[2.0.77] [Linux/SteamOS] Intermittent audio crackle/cutout over HDMI to AV receiver, self-resolves after ~15 minutes
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2026 10:49 am
**Summary**
Intermittent audio crackling/cutouts occur when playing Factorio on a Linux (SteamOS) system outputting audio via HDMI to an AV receiver. The issue is present for roughly the first 15 minutes after launching the game and then stops occurring on its own, without any change in game context (map size, factory activity, etc.). The cutouts also affect other simultaneous audio sources on the system (e.g. Steam's own music player), not just Factorio's own sound.
**System info**
- OS: SteamOS (PipeWire 1.6.4, PulseAudio compatibility layer)
- Hardware: Steam Machine (AMD APU, amdgpu driver)
- Audio path affected: HDMI out -> Onkyo TX-RZ30 AV receiver
- Audio paths NOT affected: USB headset (HyperX), HDMI direct to TV (bypassing the AVR)
**Steps to reproduce**
1. Connect the Steam Machine via HDMI to an AV receiver (tested: Onkyo TX-RZ30, any listening mode: Direct, Stereo, All Channel Stereo).
2. Launch Factorio, with or without other audio playing simultaneously (e.g. Steam's music player).
3. Play for up to 1-5 minutes. Audio crackles/cuts out intermittently during this window.
4. After approximately 15 minutes of continuous play, the issue stops occurring for the remainder of the session, regardless of in-game activity (base size, number of active machines, combat, etc.).
**What does NOT reproduce the issue**
- Same Steam Machine, same HDMI cable/port, output routed to USB headset instead of the AVR: no issue.
- Same Steam Machine, HDMI output connected directly to a TV instead of the AVR: no issue.
- A Mac connected to the same AVR via the same HDMI cable/port: no issue.
- Other games on the same Steam Machine over the same HDMI-to-AVR path (tested: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2): no issue.
- Non-game audio sources over the same HDMI-to-AVR path: PS3 Blu-ray playback (5.1), Jellyfin movie playback (5.1): no issue on either.
**Troubleshooting already performed**
- Swapped HDMI cables and receiver input ports: no change.
- Forced PCM-only output (disabled AC-3/DTS/AAC/MPEG/TrueHD/DTS-HD bitstream) on the SteamOS output device via pavucontrol "Advanced options": issue still occurs.
- Switched SteamOS output profile between "Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI)" and "Digital Stereo (HDMI)": issue occurs identically in both.
- Set receiver listening mode to PCM Fixed: receiver outputs no sound at all (rejects the 5.1 LPCM stream), consistent with PCM Fixed only accepting 2-channel PCM — not a Factorio-related finding, just ruled out as a receiver-side test.
- Tested receiver listening modes Direct, Stereo, and "All Channel Stereo": issue occurs identically in all three.
- Monitored `journalctl` filtering for `xrun`/`underrun`/`pipewire` messages during a reproduction of the issue: no xrun/underrun messages logged at the moment of the audio cutout.
- Monitored `dmesg -w` live during a reproduction of the issue: no HDMI/audio-codec/kernel messages (no `hdmi`, `snd_hda`, `ELD`, `codec` entries) logged at the moment of the cutout.
- Confirmed the issue occurs with Factorio running alone, with no other simultaneous audio source.
- Confirmed the issue occurs with Factorio running together with Steam's music player (both audio streams cut out together at the same moments).
**Notes on possible root cause (unconfirmed, for developers' consideration)**
- Because no xrun/underrun is logged by PipeWire and no kernel-level HDMI/codec error appears in dmesg during the cutout, the issue does not appear to originate from an obvious buffer underrun or a kernel-level HDMI renegotiation event that the system itself flags.
- The fact that it only reproduces on the more complex HDMI audio sink (AV receiver, which advertises multiple PCM/bitstream formats and channel configurations via EDID/ELD) and not on simpler HDMI sinks (TV) or non-HDMI sinks (USB) suggests the trigger may be related to how ALSA/PipeWire negotiates buffer size or timer-based scheduling (`tsched`) specifically for that more complex ALSA device, interacting with Factorio's custom audio engine during its first minutes of playback.
- This may be related to the ALSA `tsched` (timer-based scheduling) behavior discussed in an older related thread (forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=21512), where disabling timer-based scheduling (`tsched=0` for classic PulseAudio, or the equivalent `api.alsa.disable-tsched` property under PipeWire) reportedly resolved similar HDMI crackling with Factorio for another user. I have not yet been able to test this fix myself, as `api.alsa.disable-tsched` appears to only be applied at ALSA node creation time and could not be toggled live via `pw-cli set-param` on an already-running node; testing it properly requires a WirePlumber config rule and a full node re-creation, which I have not completed yet.
**Related threads (similar but not identical symptoms)**
- forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=129118 — describes a more severe variant: complete audio silence that takes down the entire OS audio system (not just Factorio), a stuck spinner when trying to play other media during the broken state, a "catch-up" burst where all buffered sound plays back at once when it recovers, and a crash on closing Factorio while in the broken state. My case does not exhibit the total system-wide silence, the catch-up burst, or the crash-on-close — mine is intermittent crackling/cutouts that self-resolve gradually, not a hard failure-and-burst cycle. Possibly related root cause, but a distinctly different symptom profile.
- steamcommunity.com/app/427520/discussions/5/1693785035811618334 — describes intermittent cutouts affecting both Factorio and simultaneously-played music, closer to my symptom, but with no technical diagnosis beyond linking to the forum thread above.
Happy to provide further logs, test the `disable-tsched` fix, or run additional diagnostics if useful.
**Video**
I've attached a short video recording of the issue occurring. It's not the clearest sample of the cracklinkg, but it should give a general idea. I'm happyto record additional, clearer samples if useful - let me know what would help most.
Intermittent audio crackling/cutouts occur when playing Factorio on a Linux (SteamOS) system outputting audio via HDMI to an AV receiver. The issue is present for roughly the first 15 minutes after launching the game and then stops occurring on its own, without any change in game context (map size, factory activity, etc.). The cutouts also affect other simultaneous audio sources on the system (e.g. Steam's own music player), not just Factorio's own sound.
**System info**
- OS: SteamOS (PipeWire 1.6.4, PulseAudio compatibility layer)
- Hardware: Steam Machine (AMD APU, amdgpu driver)
- Audio path affected: HDMI out -> Onkyo TX-RZ30 AV receiver
- Audio paths NOT affected: USB headset (HyperX), HDMI direct to TV (bypassing the AVR)
**Steps to reproduce**
1. Connect the Steam Machine via HDMI to an AV receiver (tested: Onkyo TX-RZ30, any listening mode: Direct, Stereo, All Channel Stereo).
2. Launch Factorio, with or without other audio playing simultaneously (e.g. Steam's music player).
3. Play for up to 1-5 minutes. Audio crackles/cuts out intermittently during this window.
4. After approximately 15 minutes of continuous play, the issue stops occurring for the remainder of the session, regardless of in-game activity (base size, number of active machines, combat, etc.).
**What does NOT reproduce the issue**
- Same Steam Machine, same HDMI cable/port, output routed to USB headset instead of the AVR: no issue.
- Same Steam Machine, HDMI output connected directly to a TV instead of the AVR: no issue.
- A Mac connected to the same AVR via the same HDMI cable/port: no issue.
- Other games on the same Steam Machine over the same HDMI-to-AVR path (tested: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2): no issue.
- Non-game audio sources over the same HDMI-to-AVR path: PS3 Blu-ray playback (5.1), Jellyfin movie playback (5.1): no issue on either.
**Troubleshooting already performed**
- Swapped HDMI cables and receiver input ports: no change.
- Forced PCM-only output (disabled AC-3/DTS/AAC/MPEG/TrueHD/DTS-HD bitstream) on the SteamOS output device via pavucontrol "Advanced options": issue still occurs.
- Switched SteamOS output profile between "Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI)" and "Digital Stereo (HDMI)": issue occurs identically in both.
- Set receiver listening mode to PCM Fixed: receiver outputs no sound at all (rejects the 5.1 LPCM stream), consistent with PCM Fixed only accepting 2-channel PCM — not a Factorio-related finding, just ruled out as a receiver-side test.
- Tested receiver listening modes Direct, Stereo, and "All Channel Stereo": issue occurs identically in all three.
- Monitored `journalctl` filtering for `xrun`/`underrun`/`pipewire` messages during a reproduction of the issue: no xrun/underrun messages logged at the moment of the audio cutout.
- Monitored `dmesg -w` live during a reproduction of the issue: no HDMI/audio-codec/kernel messages (no `hdmi`, `snd_hda`, `ELD`, `codec` entries) logged at the moment of the cutout.
- Confirmed the issue occurs with Factorio running alone, with no other simultaneous audio source.
- Confirmed the issue occurs with Factorio running together with Steam's music player (both audio streams cut out together at the same moments).
**Notes on possible root cause (unconfirmed, for developers' consideration)**
- Because no xrun/underrun is logged by PipeWire and no kernel-level HDMI/codec error appears in dmesg during the cutout, the issue does not appear to originate from an obvious buffer underrun or a kernel-level HDMI renegotiation event that the system itself flags.
- The fact that it only reproduces on the more complex HDMI audio sink (AV receiver, which advertises multiple PCM/bitstream formats and channel configurations via EDID/ELD) and not on simpler HDMI sinks (TV) or non-HDMI sinks (USB) suggests the trigger may be related to how ALSA/PipeWire negotiates buffer size or timer-based scheduling (`tsched`) specifically for that more complex ALSA device, interacting with Factorio's custom audio engine during its first minutes of playback.
- This may be related to the ALSA `tsched` (timer-based scheduling) behavior discussed in an older related thread (forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=21512), where disabling timer-based scheduling (`tsched=0` for classic PulseAudio, or the equivalent `api.alsa.disable-tsched` property under PipeWire) reportedly resolved similar HDMI crackling with Factorio for another user. I have not yet been able to test this fix myself, as `api.alsa.disable-tsched` appears to only be applied at ALSA node creation time and could not be toggled live via `pw-cli set-param` on an already-running node; testing it properly requires a WirePlumber config rule and a full node re-creation, which I have not completed yet.
**Related threads (similar but not identical symptoms)**
- forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=129118 — describes a more severe variant: complete audio silence that takes down the entire OS audio system (not just Factorio), a stuck spinner when trying to play other media during the broken state, a "catch-up" burst where all buffered sound plays back at once when it recovers, and a crash on closing Factorio while in the broken state. My case does not exhibit the total system-wide silence, the catch-up burst, or the crash-on-close — mine is intermittent crackling/cutouts that self-resolve gradually, not a hard failure-and-burst cycle. Possibly related root cause, but a distinctly different symptom profile.
- steamcommunity.com/app/427520/discussions/5/1693785035811618334 — describes intermittent cutouts affecting both Factorio and simultaneously-played music, closer to my symptom, but with no technical diagnosis beyond linking to the forum thread above.
Happy to provide further logs, test the `disable-tsched` fix, or run additional diagnostics if useful.
**Video**
I've attached a short video recording of the issue occurring. It's not the clearest sample of the cracklinkg, but it should give a general idea. I'm happyto record additional, clearer samples if useful - let me know what would help most.