How to Resolve a AudioFlinger server died! Error in Android?

Question

New to Android, this is my first app and I've been at this issue for a few days now. My app lets users play 6 background instrumentals during game play. The music is all .mp3 format and housed directly in the app in the R.raw file folder - NOTHING is being streamed from a server.

The issue is when a track is selected the track plays for a second, freezes for a second or two, and the picks up and starts to play on. This always happens the first time a track is selected and then usually on the 2nd and then if I keep testing by playing different tracks the error becomes 50/50 as to whether it will happen or not.

I've always insured that the mediaPlayer == null prior to requesting it play a track. I've also thought it might be a memory issue, so prior to the mediaPlayer call I check the memory with this code:

private ActivityManager.MemoryInfo getAvailableMemory() {
        ActivityManager activityManager = (ActivityManager) this.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
        ActivityManager.MemoryInfo memoryInfo = new ActivityManager.MemoryInfo();
        activityManager.getMemoryInfo(memoryInfo);
        return memoryInfo;
}

 if (!memoryInfo.lowMemory) {
      Log.d("Tag", "NOT LOW MEMORY");
 } else {
      Log.d("Tag", "LOW MEMORY!!! LOW MEMORY!!!!");
 }

Each time the result is "NOT LOW MEMORY." I've also check for memory leaks and haven't found any in my app. My last resort was to play the track on background thread but I got the same result. What I see in the Logcat(Info) are these errors:

E/AudioSystem-JNI: Command failed for android_media_AudioSystem_error_callback: -32
W/AudioSystem: AudioFlinger server died!
W/AudioSystem: AudioPolicyService server died!

My latest test was to super simplify the code, I stripped it down as best I could. When the player clicks the button to play the track, this is the direct code:

boolean stopThread = false;
startNewBackgroundThreadForMediaPlayer(stopThread);

The method:

private void startNewBackgroundThreadForMediaPlayer(boolean stopThread) {
        BackgroundMediaPlayerThreadRunnable runnable = new BackgroundMediaPlayerThreadRunnable(stopThread);
        new Thread(runnable).start();
    }

The inner class:

private class BackgroundMediaPlayerThreadRunnable implements Runnable {

        boolean stopThread;

        BackgroundMediaPlayerThreadRunnable(boolean stopThread) {
            this.stopThread = stopThread;
        }

        @Override
        public void run(){

            if(!stopThread) {
                MediaPlayer player = new MediaPlayer();
                player = MediaPlayer.create(SongsActivity.this, R.raw.song1);
                player.start();
            } 
}

I've left some code out, like about stopping the song/thread. I had more complicated code checking for the media player's status(==null?), saving song to the Shared Preferences, etc. Whether this code or the other, the results have been the same.

I've exhausted all my resources, I haven't been able to find much regarding an error like this. I know it is not the actual mp3s because they play OK sometimes. I'm testing on a real device, a Pixel 4XL. Also, this error just started happening, this same code work perfectly fine a 3-4 days ago. Can anyone assist me? Is there an alternative to mediaPlayer that I should try? This is my LAST big obstacle for my app. Thanks.

Answer 1

I spent a lot of time trying to figure this out, all of the stuff I came across was way above my level of understanding. Ultimately I reset the Pixel phone back to factory settings and after doing so that resolved the issue.

Not sure if this is the best solution, but this is the only thing that worked. Maybe this answer will help someone else out facing the same issue.

Edit: I was also testing on a used Pixel phone, so maybe the phone itself was somewhat defective.