I got around to using the new earpeice thing that I bought at the computer fair, it seems quite groovy.

I tried to get Skype working, but I had no end of issues with the sound.

I could make one call, but then no sounds would work in Skype, whether it be sound effects in the UI, or trying to talk to someone, or making a test call.

My mate called, and said that his ADSL modem was having problems. He said it wouldn't power on. I asked him to check if the power supply was warm (first test, to see if the transformer is working), but he said it was cold.

I suspect the plug pack has packed up. I said I'd come around and look at it later.

I continued mucking around with Skype, and everytime I ran it, sounds were blocked after first call.

I googled around, and I found this page, all about the issue.

I tried updating Skype from 1.2.011 to 1.2.0.18, but it was a waste of time, didn't fix the problem.

I read through the forum thread again, and decided to investigate "skype_dsp_hijacker ".

The link in the forum is to here. That site seems really slow, so I also found the download page here.

I downloaded it, and set it up, it reads like it will fix my problem, but it didn't make any difference, the card was still stuck.

I was also seeing the error "/dev/dsp-1: Device or resource busy".

I rebooted my machine, to clear up the sound card, and then I used the hijacker to spawn Skype.

I tested it, calling the test number a few times, and my sound maintained properly.

When I checked the console, I saw:

hijacker: open DSP /dev/dsp flags: 2
hijacker: mic /dev/dsp opened with fd 133
hijacker: speaker /dev/dsp opened with fd 134
hijacker: open DSP /dev/dsp flags: 2
hijacker: SKYPE 1.2.0.11 BUG WORKAROUND, open mic /dev/dsp which wasn't closed. closing it before reopening
hijacker: mic /dev/dsp opened with fd 133
hijacker: speaker /dev/dsp opened with fd 134

Aha, so it is working.