Bad video card, to no more raid, to bad audio

[sac811]

It all started yesterday when out of no where my screen starts freaking out with graphical artifacts/glitches all over the screen all the time. Tried swapping to the other DVI port, tried hdmi...no dice all graphical problems are the same.

Swap to DVI port on the onboard video card and no problems what so ever. So then just to be sure it wasn't the the PCI slot (ASrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Mobo), I swapped the video card to another PCI slot. Bad decision...now I boot up and comes to screen saying bios was reset, so I go into bios to change things back. Put setting back to raid...blue screen. So eventually go in with ide, see that the glitches are still there in new PCI slot and do the regedit deal (Windows 7) to get back to RAID setting in BIOS.

Does it sound like the graphics card (MSI R6950 Twin frozr II/OC), even though it wouldn't show graphical glitches until loading windows and all times after that?

Next up, I put in an old NVidia Geforce BFG 9800GTX+ for in the mean time of getting a replacement video card.

So it instantly boots up, recognizes it and work perfectly. Except now the bios screen pops up twice for some reason and u can't do anything to get into the bios, etc. till the second time. And now I'm also having Audio problems. A loud hissing at high volumes that my swan 2.1 never had before, which happens at high volume now whether the computer is on or not, but as soon as I unplug the 3.5mm from the computer it stops. BTW for some reason if I disable the onboard video with the GTX in, only one speaker (left) works and at super low volume.

Everything in device manager says it has the most up to date drivers as well.

All of this has me about ready to throw this thing out the window.

Could really do with some insight as to what is going on please.

Thank you.

 

[sac811]

Seems like the audio issue has to be the motherboard itself, because I can run the 3.5 from the swan to my zune and play fine with no noise/hissing. And I can unplug everything from the motherboard as well as unplug the power supply and it will continue to make the noise like the tide going in and out until I unplug it or I'm guessing maybe grounds on something.

Is there a stop gap I can use to get rid of the noise without have to send in the motherboard to be fixed a plug in filter of some type maybe? or any fixes anyone can think of?

 

[Bubbaleone]

Post the specs for your PC, please. Have you got another PSU you can test with?

 

[sac811]

ASrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Mobo
MSI R6950 Twin frozr II/OC Video Card (now removed)
XFX 550w PSU
Intel 2500k stock fan
Samsung 830 SSD
LiteOn DVD burner
8gigs of Patriot Ram

Think thats it.

No I don't have another PSU to test out with...but that is what I was coming down to thinking may be the problem as well.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Seems like the audio issue has to be the motherboard itself, because I can run the 3.5 from the swan to my zune and play fine with no noise/hissing. And I can unplug everything from the motherboard as well as unplug the power supply and it will continue to make the noise like the tide going in and out until I unplug it or I'm guessing maybe grounds on something.

Is there a stop gap I can use to get rid of the noise without have to send in the motherboard to be fixed a plug in filter of some type maybe? or any fixes anyone can think of?

Sorry, could you explain this a bit clearer: "And I can unplug everything from the motherboard as well as unplug the power supply and it will continue to make the noise like the tide going in and out until I unplug it...".

What exactly are you unplugging from the mobo, and are you saying that with the PSU disconnected from the wall outlet that the speakers continue to emit sound until you unplug them from the mobo?

 

[sac811]

Sorry, could you explain this a bit clearer: "And I can unplug everything from the motherboard as well as unplug the power supply and it will continue to make the noise like the tide going in and out until I unplug it...".

What exactly are you unplugging from the mobo, and are you saying that with the PSU disconnected from the wall outlet that the speakers continue to emit sound until you unplug them from the mobo?

I mean unplugging everything from the outside of case from the motherboard it will still make the sound (DVI, USB, ethernet, etc.).

But something it does seem to do, once I unplug the PSU or flip the switch on it after a few seconds the sound does stop even with the audio cable connected to the motherboard. But it is not an immediate stop its like a capacitor or something powering for a few seconds before the noise dies.

Another piece to the equation is that sometimes when I restart the computer it will just stay making the hissing noise at high volume. Other times I have to go in and configure the speakers from the sound menu to have them work at all again, then if I turn up the volume the hissing is back.

 

[sac811]

Now, all that is happening is with the computer volumes set to 100 and the speaker volume set to 100, I can only hear from the left speaker and it is very low volume.

I don't know how to get even get back the normal volume with the noise now.

What is my next option other than sending the mobo for warranty, buying a new PSU to test out possible ground issues and/or maybe buying a sound card

Edit:

And on the Sound screen now it shows 3 different unplugged HDMI icons that have never been there before. It only has 1 hdmi port anyway ;-)

 

[sac811]

Are there any other forums or services I can post this information on and get more responses?

 

[Bubbaleone]

Hard to say if you'd get more reponses or not, but there are plenty of forums out there where you can ask your question. Try to keep in mind that unless you just luck out and somebody on this forum has had the identical problem you're experiencing, and chooses to respond, figuring this out involves using the process of elimination. It's also the weekend.

Have you tried resetting the BIOS to default settings, by removing the CMOS battery for a couple of minutes, to test if there's any change? Also, that "hissing" sound could be a bad ground in the speaker jack or socket. Do you have another set of speakers, or headphones you could test with?

 

[sac811]

Well I know the speakers and wire I use to connect them to the computer all work fine because I used them with no problems on my zune.

But how would I go about opening up the audio plugin case on my mother board to check for bad ground wires, etc.

I did have to press in pretty hard one time with the 3.5mm cord for some odd reason when I was putting the computer back in its cubby.

Wondering if that maybe messed up the ground...

Tried some headphones and it still had the hissing, which has now to turned into a sort of oscillating hissing. Only the left speaker is working on regular speakers or the headphones when plugged into the computer.

Or would spraying Ultra Duster in the powersupply openings to clear out any dust, because I was hearing intermittent (What I assumed to be fan) noise. And when it sprayed it didn't just spray air, it sprayed the very cold propellant in as well.

 

[Bubbaleone]

I'm not an electronics technician and I don't disassemble board components, so I can't answer that one. If it was mine, I'd get a real bright penlight and a good magnifying glass or jewelers loupe and look inside the socket/s. Kind of sounds like you could have inadvertently jammed something foreign into the socket or possibly bent the internal contact.

Unless it was hot or powered on when you used the duster the cold propellant wouldn't hurt anything. What caught my attention was your mention of "hearing intermittent (What I assumed to be fan) noise". If the PSU was/is making unusual noises, it just adds to my suspicion that it's the problem. Don't you have a buddy you could borrow a PSU from?

 

[sac811]

The only way I could borrow his PSU is to take my computer over there and unplug from all his items and plug into mine while I had them both open (rather than disassembling his power supply completely from his case).

I guess thats an option, just kind of a pain. But I can give it a try tomorrow.

I very much appreciate the help you have given me so far.

Thanks A LOT!

 

[sac811]

well no bad PSU...I'm thinking its just the connection is bad for the sound output.

 

[sac811]

Hooked up my old sound blaster live 24-bit card and sound works great again.

Only continuing problem I have as soon as I put in the 9800GTX+ is for some reason the bios screen pops up twice and now seems to be asking me if I want to boot from the SSD or the DVD drive each time, even tho that information is the setup in the bios already.