"Static noise" while using onboard sound

[PascalT]

I am using my dfi nf4's onboard sound, and lately I've noticed noise when nothing is playing, it's like I hear the electrical components transfering data, i.e. when I access my drive I hear the "electric noise" it does. I hope someone knows what I am talking about. It's pretty annoying.

I am using the latest sound drivers, so I don't know what else I could do? I have yet to flash to the latest bios but I will later today.

 

[kamranziadar]

Make sure your connection on the back is connect properly.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Bad connection, bad sound chip... It can even be a bad -5V from the PSU.

Obviously, check the connection first. Try other speakers because it could be a nearly broken copper wire somewhere under the speaker lead's insulation. If neither of these get rid of the static, try another PSU.

 

[PascalT]

doubt it's a bad PSU sinc eI am using a Powerstream. I will re-check the connection tonight. It could be that the audio chip is loose or something.

 

[imported_BadKarma]

I also hear the "white noise" on my DFI Ultra-D. I thought the Karajan audio module suppose to fix that problem.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: PascalT
doubt it's a bad PSU sinc eI am using a Powerstream. I will re-check the connection tonight. It could be that the audio chip is loose or something.

Oh ye of too much faith.

Do not doubt anything. Although Topower makes a very good power supply, they are FAR from infallible.

I've had PSU's as good as FSP's have too much ripple on the -5V and cause this problem.

PSU manufactuers put low priority on the quality of negative DC and 5VSB rails since these typically fulfill "old school" needs, like ISA slots and some serial devices. But since you're using on board sound, you're needing -5V and if you want it to sound good, you need good, clean -5V.

I'm not saying it definitely IS your problem, but you certainly can't discount it.

 

[taelee1977]

hmm, I noticed some static noise on my MSI nForce onboard sound as well. I seem to hear it only when I'm not playing anything and I'm trying to access stuff from my hard drive.

 

[sxr7171]

Nobody really wants to hear this but onboard sound will always be onboard sound. You can't expect much from it regardless of what specs they publish for it. This even applies to internal soundcards albeit to a lesser extent. The PC case is an extremely noisy environment and switch mode power supplies are horrible for audio applications in any case. If you want decent to good sound from a PC you have to go with external solutions. Pretty much every PC I have used as had the problem you have described but to different extents, it doesn't bother me since I don't use my PC for playing music, I use my stereo.

 

[Killrose]

I alway's disable/mute the "line-in" capabilities when I have "static noise" problems, but yes, make sure you have good contact on the back-plate which gronds the ports.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've always generally assumed it to be ground-plane ripple problem myself. Do any modern onboard audio chipsets still use the -5V?
In general though, onboard sound is onboard sound, the simple fact that there is such a close physical proximity between the audio chipset and the other signals on the board, allows noise to "bleed through" via induction. I've even had that problem, between two PCI cards that were next to each other in the slots, and one was handling analog audio input signals (capture card).

A physical riser card, combined with some filters on the power/ground planes, is about the only real solution. In other words, to get those features, you have to purchase a real PCI sound card.

(The front channel of my ALC650 is pretty clean, but the rear audio channel is noisy, no matter what I do.)

 

[PascalT]

i think i fixed the problem by pushign the audio chip in a bit .. it was loose i believe.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: PascalT
i think i fixed the problem by pushign the audio chip in a bit .. it was loose i believe.

Bios chips are usually removeable. On-board snd chips are surface mounted by solder.
I think you pushed on your bios chip

Maybe you discharged some static build-up.

 

[PascalT]

No, it's an extra audio chip you install on the dfi nf4 ultra-D. Well I guess it's not really a chip, more like a connector or something.

 

[PurdueRy]

if you are referring to the CD-rom audio cable...you don't even need to use that

 

[Zap]

That "static noise" was horrible on my Abit IS7. On my MSI PT880 it wasn't too bad until I hooked up the front audio ports, IIRC. Some systems have it, some don't. I suspect the other parts the system is assembled with contribute a small amount. As others pointed out, a PCI sound card is not as susceptible. I like the Chaintech card using the VIA Envy24T chipset. It is cheap (around $30 shipped) and has front audio port headers, and the chipset is supposed to be really good. All I know is that it works, and has clean output.

 

[sxr7171]

It is picking up EMF from your hard drives. Every laptop exhibits this phenomenon and it gets worse when you use front audio ports since the wires act like little anntennae picking up noise from hard drives, fans etc. You can reduce the noise to a large extent by a whole bunch of little tweaks but it will always be there, just turn up the volume and you'll hear it.

 

[Peter]

Most of the time it's power supply issues, sometimes it's poor mainboard design (not enough decoupling) again introducing power supply noise - and often enough it's interference caught from poorly shielded CDROM audio or front jack cables. CDROM audio cables aren't needed anymore with recent operating systems and drives (supporting digital audio play through the data cable).

 

[PascalT]

Originally posted by: rleemhui
if you are referring to the CD-rom audio cable...you don't even need to use that

no i'm not. give me some credit..

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Do any modern onboard audio chipsets still use the -5V?

I'm not sure about the nForce chipset specifically, but the signal amplifiers on on-board sound tend to use -5V. The last time I had a problem was with a socket A VIA chipset. When used in combination with certain power supplies, the sound would have similar issues. FWIW, I think the problem might only be limited to on board sound cards that allow you to plug in headphones or other high-impedance non-amplified speakers without requiring any amplification, but I've found this feature is unique to the motherboard manufacturer, not the particular sound chip.

I'm not sure why a lot of amplifying devices use negative voltage. Maybe an EE that's worked on amps can come in and shine a light on things.

It's actually screwed me up before. I had to wire up this warehouse with some Bogen 15W self-amplified horns. These things were loud as HELL, but I could power them over the same CAT3 use to bring the audio signal to them. Any way, I got about half way through and started wiring them up backwards because the "-12" was just labeled "-" and the ground was just labeled "ground." I think I would've been better off if they lied to me and just labeled the -12V as "+" and the ground as "-"! Anyway... Half the horns didn't work so I had to go back up on the ladders and re-wire them.

Anyway... I'm wondering why I've never had the problem with PCI sound cards. Even really cheap ones. I wonder if it's because a PCI slot doesn't have -5V! Perhaps they use an inverter that also filters the signal, maybe they use the -12. I don't really know.

 

[Slaimus]

Check my reply in this thread. I hear the white noise when i move my USB mouse, and it happens even on my AthlonXP/KT133A system with onboard CMI8738. The problem I found was HALT state. With it enabled, the idle CPU temperature is noticably lower, but you get that static (which is only audible with sensitive headphones and the system volume set low). Kind of a lose-lose situation.