audio problems with mp3/divx files

[ubercaffeinated]

My problem:
When I play mp3s and movies (divx/xvid/avi), there will be occasional ... hiccups, where the image (if there is one) stops and the sound just goes "blrrrrrrr" as if it were repeating the last .1 seconds over.. this happens most frequently with mp3s and only during the first 3-4 seconds of divx/xvid play.

I would like to note that on my old drive (ibm 30 gig ata 100) that I had no such divx audio/mp3 hiccuping. It was only after I took out the ibm (it died) and reinstalled all my system files and such on the new 80 giger that this happened. The hiccuping is infrequent but very annoying. Usually happens in the first few seconds of play and then randomly throughout. It not to the point that its unbearable, but I'd like to listen to my mp3s and hear my divx stuff without all the hiccups.

Of course I have SP1/newest updates installed and I've narrowed out the sb audio drivers as I tried using both the newer and older sb live audio drivers, so its neither of those. All my wiring is correct and I've went back in and reseated all my peripherals and made sure all my cables are in place correctly. I even reformatted and reinstalled to of no avail (thrice so far). My audio codecs are exactly the same ones I used on the old drive and I even tried the newer versions where applicable. My ram seems to be fine on memtest and I don't think anything in specific is hogging up all my ram at during those times... It kinda seems like the sound lags when its accessing the HD but I'm not sure what it is. My system should be more than able to handle this kind of stuff.

This problem baffles me and all my friends. If anyone has experienced this problem also or have any ideas on how to fix it I would be greatly indebted. Thanks.



My system:
athlon tbird 800
asus a7v mobo
512 megs crucial pc 133
system drive: 80 gig 8 meg cache wd
extra drives: 60 and 80 gig ata 133 maxtors
Geforce 2 mx
Soundblaster Live Value
400w power

 

[LiLithTecH]

Have you updated the VIA chipset (4in1) drivers?

 

[ubercaffeinated]

Yup got the newest via installed...

 

[ubercaffeinated]

anyone?

 

[Xanthguy]

Well, I just went through this same problem, and you seem to have tried fixing it the same way I did, but let me tell you how I fixed it; maybe there's something you didn't try yet.

1. Downloaded newest Drivers for my Soundblaster card (Live Value, like yours.)
2. Did Repair Windows Installation from CD. (During this installation, it asked me to browse for my sound drivers by the way, so I think they may have had a bad file path or something. Perhaps forcing windows to use inappropriate drivers.)
3. Made sure to physically change the driver in CONTROL PANEL. Installing off the CD or the file downloaded from Creative was NOT changing the device driver in XP. I don't know why this is the case, but that's how it went, so if you were installing from a .exe file, try going into control panel and changing it manually.

This fixed the problem for, and consequently helped my processor speed a lot! (I guess using the wrong driver really put a strain on my CPU.)

Hope this helps, but I think you had this covered,

--Xg

 

[Kartajan]

if that doesn't work,

how EXACTLY do you have your drives connected?

New drive should be on it's own channel (promise controller)
(Primary Master)

Other drives on secondary (promise controller)
(80G Primary, 60G Secondary)

CD/ DVD Rom drives: native ATA-66 controller.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

xanthguy, thanks so much. i uninstalled my old drivers and then installed the drivers in safemode from the devices list and it worked... no more annoyances, just music and sound as it should be. xp is really weird, not installing the proper drivers even though the install was supposed, but all is well now. thanks again.

 

[Xanthguy]

You're definitely welcome Dude. And Merry Xmas/ Happy Holidays if you get this the day I'm writing it.

--Xg