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Sound problems
Hi all.
I'm just about ready to pull my hair out. I've been battling my computer's sound for over a year now, and can't seem to get it dialed in.
Let me give you the quickest rundown I can:
I've got a Presario 6000 Series with XP Pro, Athlon XP, 384mb RAM, Radeon 9200 128mb, 40Gb & 3Gb (those are internal, I've got a Maxtor 80Gb USB drive) drives, and Realtek onboard 10/100 ethernet. I started off with a Creative SoundBlaster 16 PCI...even after numerous attempts to update drivers, reinstall, roll back, etc.-I got very poor quality of sound. And my advanced options in Windows Sound Control wouldn't enable (bass, treble..). I'd also notice skipping in the audio in most video files. I heard almost a 'muddy' flow behind my .mp3s. I used Winamp 2.91 at this time. I tried everything, nothing worked.
Recently-I had to do (Don't ask, can you say viri? First time for everything) a fresh start and formatted my drives, and reinstalled XP Pro. I decided to try upgrading my sound card and drivers. So I went out and purchased a Creative Audigy LS, figuring this would cure my ails. It hasn't. New card, new problems. I installed the card and drivers as prescribed, but not Creative's MediaSource-piece of junk. The quality of sound is much better, sure. But now whenever I play my .mp3s with-now using-Winamp 5.0-I get that skipping, dragging and loud, occasional pops. Other media players seem to not skip and pop, but they also don't sound nearly as good as Winamp. I'm not running a lot of apps, not using visualizations, and surfing and all that crap. And my game and video sound is fine. 384mb should be plenty of RAM, shouldn't it? I've got over 16Gb of music, but it's 99% on the external drive. I disabled onboard sound in BIOS Advanced Options, but I admit I disabled it after full installation of the Audigy. And I'm not given the option to disable or remove Legacy in my Hardware Manager. What else can I do? I love music and am one of those people who can't stand imperfections in it. It's making me insane. I've got my hardly over a year-old rig dialed in and souped up right to where I want it, except for my ongoing sound problems. Any suggestions-advice? Is there a hardware conflict here? Is there a bug with Winamp 5 & Audigy?
Your help would be much appreciated, as I've exhausted myself with this damn problem.....feel free to email or reply in the forum!
Matt M.
Rochester, NH
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Welcome to Windrivers Matt - what chipset is the motherboard? Did you install the latest motherboard drivers?
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Does it have onboard sound ?
or video ?
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Nope Grandad, there's no onboard video, I've got a Radeon 9200 in it. It's AGP. And there was AC97 onboard sound, but it's disabled.
NooNoo, thanks for the kind welcome. I'll get back to you on the chipset. Is there an easy way to determine what kind of chipset it is?
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look in device manager under ide or hard diskcontrollers for the company - via, intel, sis, etc...
If you state precisely what your compaq model is, usually there are specifications on the compaq site for the model which will include the motherboard chipset and sometimes make and model.
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OK NooNoo,
Got some more info for you. It's a Via IDE ATA/ATAPI set. My model's a Presario 6400NX. With an Athlon XP 1800+.
I've been looking at Compaq's support page, and there's an update for Creative drivers for the chipset. There was a conflict it turns out on some models, but not mine. Similar but different units. Should I try that? Want to see what say you first!
Later.
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yes.... wandering around cyberspace somewhere...
VIA drivers are a must on any windows! www.viaarena.com and get the latest hyperion drivers (link on the left) and install them. Then reinstall the sound after that.
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I'll try that NooNoo, but when you say reinstall the 'sound'. What do you mean? Just the card drivers, or everything? And which drivers? The whole Hyperion driver package or just the sound ones?
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I tried all of that, with the new Hyperion drivers and everything. Reinstalled the Audigy drivers. Winamp is still popping and dragging.....
Anybody want a free computer? I'm about to vaporize this one!
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I'll take it, (hehehe)
Have you tried the old shuffle game, try placing the sound card closer or further away from the AGP slot., look for issue with your video, also make sure the cpu is not over heating, clean heat sink and fan., and any dust bunnies you might find, above all make sure you have a good contact between the cpu and the heat sink.
I’ve had a lot of 1300+ to 1900 AMD’s that had to be replaced with the symptoms you are describing.
Just a thought.
Sly
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You have only tried winamp? Does another player do the same? Have you checked for bios updates for the motherboard? Quite a few boards had to have the bios updated to stop this problem with creative cards.
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No, just Winamp NooNoo. Which is disheartening. Because that's my favorite player. WMP sounds like crap. And Sly-the chassis is pretty clean. No dust bunnies or crud. I've been told to try moving it further away from the AGP card. Guess that's next. Where would I find BIOS drivers for the board, Noo?
Sly-
LMAO don't tell me that-I've always thought that this rig was kinda buggy. Not booting up properly once in a while and stuff like that.
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bios update for creative audigy on compaqs site BUT be sure that's the exact model - updating the wrong one will cause the motherboard to become worthless. here are the other drivers etc
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Much obliged once again, NooNoo. I'll try it out when I get some spare time! Moving this week. Yay.