Soundcard Trouble

[green machine]

I have a SoundBlaster Audigy ZS Platinum Sound card. Very nice.

Anyways, I've had trouble with it. First it would make squealy noises, very quick, very annoying during Mp3's, and sometimes in place of the "click" I get when I go back in my IE browser. I contacted their support, they told me to download a patch. I did that, and it seems to have worked OK.

Now, sometimes, mp3's don't sound right at all. They get a muffled sound in them, not consistently, but every once in a while. I know it wasn't there before.

Any ideas?

Oh, I have an Athlong 3200+ with Windows XP Home if that matters at all.

Thanks,

Adam

 

[Chaz]

What are you using to play the mp3s?

 

[Ryanwb]

Sounds like you have an out of date/incompatable Audio Codec. So my next question would be what SirChaz asked.... What program are you using to play MP3?

 

[green machine]

Winamp, Version 5.

It's not just Mp3's. When I hit "back" on my brouser I usually get a nice "click" noise. This had been giving me a squeal then too.

 

[Ryanwb]

You can disable the "click" by going into settings -> control panel -> sounds and audio devices -> click on the tab that says "sound"

Now at the bottom it says "sound events", under Windows Explorer it says, "Start Navigation" switch it to "none". No more click.....

This is usually the first thing I do when I install windows because it drives me crazy

 

[CardinalMike]

I notice their support told you to install a "patch". Was that just a bugfix or the actual latest drivers for the audigy?

Cardinal Mike!!

 

[Gnomad]

i've only had trouble with winamp 5... from crash bugs to crappy playback. I've been using Windows Media Player 9.x for some time now, and i love it.

I once was a winamp proponent, now i try to point all of my people away from it. AOL has killed what was once glorious media software.

 

[BleedingPurple]

I can no longer stand Winamp.

Okay - opinion stated.

What it sounds like is you may have inadvertently installed (or had installed for you), an extra audio driver and the two are conflicting. It may have happened during an upgrade or a reinstall, or even as a result of an improper shutdown. Easy fix, but not from within your regular XP login.

First, make sure you have the latest drivers for your sound card.

Log out & restart your machine, but go into Safe Mode. Check your system properties in there. Get into Device Manager, while in Safe Mode, then go to Sound, video and game controllers. Click on the + sign to expand the list.

First, look for duplicate sound card entries. If you have exact dupes, then you've found your problem. If you don't have dupes, you may have still found your problem - you're just not 100% certain, at this point.

Either way, delete all of the sound card entries. You have to get all of them, since you can't tell which one XP is using. Once you've done that, restart the machine.

On startup, into your regular (admin or owner level) login, XP should tell you it has found your sound card and is installing the drivers. If need be, point it to any updated drivers you have.

Restart your machine again, this time making certain XP doesn't install the same things again. You should have fixed your problem.

Total time: about 60 seconds, plus re-boot time.

If this doesn't fix it, you could have some malicious spyware or even a virus. There is also the possibility that your soundcard is failing or even the motherboard. Before you can determine that, you do need to fix any faults within XP, which the above should do.

 

[green machine]

Well guys, I went through it all, and so far it appears to be working just fine. Thanks for all your help!

 

[green machine]

UPDATE:

Appears I wasn't over the problem, but now I know why it happens...or at least when.

The problem only occurs when I have IE open for internet browsage. That's it. When it's not open the soundcard works great.

 

[CardFan67]

The problem only occurs when I have IE open for internet browsage. That's it. When it's not open the soundcard works great.

Well if that is the problem, try this... In MSIE, go to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Multimedia and take the checkmarks off of all the Sound Related options, "Play Animations" (they may contain sounds) - "Play Sounds" - "Play Videos", and check the "don't display media content" option...

Try also going to Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Scroll to Windows Explorer and set all sounds to none..


See if that solves your problems...