Sounds get jittery/ start dropping out after using system for an hour or so

wtstreetglow1

Hello,

Does anyone have any ideas of what could be causing the subject or what I should look into.

This issue only seems to happen after the pi4 (Retropie 4.8) has been used for an extended amount of time (>1 hour). It began being noticed very prevalently after getting the system to run some background music on the system/ game selection screens.

Thank you all for any guidance you can provide.

mitu

Please provide some info about your setup, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.
If you have some 3rd party background music scripts, try disabling them first and see if that changes anything. How are you using the system in that time ? Are you playing games or just leave the front-end (EmulationStation) with the bg music running ?

wtstreetglow1

@mitu Thank you again for your response here @mitu

See below for system info:

Pi Model or other hardware: (B, B+, 2 B, 3, X86 PC etc..): pi 4b 64 bit
Power Supply used: (If using a Pi): Canakit 3.5 Amp
RetroPie Version Used (eg 3.6, 3.8.1, 4.1 - do not write latest): 4.8
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: rii mini wireless keyboard, wired mouse, wired keyboard
Controller used: none yet (just setting up currently)

I have uninstalled all 3rd party music scripts for now.
This happens pretty much anytime the system is left idle for longer periods of time.

Leaving the front-end with the bg music running is the response to the last question.

Thank you again @mitu

mitu

@wtstreetglow1 said in Sounds get jittery/ start dropping out after using system for an hour or so:

Leaving the front-end with the bg music running is the response to the last question.

There's no bg music in EmulationStation by default - you still have some music add-on installed. If you can open a SSH session when the slowdown occurs, you can use the top command to look at what processes are running and which one of them gets the most resources (CPU/Memory).

wtstreetglow1

@mitu said in Sounds get jittery/ start dropping out after using system for an hour or so:

you can use the top command to look at what processes are running and which one of them gets the most resources (CPU/Memory).

Thank you for this idea. I think you've already figured out the problem.

The 3rd party script that was being used is using a music folder that is in my roms directory.
My roms directory is a network share. I have a feeling thats just a bad idea in general for stability.
I will try to find a 3rd party script that puts the music in a different location and see if this behavior continues with a different script after uninstalling the current one.

Thank you for helping me get to the bottom of this one!!

wtstreetglow1

For people that end up seeing this in the future. I ended up using the below as my final solution for music- simple, has necessary features- just watch the install video at his website:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25125/how-to-add-background-music-in-just-5-commands/2