Creative Soundcard Problem

[ardasekerci]

I just bought a new soundcard from creative to my computer. A creative audigy gamer. However I am experiencing this problem. The sound system is perfect it really improved but some of the MP3s i play always skip in the middle of the song like 2 seconds more. This never happened before i purchased the soundcard. Also i play some games and they freeze on me after somewhile. I downloaded the latest drivers of that soundcard for WINxp installed them but this problem never went away. I even format the computer and reinstall everything but the problem reoccured. What do you think is my problem? Can someone give any suggestions? I even disabled the onboard sound system from the motherboard and just enabled it to work from the hardware i put the my computer. Please guys I need help. This drives me crazy
Thanx...

 

[Oyeve]

What program are you using to play back mp3s? If you are using playcenter or something else that came with the audigy, DONT! It sucks. Try another playback program.

 

[ardasekerci]

Well i am using winamp l2.9 like usual. This problem never used to occure before. After i installed creative it started to happen. However my big problem is the games. The way it freezes. I am 100% sure it is because of the stupid soundcard.

 

[Brian48]

ardasekerci,

There is nothing wrong with PlayCenter 3.0. Don't listen to the mob that automatically labels everything Creative puts out as crap without even giving it a chance. In fact, I'd recommend you give PC3.0 a shot to see if it works better for you if you haven't already tried it, although I do think it's doubtful that you can correct the problem by just switching over to another player.

The skipping you've mentioned is a driver issue under WinXP. Not much you can do about it until Creative comes up with a better solution. I have found that for systems that are experiencing this problem, you can minimize or eliminate it altogether if you disable your desktop sounds (ie. start navigation, minimize, maximize, etc. etc.). Seems that whenever Windows starts to load these sounds into memory, or whenever another app tries to use the sound card at the same time, it conflicts with whatever .mp3 player happens to be running at the moment.

 

[Brian48]

OK, you've just provided more information. The freezing tells me that you're probably having an IRQ conflict. Have you tried completely deinstalling the card and moving it to another slot? Bear in mind, the Audigy require TWO IRQ's (one for the firewire port and one for the sound card itself), which is probably one more than what you're normally used to. IRQ assignment is virtual under WinXP, but I've found that Windows ACPI is never full compatible with 100% of all the various hardware configurations out there.

 

[ardasekerci]

well the firewire is the small slot where you plug the gamepad or things like that? Well if thats the firewire I did not put it in my motherboard. Because i never use gamepad or such equipments. So i just have my creative audigy installed as the only hardware from creative. I changed the slot. Now I will uninstall and reinstall the drivers. But once again. DO i have to put that firewire thing as well? Is it a must? thank you. I am waiting for your answer. Bye

 

[ardasekerci]

well nope. I changed the slot of my audigy card but still nothing. It was in IRQ 5 before with 3 more other hardware showing IRQ5, i put my soundcard to another one and it became IRQ 10 and none of the others are IRQ 10. I uninstalled the drivers. Reinstalled them and extracted the WINXP drivers. But still i have that problem. Actually that problem occures in 1 game which uses the EAX technology of the soundcard. Although i disable that still the same problems. The other games work fine so far but they dont use the EAX support. I uninstalled installed the game again but the problem occures. It never used to occure before in that game. So any more suggestions beside throwing my creative to garbage? The sound sure improved but i always restart the damn new computer

 

[ardasekerci]

Anyone will help me?
Please?

 

[Brian48]

Well, if it's just one game, then it's obviously a compatibility issue with the game itself. Which game is it?

By the way, the firewire port is not to be confused with the game port. It's the interface port left of the audio jacks and is integral to the sound card itself. You can't avoid NOT installing it.

As a last resort, you can always attempt an install after a clean reinstall of the OS. That has helped some people with lingering issues of leftover drivers and registry settings from your old hardware.

 

[ardasekerci]

well the game is red faction. Which it says is 100% copatitable with EAX Well than what about my MP3s I am so pissed off. Also about the firewire. Is this a cable to put from dvdrom to the soundcard or a device to put it in the mainboard like the audigy soundcard? Because i just had 2 drives like that. One was the card itself and the otherone is the gameport input. Thanx again brian..

 

[Brian48]

Yeah, Red Faction is a buggy game. Had this same problem with it even when I had my Santa Cruz. I suppose you've already updated to the latest patch, correct? Friggin' game would sometime reset my PC, usually at that point where I'm in the caves.

Anyway, the firewire port is useful for connecting two PC's that have Audigy's installed. It's also useful for video cameras and other multimedia devices. You can always disable it under Device Manager if you don't need it (adapter 1394), but it's still good to have.

Regarding your .mp3's, not sure what to tell you. I am familiar with the problem though. I remember having it myself, but to be honest, I'm not sure how I corrected it. I do remember having to reinstall WinXP. I may have had some left over settings from the Santa Cruz still lingering about, not 100% certain of it as I'm usually pretty good about completely deinstalling device drivers.

My normal settings is to leave all the audio volumn levels at mid-range, enable CMSS ('cause I have a 5.1 speaker setup), and Creative EAX under PC3.0 set to filter out low-level pops and hiss. These "pops" are different from the ones you're experiencing though.

 

[Mavrick007]

What card did you have in before installing the Audigy? What did you do to remove or disable the other sound device?
It might be as simple as reinstalling the OS and installing the sound card again. A clean install is always helpful when you've had alot of different drivers from devices that aren't being used anymore.