Hi Takashi !
Just to inform you ...
25-02-2013 09:56 Takashi Iwai tiwai@suse.de:
If I use echo -e "\a" in a shell or run the beep command utility the sound appears only on second and following invocations. Whenever the frequency changes with the beep command the first invocation stays silent or just produce some click due to ALSA driver power saving. On all further invocations with same frequency the requested tone is generated on external speakers. There is no difference in behavior if the commands are called in a terminal emulator or directly on a virtual text console.
The problem reoccurred with kernel 3.8.2. As my box is currently very busy, I can't do rapid rebooting. As soon as this is possible, I try to create a step by step description on how to reproduce the problem.
So, the behavior above disappears if you disable the power save?
Some quick tests showed you are probably right and the problem depends on the power saving feature. Beeps are produced as long as power saving (timeout) has not occurred, and beep misses if device is in power saving mode.
As soon as my box is ready for rapid rebooting I will dig somewhat deeper into this.
-- Harald