Sound Problems

[atomaka]

I am using an Epox 8k7a motherboard that includes the AC97 onboard sound. My system is running Windows XP and I have a ATi Radeon VE graphics card (more system information)

Basically, my sound has had been somewhat staticy for a long time. I am not sure when it started, and hell, it may was probably even like it from the start. I was always to busy to sit down and fix it, but I finally have a chance now.

Anyway, the sound has some sort of static going on with it constantly, even when I am not playing any sound. After listening to it earlier this week, I am pretty sure that it is some sort of interference with the video as many of the sounds seem to corellate in some way with the actions on my monitors.

When I noticed this, I looked into the Device Manager, and found that there were no conflicts between my video card and my sound card as well as no other conflicts. I was going to try changing the IRQ of my sound card just for the hell of it, but it seems WindowsXP doesn't let me do that.

Any suggestions that anyone may have that may help my situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Rick014]

Try disable the onboard sound and leave your speakers on. I assume there amplified speakers and have to be plugged into a wall socket.
The piont I'm getting at is that it may be line interferance caused by the outlet.
You could also try plug the speakers into a different outlet to se if this is the problem.

 

[atomaka]

I disabled the sound and the problem still occurs. I also tested a different wall socket (out of my surge protector) and am currently using my headphones and the problem still occurs. So it is picking up some sort of interference, but has nothing to do with the power.

Thanks for your quick response!

 

[Rick014]

"I also tested a different wall socket (out of my surge protector) "
There's a possibility that the wall socket your trying is wired on the same line as the one your surge protector is pluged into ?
You might want to try an extention cord to a different room or a plug that you know is independant of the one your using.
Another possiblity is that it's picking up the interferance from the other cables on the back of your computer.
Try seperating the cables as much as possible to see if that helps.

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

You can try adding a ferite (the round thing that is on your monitor cord) core to your cord. Anyways you loop the wire once through the ferite core then close it. It reduces interferance. They are pretty cheap and you should be able to get them at some hardware or electronics stores.

 

[atomaka]

Rick014 - My wiring isn't what is causing it. I have had the computer in numerous rooms of the house as well as different buildings (and counties) entirely, and the problem still continues. I moved the cables apart as much as I could with no luck.

BuddyAtBzboyz - I didn't have one of these to test with, but I did try something else. I unplugged every cord from the back of my computer but my headphones and the power to the computer and the interference still occured. Since there wasn't a signal being sent to a monitor, this should accomplish what the ferite would, but far better since there aren't any signals (minus the power I suppose) being transferred at all.

Moving on, like I just mentioned, I have had my computer in many different areas and the problem still occurs. This leads me to believe that the interference has to be directly between my ATi Radeon VE card and my onboard sound "card."

I also tried something different. I have a PCI Creative Ensoniq card. I plugged it in to the PCI slot at the very bottom of my case, as far away from the graphics card as I could get. Unfortunately, XP's drivers don't seem to support this (contrary to the Creative website saying the native sound drivers support it) but I was still able to test for interference. I booted up, and though I cannot play any sound on my computer ("Bad DirectSound driver. Please install proper drivers or select another device in configuration. Error code: 80004005) the interference is still there. However, as I expected, this interference was decreased quite a bit.

Thanks for the help so far! It's really appreciated. Hopefully we'll be able to nail down this problem.

 

[Rick014]

If your suspecting that it's tide in with the video card, check your M.B. manual to see if the agp slot shares an irq with the onboard sound. If so, you should be able to reasign them in your bios.

 

[Rick014]

Sorry, my mistake. Just checked my bios and I can only asign irq's on my pci slots.
Did you try a different video card to see if you still get the same problem?
Sorry, I'm out of ideas.

 

[atomaka]

I don't have another AGP video card to test with. I'll make sure to try that out as soon as I coax a friend into letting my borrow one for the day.

Thanks for all of your suggestions!

 

[Rick014]

No problem
That's what we're here for.