Skype freeze when trying to realize a call

Question

I've installed Skype and it appears to work fine right up until the point where I try to call someone. If I try to video call someone then the program freezes and I have to force quit. I've tried several 'solutions' I've found on various forums but none seem to work. Now, when I try to call the Echo service as a test to see if the bug's fixed, it seems to connect and start the non-video call, except that it's completely silent. No audio at all.

Naturalis's answer on this question fixed the problems for me: http://askubuntu.com/questions/362717/skype-crashes-also-audio-problems-13-10 — hookd, Oct 22 '13 at 13:15

warvariuc · Answer 1 · 2014-02-24T05:04:57.970

This should make a permanent change for the workaround:

sudo sed -i 's/^Exec=.*/Exec=env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 skype %U/' /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop

Thanks go here

If you are using KDE:

Another non-terminal way is to to right-click on start button and select "Edit applications...":

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NOTE: If you are using KDE session restoring (System Settings -> Startup and Shutdown -> Session Management -> On login: Restore previous session) then after system restart (or login) Skype will not catch PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC environment variable until you restart it via its .desktop file.

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 22 '13 at 10:44

3

Got the same issue after upgrade to Ubuntu 13.10 sound interrupts badly. But suggesting to reinstall from Software Centre or from Skype download page did not help.

But running this from command line solved the problem:

Exec=/usr/bin/env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 /usr/bin/skype

edited Oct 22 '13 at 10:44

Eric Carvalho

54,385

answered Oct 22 '13 at 07:29

ttomv

186
1
4

This fixed it for me, thanks! Anyone able to explain why this works? – Kibi Oct 23 '13 at 07:53
Is there any way that this could be made to work from the unity launcher? – hookd Oct 27 '13 at 18:49
It works on Linux Mint 16 too! – Adam Ryczkowski Dec 02 '13 at 17:30
Reinstalling Skype from Canonical Partner repos did not help you if you start Skype via anything that bypasses the (patched) skype.desktop file. For example, starting via the Alt+F2 mini-terminal. To apply your solution there also, create an executable file /usr/local/bin/skype with first line #!/bin/bash and next line env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 /usr/bin/skype – tanius Feb 19 '14 at 01:08

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 23 '13 at 10:57

0

I found this solution for Skype on 13.10. I installed again and started to work. Check it out: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/10/get-sound-working-in-skype-with-ubuntu.html

answered Oct 23 '13 at 10:57

payorivero

187

2

Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. – RolandiXor Dec 16 '13 at 19:44
Same as answer by @warwaruk. – tanius Feb 19 '14 at 01:11

Skype freeze when trying to realize a call

3 Answers3