Still get pops and clicks with Audigy :(

[smn198]

I upgraded to the Audigy with the hope that the pops and clicks that
haunted me with the Live! would go away. They haven't! It is not as
bad and what used to sound like a almost continous screaching now only
makes pops and clicks.

My hardware set-up is slighly exotic but I would still expect that the
problem would have been completely fixed after such a long time.
Especailly when they had that massive banner add saying get the Audigy
to get rid of this problem.

Relevent system specs:
MSI 6167 (AMD 750 chipset)
Windows 2000 Pro (in ACPI mode, no I don't want to switch it off, I
like hibernation)
Promise FastTrak66 EIDE RAID controller
AGP Radeon
PCI nVidia TNT.

Full specs:
http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=1686
:|

 

[Haribo]

first check so that ALL your PCI cards LOVES irq sharing... if they don't then there's your problem.

 

[smn198]

They do all share the same IRQ as I am in ACPI mode. Still, not all sound cards have this problem on my PC but an ISA AWE64 did have it. That can't have been on the same IRQ! Just think there must be too much traffic for the poor little AMD751 chip to take.

 

[circut16]

I have the same problem with my live value
it seems to be a resource prob and speaker prob
It helped to raise the sampling rate for me, didn't help much in games though.

 

[Huma]

try turning down the hardware acceleration under sound properties.

Turn it all the way down and see if it helps, and move it up slowly til problems come back.

 

[smn198]

Unfortunately reducing the hardware accelleration or sampling rate makes no difference to my problem.

 

[extro]

When do you get the pops and clicks? In games? Playing CDs? Playing MP3s? With Winamp? With Media Player?

 

[smn198]

I get the problem when playing WAV or MP3 files. It squeaks or clicks when I defrag or if the screen on the TNT has a lot going on eg. if I maximise or minimise windows or if there is a web page with flash or an animated gif. Games are fine though but it may be due to the fact that there is little other PCI traffic.

Thanks
Steve

 

[smn198]

I use WinAmp and Creative PlayCenter 3 (also probs with earlier versions since 1.5)

CD playing works fine using either the SPDIF or analouge on the back of the CD ROM drive.

 

[mattbta]

Do you ever try Media Player? I was getting the clicks and annoyances in both 2000 pro and XP pro with winamp and playcenter. Started using media player exclusively and no longer have any problems. It's not as easy to use as winamp, but for the better sound, I sacrifice. Maybe it's MS's way of forcing you to use it?

Do you have an problems with DVD's, DivX or anything like that??

 

[Ducksoup]

Smn: I had (so far ) very similar problems. I tried a few things so I can't be sure what worked. My symptoms were random pops and high pitched screaches. I removed all drivers and moved the card. I also removed the drivers and anything related to the audigy in Windows\System. What I think worked for me was removing the logitech microphone part of the small video camera. (No facts to back up the feeling.) Actually I removed the camera and don't want to install it just yet because of what I don't hear.

 

[SonicTron]

What helped me is I muted "PC Speaker" and all line outs / mics in the sound tab. Every time I would maximize / minimize, do some tough work with my computer, it would crackle and pop! I muted these things and all I got was a low hiss because of my crap speakers

 

[smn198]

<< Do you ever try Media Player? I was getting the clicks and annoyances in both 2000 pro and XP pro with winamp and playcenter. Started using media player exclusively and no longer have any problems. It's not as easy to use as winamp, but for the better sound, I sacrifice. Maybe it's MS's way of forcing you to use it?

Do you have an problems with DVD's, DivX or anything like that?? >>



Thanks. I will give that a go. DVDs and DivX are fine.

 

[smn198]

 

[smn198]

<< Smn: I had (so far ) very similar problems. I tried a few things so I can't be sure what worked. My symptoms were random pops and high pitched screaches. I removed all drivers and moved the card. I also removed the drivers and anything related to the audigy in Windows\System. What I think worked for me was removing the logitech microphone part of the small video camera. (No facts to back up the feeling.) Actually I removed the camera and don't want to install it just yet because of what I don't hear. >>



I've tried most if not all of the other PCI slots but it doesn't fix it
I've not got any external hardware installed (apart from the monitor, mouse, etc ) at the moment so I can rule that out

 

[smn198]

<< What helped me is I muted "PC Speaker" and all line outs / mics in the sound tab. Every time I would maximize / minimize, do some tough work with my computer, it would crackle and pop! I muted these things and all I got was a low hiss because of my crap speakers >>



All I have unmuted is Wave/MP3, MIDI and CD Digital. Still happens

It stops when I mute Play control balance though

 

[BlvdKing]

I had the same problem with my Audigy under WinXP. I have the KT133 chipset (Giga-byte 7zx). The pops and high pitched screeches went away when I flashed the BIOS to the lastest ROM file. I don't know why it worked, it just did. I have a theory that the pop/noise problem was either or both of the following: an incompatible BIOS, or the fact that I had to reset the BIOS to defaults after the flash and then change the settings back to the way I like them.

 

[smn198]

<< I had the same problem with my Audigy under WinXP. I have the KT133 chipset (Giga-byte 7zx). The pops and high pitched screeches went away when I flashed the BIOS to the lastest ROM file. I don't know why it worked, it just did. I have a theory that the pop/noise problem was either or both of the following: an incompatible BIOS, or the fact that I had to reset the BIOS to defaults after the flash and then change the settings back to the way I like them. >>



I already have the latest BIOS although it was released quite a while ago. I've also played around with the BIOS settings a lot; still no joy. I've tried about everything I can think of an no joy.

Every one who has this problem as far as I can tell has a VIA chipset. Mine is AMD. I managed to reproduce the system on an Intel (BX) system although I suppose that it could have had something to do with using a parallel zip drive.

 

[Ducksoup]

smn198 Every one who has this problem as far as I can tell has a VIA chipset. Mine is AMD. I managed to reproduce the system on an Intel (BX) system although I suppose that it could have had something to do with using a parallel zip drive.

I have the K7S5A with the Sis 735 chipset.

Sorry to hear you haven't solved your problem. Did your noises start as soon as you installed the card? In my case all was fine for a few weeks then for no reason I'd hear sounds like changing stations on a short wave radio. Occasionally the windows default sound for opening and closings things could be heard. I wonder could it be some electrical interference?

Good Luck D Soup

 

[JudgeBuff]

The only true common thread here is the fact that all are using Creative sound boards. My original Live would sound like Rice Krispies without rhyme or reason. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. It would even crackle if someone rang my doorbell. :disgust: I'm not kidding! This does lend some credence to the electrical interference theory, though.

Anyway, I finally found a cure for it.... a Hercules Game Theater XP. Better sound, more options and a cool rack. The best thing is something it doesn't come with.... cereal noises.

 

[millsy]

I am using the Epox board with Audigy and Windows XP and it was working brilliantly with no pops and crackles till I watched a movie.
After that it started. I reinstalled drivers but no go.
I had this before but it went away. Seems to be temperamental but it is happening at moment.

 

[smn198]

<< I have the K7S5A with the Sis 735 chipset.

Sorry to hear you haven't solved your problem. Did your noises start as soon as you installed the card? In my case all was fine for a few weeks then for no reason I'd hear sounds like changing stations on a short wave radio. Occasionally the windows default sound for opening and closings things could be heard. I wonder could it be some electrical interference?

Good Luck D Soup >>



I am pretty sure it would not be interference on my system. I am going to create an image of my hard disk when I get a chance and force W2k to install in non-ACPI mode. If that works I will have to decide which is more important: good audio whilst defragging or hibernation :frown:

 

[smn198]

<< The only true common thread here is the fact that all are using Creative sound boards. My original Live would sound like Rice Krispies without rhyme or reason. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. It would even crackle if someone rang my doorbell. :disgust: I'm not kidding! This does lend some credence to the electrical interference theory, though.

Anyway, I finally found a cure for it.... a Hercules Game Theater XP. Better sound, more options and a cool rack. The best thing is something it doesn't come with.... cereal noises. >>



That does sound like it could be some sort of electrical interference. Maybe mine is too. It could be that my power supply is not man enough to supply enough voltage all the time and that is effecting the sound card causing the problems. Was thinking of upgrading my power supply anyway. Shame my mobo doesn't have any hardware monitoring. Then I could take a look at the voltages dropping.

 

[smn198]

<< Do you ever try Media Player? >>



Just tried it. Still no joy.

 

[millsy]

Did you manage to fix this??
I am also getting the same problem with Epox 8K7A and Audigy.