MX Linux Forum

Hello there!

I am running MX Linux 23 on an Intel Core i3 540 with 8 GiB of RAM and an ATI Radeon 5570 graphics card. I am dual-booting with Windows 10.

On MX Linux, I found some strange behaviour that I never experienced on Windows 10. This includes two things:
1. At random times, the sound bar appears in the top-right corner, as if I had just adjusted the sound, even though I haven't.
For example, I am watching a video, not touching the keyboard or mouse at all, and suddenly, this sound bar appears in the top-right corner as if I had just adjusted the sound.

But, that is not all. Sometimes, the sound switches completely from Intern sound Analog stereo (my speakers) to Redwood HDMI Audio (audio through my monitor, which is really soft and low-quality). If this happens, I click on the sound icon and I change it back to Intern sound Analog stereo.

Sometimes, however, the sound switches to Redwood HDMI Audio with no option to change it back to Intern sound Analog stereo, because the latter option becomes unclickable. In that case, I need to unplug the 3.5 mm Jack-thing from my computer and plug it back in. Then the option Intern sound Analog stereo becomes clickable again and I can select that option again.

I never had this problem on Windows 10 on the same computer. When running Windows 10, I never get a sound bar in the corner as if I had changed the sound if I didn't change the sound with the mouse through the sound icon. When running Windows 10, the sound never randomly switches to the monitor speakers. On Windows 10, I never need to unplug and plug back in the 3.5 mm Jack port. On Windows 10, I never had any problems with the sound.

But on MX Linux, I get random sound bar flashes as if I changed the sound, the sound randomly switches to the monitor speakers and I sometimes need to unplug and plug back in the sound 3.5 mm Jack port.

Why is this happening?

2. When mounting drives, I sometimes get a "Not authorized to perform operation" at every single drive I try to mount. This includes: another partition of the same hard disk, another internal hard disk and a USB memory stick.

This problem disappears when doing a reboot. But several boots later, this error is back again, forcing me into yet another reboot to solve this. Why does this problem appear at all? How do I make sure that I NEVER get this error when booting my PC with MX Linux?

Problem 2 doesn't appear very often. Maybe once every seven boots. Problem 1 is constant and plagues me at every single MX Linux session on this PC, so problem 1 is currently more urgent.

How do I solve the strange sound behaviour on MX Linux on this PC?
And what could be causing the "Not authorized to perform operation" that occasionally appears?

Here is my quick system information.

Additional information about the audio problem: the annoyance isn't just visually. There is an actual audio interruption when I see the audio bar appearing in the top-right corner of the screen.

I tried to solve this problem by downgrading to antiX kernel 4.9, but this did NOT solve the problem. The problem persisted.
Also, my 2D cat game + Blender 3 run really awful with antiX kernel 4.9. With kernel 6, my cat game runs like a charm and Blender 3 also runs acceptably fast.

In short: antiX kernel 4.9 on this machine gave me a severe performance degradation with graphical software.

Most likely the issue with "Not authorized to perform operation" is because of an auth issue after logging out and then back in. A reboot will resolve it, until you log out and back in - and the weird part... it may NOT always happen.

There appears to be a question about how quick you logout and back in, but for me.. I have just stopped that process, and now just lock or reboot. Problem solved.

For the audio. You *may* be able to resolve the issue by getting everything setup as you want and then go into user manager and under group membership uncheck Audio. I am told this has some ramifications for working with audio if you use mixers and more, but I have not seen any yet and I record audio and video, and then of course play etc...

I have seen weirdness such as you explain and typically, it's almost always hardware related. Your motherboard is of the age nearing the end of the dirty capacitors run which started in 2002. I must have done at least 50 full capacitor swaps on Motherboards and Power Supplies between 2006 and 2014, replacing them all with Japanese capacitors till I sold my business. A capacitor in a circuit performs the duty of a battery combined with a shock absorber to smooth, stabilise power delivery and reduce noise to electrical components and bad capacitors make for all sorts of weirdness.

Have a look inside your case to see if you can find any plastic wrapped cylindrical devices with Alloy caps that have been stamped with a pattern that will have intersecting lines. We call them E-Caps. The point where the stamped lines intersect is the pressure relief valve. E-Caps will be quite prolific both across the motherboard and in the Power Supply. All the alloy caps should be totally flat, no bulging whatsoever and they should all be standing upright from the motherboard. Leaning capacitors with a flat top are typically a sign of leakage from the bottom rubber seal. In your Power Supply, the E-Caps will likely be glued together to reduce harmonic vibration and therefore noise.

Here's the key take-away from all this. If you have just 1 bulging E-Cap, then ALL of them with the same markings will be working at less than 40% of their rated value, and those with properly bulging caps will be in the 15%< of their rated value. Their loss of capacitance will have the effect of over-driving every circuit in their path leading to potential chip failure. The electrical effect will be almost like a car with 4 uneven springs and no shock absorbers rolling down a bumpy road at speed.

Please check and report back, and don't forget to look carefully into your power supply.

CharlesV wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 12:13 am For the audio. You *may* be able to resolve the issue by getting everything setup as you want and then go into user manager and under group membership uncheck Audio. I am told this has some ramifications for working with audio if you use mixers and more, but I have not seen any yet and I record audio and video, and then of course play etc...

I could try this when I have booted into MX Linux again (currently, Windows 10 is running).
But first, how do I enter my "user manager" ?

@m_pav

Your motherboard is of the age nearing the end of the dirty capacitors run which started in 2002.

I bought this PC for 50 euros at a second hand shop to replace my other PC (Intel Core i7, 8 GiB, NVidia GeForce GTX 960) that broke.

I am aware that this PC is an older one - and slower than the one that broke - but I still think it's a decent rig for that price. It runs the software that I require very well.

The alternative approach would be to spend like 1000 euros on a modern and really fast PC, which I didn't want to do.

But, in terms of capacitors, I also have a PC from 1999, 2001 and 2003 (all Fujitsu Siemens) that all three work like a charm. Their motherboard has never been replaced, neither their capacitors.

Have a look inside your case to see if you can find any plastic wrapped cylindrical devices with Alloy caps that have been stamped with a pattern that will have intersecting lines. We call them E-Caps. The point where the stamped lines intersect is the pressure relief valve. E-Caps will be quite prolific both across the motherboard and in the Power Supply. All the alloy caps should be totally flat, no bulging whatsoever and they should all be standing upright from the motherboard. Leaning capacitors with a flat top are typically a sign of leakage from the bottom rubber seal. In your Power Supply, the E-Caps will likely be glued together to reduce harmonic vibration and therefore noise.

Here's the key take-away from all this. If you have just 1 bulging E-Cap, then ALL of them with the same markings will be working at less than 40% of their rated value, and those with properly bulging caps will be in the 15%< of their rated value. Their loss of capacitance will have the effect of over-driving every circuit in their path leading to potential chip failure. The electrical effect will be almost like a car with 4 uneven springs and no shock absorbers rolling down a bumpy road at speed.

I try to follow along, but I have trouble visualising what you are describing. I tried Ecosia, DuckDuckGo and Google Images, but I simply do not get anything computer related when searching for E-Caps or Alloy caps. Could you include images in your explanation, so that I can see exactly what you meant - and then look for what you described?

This would be a great help!

@markwiering MX Menu and that will be MX User Manager

markwiering wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 5:52 pm Could you include images in your explanation, so that I can see exactly what you meant - and then look for what you described?

I had thought of that, but I wanted to avoid copyright infringement, therefore I didn't attach one. I dug deep into my archives to find a picture I took of this very thing from 2014. Most of the information around the net will claim that "capacitor plague" was primarily between 2002-2007, but mt first-hand experience has shown it went for much longer than than that, and it was especially present on little known Chinese brand equipment, as was the case with this PC which was supplied brand new only 2 years prior as the controller for a Laser Engraving Machine. I sent the full picture to the customer asking if they wanted it repaired.

The top capacitor (E-Cap) has a flat top and the lower E-Cap has a bulging top due to heat related pressure build-up. Typically when you see only one failed capacitor as per the image, even if the machine is put away and not used for a few months, you'll find most, if not all the other capacitors will do the same, and that is why it is necessary to replace them all.

.

CharlesV wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 7:24 pm @markwiering MX Menu and that will be MX User Manager

I just tried this. This didn't solve my problem. The sound interruptions persist.

m_pav wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 11:15 pm

markwiering wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 5:52 pm Could you include images in your explanation, so that I can see exactly what you meant - and then look for what you described?

I had thought of that, but I wanted to avoid copyright infringement, therefore I didn't attach one. I dug deep into my archives to find a picture I took of this very thing from 2014. Most of the information around the net will claim that "capacitor plague" was primarily between 2002-2007, but mt first-hand experience has shown it went for much longer than than that, and it was especially present on little known Chinese brand equipment, as was the case with this PC which was supplied brand new only 2 years prior as the controller for a Laser Engraving Machine. I sent the full picture to the customer asking if they wanted it repaired.

The top capacitor (E-Cap) has a flat top and the lower E-Cap has a bulging top due to heat related pressure build-up. Typically when you see only one failed capacitor as per the image, even if the machine is put away and not used for a few months, you'll find most, if not all the other capacitors will do the same, and that is why it is necessary to replace them all.

.

Thank you for the image and the additional explanation. I will open the case of my computer and check the capacitors. Then I will report back to you.

@m_pav
I opened the case of my PC and I didn't find any bad capacitors. The flat side of all cylinders were truly flat. None of them bulged, not even a little bit.
And, in my case, there was no cross × on the capacitors, but a T.

To be honest, I would be surprised if my problem was hardware related, because Windows 10 on this same PC plays audio normally, without any interruptions. If Windows 10 can do it, then the hardware is capable of playing sound uninterrupted. Then the problem must be with the software.

markwiering wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:41 am @m_pav
I opened the case of my PC and I didn't find any bad capacitors. The flat side of all cylinders were truly flat. None of them bulged, not even a little bit.
And, in my case, there was no cross × on the capacitors, but a T.

To be honest, I would be surprised if my problem was hardware related, because Windows 10 on this same PC plays audio normally, without any interruptions. If Windows 10 can do it, then the hardware is capable of playing sound uninterrupted. Then the problem must be with the software.

MX-23 is a pretty unique system because it can boot using two different init/service systems. I see in your Quick System Info that you booted default SysVinit. Since your hardware seems Ok running Windows 10, why not test MX Linux with systemd. In GRUB choose Advanced and boot a kernel in systemd mode.

Ghosts in the Machine: Wow nice find and good purchase. 1st off your running Windows-10 and dual booted with MX-Linux. Versions do not matter its Linux. Give away to being mis-lead.
Its running and its a work horse and your experiencing Ghosted issue with linux booted.

Capacitors should not be mentioned regardless its a RED-Herring, collusion to the issue. If its dead in its tracks and your seeing Blue Smoke ( highly toxic don't ever breath, fan this away immediately ) These described E-type or X-stamped Topped Capacitors are a new but old. The reason for the stamp is "If a capacitor where? and that is Where to pop by
"Brown Outs, Hydro Surges, Metal Staple dropped onto a live mother board or ... would cause a short and usually the circuits of proximity containing any like would/could pop and these types expand or Bubble expand when blown
"Easy to Identify for a trouble shooter" No worry can leave that one alone.

Sound issues, suggest to add your self user name to sound Group IDs. as in open a Terminal Shell like - Xfce4-terminal tap enter couple times see your focus is in this terminal.
add your user name to these groups like See "if" that may make any glitch changes experienced. Another method Possibly as simple would be click the MX-Application Start select MX-Tools , right there top section is " User Manager "
top right tab is "Group Membership" simple check mark the groups you believe are associated to Video/Audio / Pipewire.
these are all there once click and apply your sudo passwd is required to finalize the change.

if by chance still in your terminal you can also simply tap the enter key couple times just to make habitually sure your operating in this Window then type clear followed by id
id will show all your user group id associations set at install or user account creation. single them out by another command. here you may see color selected response on these 3 checks along with the rest of group memberships. See how this may change "Ghost in the Machine"
also view /var/log/syslog and or dmesg also contained in the /var/log this is Device Messaging and here check for Retries or errors detecting devices "especially audio type devices"

dreamer wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 11:14 am

markwiering wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:41 am @m_pav
I opened the case of my PC and I didn't find any bad capacitors. The flat side of all cylinders were truly flat. None of them bulged, not even a little bit.
And, in my case, there was no cross × on the capacitors, but a T.

To be honest, I would be surprised if my problem was hardware related, because Windows 10 on this same PC plays audio normally, without any interruptions. If Windows 10 can do it, then the hardware is capable of playing sound uninterrupted. Then the problem must be with the software.

MX-23 is a pretty unique system because it can boot using two different init/service systems. I see in your Quick System Info that you booted default SysVinit. Since your hardware seems Ok running Windows 10, why not test MX Linux with systemd. In GRUB choose Advanced and boot a kernel in systemd mode.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will try this!
I would be surprised if this solved the problem, but I will give it a shot.

Thank you, @atomick!
I will try your steps as soon as I am back behind that computer.

markwiering wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 12:23 pm
Thank you for the suggestion. I will try this!
I would be surprised if this solved the problem, but I will give it a shot.

Also create a new user in MX User Manager and see if that user has the same problems. Maybe the config files in the home folder of your current user are corrupt in some way.

I think that you should try an earlier kernel IE one that was current to when your machine was made : either the AntiX 5.10 or the 4.19. Both are available via MXPI.

markwiering wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:41 am If Windows 10 can do it, then the hardware is capable of playing sound uninterrupted. Then the problem must be with the software.

That's a reasonable assumption and it may even be the right one, but we're not finished with the hardware yet. I fix a lot of computers and you'd be surprised to see just how many issues are related to ageing hardware. The next check is your RAM. I see you have 8GB installed and with the age, my reckoning is that's likely to be 2x 4GB, or at a stretch, 4 x 2GB.

My next suggestion is you do a memtest which you can find at the grub screen. This will test each module independently because it runs linearly, so if it finds any faults above the value of your first module, then the fault will be with the next module and so on till it completes, but, you can save some time by simply looking at the RAM modules for yourself to see if they're all of the same type. The ideal scenario is when all modules look identical and appear to be from the same batch. Memory mappings and timings can produce some random faults and mismatched memory modules can be a huge contributor towards machine instability. Memory speed and timings are critical.

I have an old Sony VAIO PC that I truly can not give away. It's got an excellent screen, probably the best thing about it, but, it is very slow to boot, a fresh Windows 10 install with all drivers will take 2M30s to arrive at the Desktop and load a web page with an auto-login and 1M36s to shut down, and enabling fast startup only makes a few seconds difference. By comparison, MX-23.5 KDE takes 31s from cold boot to arrive at the same point, and shutdown is under 10s. However, it was not always this way.

I tried to make a LibreOffice Impress presentation on the machine using MX and discovered the longer I spend in the app, the worse it gets. The machine passes all tests with flying colours, but it is simply not a stable machine at all, not in Windows, nor in MX, and for its age, it has not done that many hours of operational time. I have a firm belief it's the processor in the machine. This machine gets random KDE errors for no reason whatsoever, things just seem to break through regular use, so I have to concede that sooner or later, it will be stripped down to and I'll likely make a TechBench monitor out of the display.

dreamer wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 11:14 am

markwiering wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:41 am @m_pav
I opened the case of my PC and I didn't find any bad capacitors. The flat side of all cylinders were truly flat. None of them bulged, not even a little bit.
And, in my case, there was no cross × on the capacitors, but a T.

To be honest, I would be surprised if my problem was hardware related, because Windows 10 on this same PC plays audio normally, without any interruptions. If Windows 10 can do it, then the hardware is capable of playing sound uninterrupted. Then the problem must be with the software.

MX-23 is a pretty unique system because it can boot using two different init/service systems. I see in your Quick System Info that you booted default SysVinit. Since your hardware seems Ok running Windows 10, why not test MX Linux with systemd. In GRUB choose Advanced and boot a kernel in systemd mode.

Unfortunately, this did not help me solve my problem. I just booted this PC using systemd instead of SysVinit. The sound problem persists.
I am actually not really up to date with the SysVinit vs systemd discussion. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both systems?

I remember some article claiming that systemd was "controversial", but yet, all popular Linux distributions use it. So much for being "controversial"...

@atomick
Thank you!

I followed your steps and removed not just audio from my user group, but also video. Pipewire was already unchecked.
Unfortunately, this did not solve my problem. The sound interruptions persist.

j2mcgreg wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 4:48 pm I think that you should try an earlier kernel IE one that was current to when your machine was made : either the AntiX 5.10 or the 4.19. Both are available via MXPI.

All right. I will try both the antiX 4.19 and the antiX 5.10 kernel.
I will report back to you after having booted into both kernels to see whether one of them (or both) solves the sound interruptions or not.

m_pav wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 5:02 pm

markwiering wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:41 am If Windows 10 can do it, then the hardware is capable of playing sound uninterrupted. Then the problem must be with the software.

That's a reasonable assumption and it may even be the right one, but we're not finished with the hardware yet. I fix a lot of computers and you'd be surprised to see just how many issues are related to ageing hardware. The next check is your RAM. I see you have 8GB installed and with the age, my reckoning is that's likely to be 2x 4GB, or at a stretch, 4 x 2GB.

My next suggestion is you do a memtest which you can find at the grub screen. This will test each module independently because it runs linearly, so if it finds any faults above the value of your first module, then the fault will be with the next module and so on till it completes, but, you can save some time by simply looking at the RAM modules for yourself to see if they're all of the same type. The ideal scenario is when all modules look identical and appear to be from the same batch. Memory mappings and timings can produce some random faults and mismatched memory modules can be a huge contributor towards machine instability. Memory speed and timings are critical.

I have an old Sony VAIO PC that I truly can not give away. It's got an excellent screen, probably the best thing about it, but, it is very slow to boot, a fresh Windows 10 install with all drivers will take 2M30s to arrive at the Desktop and load a web page with an auto-login and 1M36s to shut down, and enabling fast startup only makes a few seconds difference. By comparison, MX-23.5 KDE takes 31s from cold boot to arrive at the same point, and shutdown is under 10s. However, it was not always this way.

I tried to make a LibreOffice Impress presentation on the machine using MX and discovered the longer I spend in the app, the worse it gets. The machine passes all tests with flying colours, but it is simply not a stable machine at all, not in Windows, nor in MX, and for its age, it has not done that many hours of operational time. I have a firm belief it's the processor in the machine. This machine gets random KDE errors for no reason whatsoever, things just seem to break through regular use, so I have to concede that sooner or later, it will be stripped down to and I'll likely make a TechBench monitor out of the display.

The sticker on this PC claims that this computer has 6 GiB of RAM instead of 8 GiB. And indeed, when I booted this computer for the first time, Windows 10 indeed showed me that there was 6 GiB of RAM, of which 2 GiB was used by default, meaning that 4 GiB of RAM were available for other applications.

When I opened the case to increase the RAM (I had a spare 8 GiB RAM slot from the PC that broke), I saw that the 8 GiB RAM slot that I wanted to insert was incompatible. This PC takes DDR3 RAM, whereas the 8 GiB RAM slot was DDR4.

I saw that this PC has four RAM slots available. All four were filled. I took the memory out. There is a green RAM slot, white one, green and a white one again. The green one mentions that it's a 2 GiB RAM slot. The white one doesn't mention anything, so I presumed that this must be a 1 GiB RAM slot, then, since that would total 6 GiB.

I put the RAM slots back in. I put a new hard drive in (1 TiB hard drive, on top of the 300 GiB hard drive that was already in there). The cable to feed the new hard drive power was not long enough to put it in, but luckily, I had an extender for it that I removed from the computer that broke. Now I could insert the power feeder into the new hard drive that I screwed in. I also saw that - while both DVD drives were connected to power, only one was connected to the motherboard. I connected the second to the motherboard as well, making them both usable.

I booted the computer and... it refused to boot!

So, I enabled and disabled every single component to see why it didn't boot. Apparently, the problem was the RAM. I removed two of the four RAM slots (green and white one) and tried to boot again. Now, the computer booted. Windows 10 showed me that there was 4 GiB of RAM, to which I thought: "4 GiB? Shouldn't it be 3 GiB?". I turned off the PC, inserted the third RAM slot, booted again, and now Windows 10 showed me that there was 6 GiB of RAM; the same thing Windows 10 showed me when all four RAM slots were inserted when I just bought the PC. Then I thought: "Then what about the last RAM slot? Is that one empty, then?". I inserted the last RAM slot, booted Windows 10 and still showed me 6 GiB of RAM. Then I thought: "That is odd."

When I booted MX Linux through Plop Boot Manager 5 (since this PC doesn't support booting from USB memory stick), I didn't check how much RAM MX Linux saw. I straight-on installed MX Linux.

I partitioned the 1 TiB hard drive to give MX Linux 440 GiB and 8 GiB SWAP space, thinking: "I will make the SWAP file a little bit larger than the actual RAM I have!"

When booting into MX Linux, I noticed that MX Linux showed me 8 GiB of RAM when running htop. This surprised me. I thought: "Why does MX Linux show me that I have 8 GiB of RAM, while Windows 10 believes I have only 6 GiB?"

I booted into Windows 10, but now, Windows 10 also showed me that I have 8 GiB of RAM.

This is a pleasant surprise, having a bit more RAM than I thought I bought.

In terms of performance, I noticed the following:

1. Windows 10 boots and reacts surprisingly fast. I was expecting Windows 10 to be sluggish. It isn't.
2. I tried running Yandere Simulator, expecting it to either not run at all or run extremely slow. It ran well. 20-25 frames per second. I was not expecting that on a PC this old.
3. I tried running my 2D cat game. It ran OK, but sometimes a bit sluggish. I noticed, however, that when going full-screen, my 2D cat game ran completely fluent. Huge performance increase when going full-screen!
4. I ran Blender 3. It ran fast. I can open any 3D composition I ever made. Everything responds fast. I see no slowdowns when rotating objects or changing the port.
5. I tried running Blender 4. It wouldn't start ---> graphics card is too old.

With MX Linux, I noticed:

1. MX Linux boots even faster than Windows 10 and is even more responsive.
2. I ran my 2D cat game. It ran faster than on Windows 10. Windowed or full-screen: the game performed excellent.
3. I ran Blender 3. It runs reasonably fast, but when rotating objects, I do notice it's not entirely fluent. It's still workable, but still a bit slower than it was on Windows 10.
4. I tried running Blender 4. The same result. It wouldn't start because the graphics card was too old.

About LibreOffice: I have had bad experiences with LibreOffice. It runs absolutely awful on my 2003 PC. It's unreasonably slow. Typing a single text in LibreOffice Writer or doing very basic stuff in LibreOffice Calc makes the whole program freeze every few words and every time I click on a new cell. It's unworkable!

If you need LibreOffice Calc, I would go with Gnumeric. That one is responsive, at least. It allows me to finish my stuff.
I don't know of a good alternative to LibreOffice Writer. There is AbiWord. AbiWord is lightweight, but also glitchy and sometimes messes up documents.

So, don't worry if your PC has trouble with LibreOffice. The problem is not the PC, but LibreOffice. LibreOffice is a bloated mess.

j2mcgreg wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 4:48 pm I think that you should try an earlier kernel IE one that was current to when your machine was made : either the AntiX 5.10 or the 4.19. Both are available via MXPI.

Through the MX Packag Manager, the installation of the antiX 4.19 kernel failed, but the antiX 5.10 kernel installed successfully. I booted into the antiX 5.10 kernel. Everything is the same in terms of performance (no performance degradation with my 2D cat game or Blender 3, like with the antiX 4.9 kernel). Unfortunately, the sound problem is also the same. I still have the sound interruptions.

The different coloured RAM slots are there for a reason. Within the 4 slots, you have 2 pairs that facilitate dual-channel operation when 2 identical RAM modules are used. Of these pairs, one will be the first pair and the other will be the second pair and the firmware will always use the first pair of slots first. For reliability, each dual-channel pair needs to have 2 identical RAM modules to avoid the inconsistencies introduced by differing RAM manufacturers. Differing modules can be used in a dual-channel pair, but, reliability issues can arise that can lead to instability, crashes and potential data loss.

It's kinda like like wearing roller skates with different sized wheels with different compounds on each foot in straight line downhill race, the faster you go the more pronounced the differences will become. If the 2 RAM modules are too different, the mainboard Firmware will drop that pair down to single channel mode which will be significantly slower in every aspect of operation.

Some motherboards can use differing RAM module sizes in a dual-channel pair, but anything above the capacity of the smaller module will run in single channel mode, however, this is fairly rare, others will default to single-channel mode.

As the the Sound sputtering, you have 2 Audio devices, one through your mainboard, the other through your HDMI. Which one are you using? Have you had a look at the MX Select Sound tool?

m_pav wrote: Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:46 pm As the the Sound sputtering, you have 2 Audio devices, one through your mainboard, the other through your HDMI. Which one are you using? Have you had a look at the MX Select Sound tool?

Through the main board. When selecting the main board, the sound comes through my speakers, which is what I want. If I select HDMI, the sound comes from my monitor, which is very soft and low-quality sound.

Yes, I have taken a look at the MX Select Sound Tool. I could choose between internal audio and HDMI. I chose internal audio.

Not sure if this question has been asked in this thread or not, short on time, so, does the sound sputter when booting from the Live USB? Have you tried our different versions like seeing if you can DL an earlier point release. Firmware upgrades between point releases might be the culprit, also try the AHS version and/or a Liquorix kernel in your existing setup

The hint was to "ADD" your username to these groups. the cmd sudo usermod -aG audio markwiering would be -a "add" G is "Group" (so sorry if you misinterpret the cmd-line examples. )

so adding your username or account name you have set to these groups. "Could" ratify your issue as suggested.. another miss I forgot then at the time was to consider also adding or checking if mx-codecs could be added or add them. Check the package-installer and "Enabled Repos" 2nd left tab.

good notice indicating whilst running Windows10 and must say that OS does stress hardware enough. As to Audio plays fine. What happens if you load and boot MX-Linux live flash and open thunar left side any unmounted drives even Win10 should show up
double click and sudo passwd should mount.
Linux can easily Read NTFS partitions, navigate to a "Win10 folder you might have contained .mp3 or .avi files and see if double clicking will play them whilst under MX-Live boot is as just plane to jane OS-Booted as you can get. Can also try on Live Boot and your Laptop Boot via thunar and or Terminal cmdline
cd /usr/share/sounds/Borealis/stereo all files here are Orbis .ogg type audio files. These are System sound theme files an already easy to get too testing of files and sound replay.

Another thought deeper into this equation can be system Interrupts. Linux takes very good care of use for device interrupts, none the less a mention. Codecs and whilst in Linux setup options there is the MX System Sounds (should be easy to navigate and play something) as described just above.
similar with the Alsamixer and Pulse Audio Volume Control. Sure you may have messed around with these in checks. Sorry your experiencing such, your performance testing is good, most to many find running under linux "Stuff" just runs more fast.

There are some mod-probe cmds that slip me but sure you can find a great deal browse Searching Sound problems on Linux Desktop. The search results could provide just the answer from many other Eyes and finders Already Experienced and will not tender to unwarranted qsi requests before any help is shared. Sad. really.
so back to groups and 1st suggest .. re-Add your user name to these 3 at least and work from there. Sure once your linux is working on this laptop, your want to boot back to Win10 will diminish.