Clicks and Pops during MP3 playback on computer (hard drive issue?)

[dahoff]

I have a custom built PC running XP Pro. The MP3s are on a Western Digital 1200BB hard drive. I've had it for three years but haven't had any problems with it.

The popping sounds occur simultaneously with the HD LED light going on. I know the MP3s aren't corrupt, since I can rewind and pops happen in different places. Like I said, they only happen when the hard drive LED goes on.

I can hear the pops in both my speakers and in headphones, so it's not a problem with either of those. None of the MP3s are fragmented on the hard drive, so that's not a problem.

Is this a static electricity issue? I'm pretty sure the apartment I'm in now is properly grounded, so I have no idea what's causing this. I've had this problem for about a year now, and it makes listening to music annoying.

Some more info: pretty much nothing else is running or accessing the hard drive while I listen to music, so the problem isn't because too many programs are seeking data on the HD at the same time.

What gives? Is there a device I can use to test the outlet to see if it's grounded? I'm running out of ways to narrow down the problem. Thanks.

 

[Snoop]

First, did these MP3's play normally at one time on this custom PC? Also, what are the specs on the pc?

 

[dahoff]

Yeah, they played normally up until about a year ago. So I guess for the first two years of its life, they played fine. Nothing changed in my usage of this PC...the problem just started out of nowhere.

Some specs:

CPU: P4 Northwood @ 2.0A GHz (400MHz FSB)
RAM: 1GB Samsung ECC PC800 RDRAM
HD: Western Digital 1200BB (120GB, 2 MB buffer), Western Digital 1200JB (120GB, 8 MB buffer)
OS: WinXP Pro with SP2 and all updates
Mobo: Asus P4T-E
Video: ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV
Sound: Audigy Platinum external
DVD-RW: Plextor PX-716A (my newest toy)
CD-RW: Plextor 24/10/40A
DVD-ROM: Pioneer DVD-106s (16x)

* No viruses, adware, or spyware. Hard drives are all defragmented and no errors detected with ScanDisk.

I spent a lot of money building this back in 2002 and have taken good care of it. The problem came out of nowhere. The MP3s have been sitting on my HD for awhile without being moved--are they losing their magnetic properties or something silly like that?

I use Winamp.

Important note: I've used the same hardware and software for MP3 playback since the beginning. I can't think of any changes I made to my system that would cause this. It just started happening.

 

[dahoff]

Wow, and just like that, I figured out the problem. It's Winamp (version 5.03c). I played the same MP3 in Windows Media Player 10 and the hard drive LED came on in the same place but the pops didn't happen. I'll try a newer version of Winamp since I'm not a big fan of WMP.