Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 19:50:52

I've recently installed arch (using archinstall command). I use window maker on xorg as a window manager. I have an nvidia GPU, and all the correct drivers, I have installed ffmpeg and the gts-plugins-ugly/bad/good or whatever they are called.

Despite video working a couple weeks ago. it has stopped working on the web and local files, this includes on youtube and vlc media player. If I try to play a video, on youtube it keeps the loading icon and it doesn't play (stays on one frame) however I can change the fram to any part of the video without issue, but it won't play. Video/audio for any other platform/player behaves exactly like this.

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but using pavucontrol, it stays on "establishing connection to pulse audio please wait" indefinitley. pactl also hangs indefinitley. Alsa Mixer hangs when I use

alsamixer

on xterm, but works on the arch terminal or on xterm with

alsamixer -c 1

. This is really annoying since video and autio used to work, if you have any questions about my setup please ask and I will reply asap.

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (2026-10-28 20:16:25)

seth · 2026-10-28 19:59:31

pacman -Qs 'wire|pulse'
systemctl --user status pipewire pulseaudio wireplumber
mpv -ao null someporn.mp4

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 20:04:26

seth wrote:

pacman -Qs 'wire|pulse'
systemctl --user status pipewire pulseaudio wireplumber
mpv -ao null someporn.mp4

thomas@archlinux ~]$ pacman -Qs 'wire|pulse'
local/gst-plugin-pipewire 1:1.6.10-1
Multimedia graph framework - pipewire plugin
local/lib32-libpipewire 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - 32-bit - client library
local/lib32-pipewire 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - 32-bit
local/libcanberra 1:0.30+r2+gc0620e4-6
A small and lightweight implementation of the XDG Sound Theme Specification
local/libpipewire 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - client library
local/libpulse 17.0+r134+g77d25a1e6-1
A featureful, general-purpose sound server (client library)
local/libraw1394 2.1.2-4
Provides an API to the Linux IEEE1394 (FireWire) driver
local/libwireplumber 0.5.18-1
Session / policy manager implementation for PipeWire - client library
local/linux 7.2.11.arch1-1
The Linux kernel and modules
local/pavucontrol 1:6.2-2
PulseAudio Volume Control
local/pipewire 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor
local/pipewire-alsa 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - ALSA configuration
local/pipewire-audio 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - Audio support
local/pipewire-jack 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - JACK replacement
local/pipewire-pulse 1:1.6.10-1
Low-latency audio/video router and processor - PulseAudio replacement
local/pulse-native-provider 1:1.6.10-1
PulseAudio sound server (default provider)
local/vlc-plugin-pulse 3.0.24-1
Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - PulseAudio plugins
local/wireplumber 0.5.18-1
Session / policy manager implementation for PipeWire
local/wpa_supplicant 2:2.12-1
A utility providing key negotiation for WPA wireless networks

______________________________________________________________________________________

[thomas@archlinux ~]$ systemctl --user status pipewire pulseaudio wireplumber
Unit pulseaudio.service could not be found.
● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2026-10-28 19:04:20 GMT; 58min ago
Invocation: 19f209fdbf794b9592b757efc012fc6f
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
Main PID: 626 (pipewire)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 11636)
Memory: 1.2M (peak: 2.5M)
CPU: 15ms
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
└─626 /usr/bin/pipewire

Oct 28 19:04:20 archlinux systemd[616]: Started PipeWire Multimedia Service.
Oct 28 19:04:20 archlinux pipewire[626]: pw.context: 0x5560a8e08400: no modules loaded from context.modules

● wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2026-10-28 19:04:20 GMT; 58min ago
Invocation: 5d72f5c025134685bf3eac39353247c2
Main PID: 627 (wireplumber)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 11636)
Memory: 2.3M (peak: 2.9M)
CPU: 20ms
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/wireplumber.service
└─627 /usr/bin/wireplumber

______________________________________________________________________________________

mpv: command not found

seth · 2026-10-28 20:14:15

Please use [code][/code] tags, not "quote" tags. Edit your post in this regard.
https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/mpv/

I use window maker on xorg as a window manager.

How do you start the session? startx/xinit?
=> Last link below, 2nd blue note about what to include at least.

Possibly https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/WirePl … t_settings - but so far things actually look ok.

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 20:20:40

seth wrote:

How do you start the session? startx/xinit?

I have my ~/.bash_profile written as

 [[ -z $DISPLAY && $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]] && exec startx

so it opens xorg when I login to my user

Then my ~/.xinitrc is written with

 exec dbus-run-session wmaker

at the end of the file, so that it starts wmaker right after loading into xorg, so I don't have to load into it with bash at all.

I've changed the parts of the original post that I figured you were on about

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (2026-10-28 20:21:32)

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 20:29:29

I tried using

 pw-cat -p

to play an audio file, however it either hung and did nothing, or didn't output any audio.

Last edited by yeg_deerlok (2026-10-28 20:29:50)

seth · 2026-10-28 20:29:52

I meant post #3 and then fix your xinitrc, notably include the script that imports the session environment and get rid of dbus-run-session

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 20:36:21

seth wrote:

include the script that imports the session environment

I'm not trying to be an idiot, but what do you mean by that, and

=> Last link below, 2nd blue note about what to include at least.

this?

seth · 2026-10-28 20:37:43

That. Read the article, feel free to ask back if anything's unclear and in doubt present your new xinitrc approach.

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 21:10:41

seth wrote:

That. Read the article, feel free to ask back if anything's unclear and in doubt present your new xinitrc approach.

I'm not sure what to put into .xinirtc, I took out the dbus line, and it still starts up fine, however what session environment do I need to load?

I ran mpv on an mp3 file and it worked fine, apart from the obvious No Video error.

I did get errors saying that

VK_INITIALISATION_FAILED

, which is similar to what happens when I try open pavucontrol, which says that

X server doesn't support DRI3

, as well as

VK_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER

. As previously stated, I have an nvidia gpu, however I have installed nvidia-open and nvidia-utils so I don't see how my drivers would be incompatible with vulkan.

seth · 2026-10-28 21:25:33

The 2nd blue Note wrote:

At the very least, ensure that the last if block in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc is present in your ~/.xinitrc file to ensure that the scripts in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d are sourced.

X server doesn't support DRI3

And better post your xinitrc and xorg log for review…

yeg_deerlok · 2026-10-28 23:36:34

seth wrote:

The 2nd blue Note wrote:
At the very least, ensure that the last if block in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc is present in your ~/.xinitrc file to ensure that the scripts in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d are sourced.
X server doesn't support DRI3
And better post your xinitrc and xorg log for review…

I reinstalled arch because I did everything you said and then followed a bunch other guides and I just couldn't be bothered.

After reinstalling I got pavucontrol working (I had the correct drivers this time) and figured out the issue was that pavucontrol was putting my audio into the "headphone" output, whereas my pc only has "line out", and so when I switched the output to "line out" everything worked.

Sorry for messing you around, your help was greatly appreciated, and I have a better understanding of systemctl and xinit thanks to you!

seth · 2026-10-29 07:13:36

In case you're running into the situation again please make sure to post your xinitrc, xorg log and system journal so we can know what's going on there.

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2026-10-28 19:50:52

Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#2 2026-10-28 19:59:31

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#3 2026-10-28 20:04:26

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#4 2026-10-28 20:14:15

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#5 2026-10-28 20:20:40

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#6 2026-10-28 20:29:29

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#7 2026-10-28 20:29:52

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#8 2026-10-28 20:36:21

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#9 2026-10-28 20:37:43

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#10 2026-10-28 21:10:41

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#11 2026-10-28 21:25:33

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#12 2026-10-28 23:36:34

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

#13 2026-10-29 07:13:36

Re: Multimedia (video/music) not working on the web nor local files

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