I am also seeing this behavior with a logitech HD Webcam C310. I am running ubuntu 12.10 and am receiving the same initialization failed error. As soon as I unplugged my webcam I regained the ability to use my speakers, and that ability remained even after plugging the webcam back in.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/696690 Title: pulse sometimes fails to initialise with webcam (w/ USB mic) plugged in. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/696690/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs