:12:19 2016: ERROR: cannot load driver module alsa
Fri Aug 19 19:12:19 2016: ERROR: Failed to start server
19:12:21.106 Could not connect to JACK server as client. - Overall operation failed. - Unable to connect to server. Please check the messages window for more info.
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock

[Pablo]

ATTENTION: The playback device "hw:Device,0" is already in use. Please stop the application using it and run JACK again

To find the application using the audio card type in a terminal:
lsof | grep /dev/snd

You will see a list with several columns, like for example
jackdbus 31446 pablo mem CHR 116,3 11291 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p

where C0D0p means card 0, device 0, playback. (This is an example).
The way to release the card is killing the process. In this case, I would "killall -9 jackdbus", where -9 is useful for a better killing. I use it always, anyway.

I use the command:
killall -9 jackd jackdbus qjackctl
to start again when things get confusing for a moment, then I launch qjacktl again. (I use a two-letter alias for that command, cos I use it a lot, to speed up things).

The question is if you want desktop sounds (managed by pulseaudio) to live together with the musical applications that use jack as audio server. Assuming so, both jackdbus and pulseaudio are recommended although they are not completely free of bugs. They are OK for my limited use, anyway.

[etienne]

It has magically started working again. I don't know what happened!

Thanks for the help, though!

I use Ubuntu (or Ubuntu Studio, depending on which computer I'm on) often, and they are both usually super stable and everything "just works". NO idea what happened.

If anyone searches this and comes across it in the hope of an answer, the best advice I can give is restart your computer and check if the kHz is correct for the sound card you're using. I did, and everything was right, and suddenly it started working again!