I was just introduced to this issue in karmic when starting openarena. I can only describe the sound as high pitched bells.
Commenting out the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf has resolved the issue for me: options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 ================ Info about what I'm running: ================ Linux karmic 2.6.31-10-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 10 23:33:50 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux Description: Ubuntu karmic (development branch) Release: 9.10 00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:284b] (rev 02) Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel Codec: SigmaTel STAC9271D -- karmic: high-pitched noise from snd-hda-intel https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/382140 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs