What is this annoying XP sound?

[Bodine]

This sound pops up intermittently on my XP machines. At first I thought it was some wireless-detection annoyance, but I've noticed it on my home PC as well (which doesn't have wireless).

I've also looked in the sounds-association folder and played all of them but can't find this.

Swooosh, swish NOTE: This isn't 2 different sounds. The 2 "swooshes" are always together like that -- it's one sound.

 

[BlueWeasel]

It kinda sounds like the annoying IE click sound.

 

[Bodine]

No, I don't use IE. I use Firefox. And it also happens while I'm not interacting with the computer at all. I thought for a while it might have been some sound an ad in one of the webpages was making, but I closed down all of my browsers and still heard it.

 

[Matthias99]

Are you sure that's not just noise in your speakers from some sort of EMI? For example, I get popping noises in my speakers when my air conditioner's compressor kicks in (partly because the wiring in my apartment *blows*, but that's another issue entirely).

Does the volume go up/down if you adjust the Windows sound level, or go away if you mute it? If not, then it's something causing noise at a hardware level.

 

[Bodine]

Yes, it happened on my old laptop and my new one, and on my desktop system. And, yes, the noise gets quieter when i turn down my speakers. I hear it in my earphones, too.

Slowly. Going. Insane. Now that I've noticed it I can't ignore it.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Bodine
Yes, it happened on my old laptop and my new one, and on my desktop system. And, yes, the noise gets quieter when i turn down my speakers. I hear it in my earphones, too.

Slowly. Going. Insane. Now that I've noticed it I can't ignore it.

The noise gets quieter when you turn down the *speakers*, or when you turn down the *Windows volume settings*? If adjusting the Windows volume control doesn't do anything, then it's not Windows that's making the noise.

 

[LTC8K6]

Sounds like banner.wav to me.

See what it is associated with in your sounds area.

In my comp it is associated with MS Calender's directional arrows.

 

[MrChad]

Are you running an IM client?

 

[Parkre]

have you disabled all sounds in XP, windows??

 

[Bodine]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
The noise gets quieter when you turn down the *speakers*, or when you turn down the *Windows volume settings*? If adjusting the Windows volume control doesn't do anything, then it's not Windows that's making the noise.

When I turn down the windows volume.

Sounds like banner.wav to me.

I don't have banner.wav on my computer. I tried googling it but that was a wild goose chase.

See what it is associated with in your sounds area.

I've gone through each and every sound association, and even all available sounds that you can associate (at least the ones that drop down in the Sounds control panel).

Are you running an IM client?

Yes. Gtalk and Sametime, but this problem was happening before I installed Gtalk, and it also happens on my home computer where I don't have sametime.

Thanks for the ideas. Keep them coming. Since the sounds are happening on multiple, unrelated computers with totally different suites of software installed, I can't imagine I'm hte only person who has heard this sound.

 

[Bodine]

Originally posted by: Parkre
have you disabled all sounds in XP, windows??

Good idea. I went into sounds and set the sound scheme to "no sounds". Just heard the annoying sound again, though. So at least I know it's nothing standard to Windows.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Start>Settings>Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Sounds Tab>Scroll down to Windows Explorer, find the Start Navigation entry>Select Start Navigation>In the Sounds scroll list, scroll up to (None)>Apply>OK

 

[Bodine]

It's not the IE navigation sound. Again, I don't use IE and I've completely disabled Windows sounds. Besides, it's not the same sound. The navigation sound is a single click. The Annoying Sound is 2 "swooshes". The 2 noises you hear in the WAV is always together. It's "one sound" if you will. Always the same.

 

[thegorx]

find out what's running on your computer
search for wav files with dates around when this started

 

[Doom Machine]

what sound...i dont hear anything