Crippling degenerative speaker disease

[swirlythingy]

Not entirely sure if this is a Linux problem or not, but can't hurt asking...

Some time in the last two weeks or so, my SL6.5 laptop has developed a new problem. The sound keeps cutting out.

It'll work fine for about an hour from a typical power-on, then suddenly all output will cease. The sound configuration utility suggests nothing abnormal in the output.

Oddly, this problem only seems to affect the speakers - plugging in a pair of headphones allows me to hear sounds as normal.

Most strangely, the problem can be fixed by suspending and then immediately resuming the laptop - but only temporarily. It's only a matter of time before the sound goes dead again, at which point another suspend/resume is necessary.

I have found that the rate of cut-outs accelerates over time. As I said, it's normally good for about an hour initially. After the first bout of silence and suspension, it's usually only good for about another five minutes. After a few more broken/suspend/resume/working cycles, this goes down to about two minutes. My current record for shortest time between resuming and the speakers going dead again is 53 seconds.

Any ideas?

[tux99]

Maybe heat is affecting the signal path to the speakers (or the speakers themselves)?

It doesn't seem a software issue to me as you say the sound still works fine through the headphones.