Buzzing Sound While Playing Music

[WildTech]

You know, just when you think you've seen it all, along comes something like this.

I sold a guy a new puter with a 1gig Athlon, ABIT KT7 Mobo, 256mg PC133, 20 7200rpm hdd, 50X BTC CD Rom, Creative Modem, ATI Rage Pro Vid, and a Yamaha Xwave Sound Card. The OS is Windows ME.

The system perfoms flawlessy at the shop. But the guy has random fits of problems with the machine at home. The machine develops a rhythmic buzz while playing music and the mouse freezes for just a fraction of a second until the buzz stops. If your not playing music when the problem starts, the mouse becomes erratic but you get no buzz. No programs or certain tasks seem to trigger it. It completely random and very strange. I assumed maybe he was getting some feedback from another device, so I unhooked the monitor, keyboard, etc. hoping that I could pinpoint where the buzz was coming from. NO JOY!! I have been completely thru the BIOS and MSCONFIQ. I've reloaded Windows ME. I've shut down all background programs and still the problem persist. Whats really strange is that a simple reboot and the problem goes away until the next time it surfaces. Sometimes it does this everyday, other times it goes for a week with no problem.

Any Ideas............I'm going bald from yanking on my own hair!!! Thanks in advance.

[mahdi]

Hey there, chill...stress with kill you faster then drinking plutonium!
Have you checked everything in the Device Manager? Almost seems like maybe the sound card is conflicting somewhere (be sure to check the resources for any conflicts, they hide like that sometimes)

[Slipstream]

Have you tried plugging in to a different outlet in the house? What else is on the same electrical line? Anything nearby like an ac,fan,or any device that puts out a magnetic field? Checked outlets for proper grounding? I also had a buzzing that was caused by my cable transformer being inline on a surge protection strip before the speakers were plugged in. Switched posions and the buzz never came back. These probably are not the cause but they could be as I've had unexplained things like this before from above problems. Also what software is playing what music?

[WildTech]

Thanks for the quick replys. The IRQ situation is great........no conflicts and no sharing of IRQs. The owner of the computer is an electrician, so when I suggested to him a few days ago that it could be in his electrical system, he went completely thru the house with a tester. We have tried different outlets and surge suppressors. The problem is not any of these.

The client just called a little while ago and informed me that the system seems to do it now, only when it comes off of suspend. We may have our first good clue. Any ideas?? Thanks again

[protechpc]

Interesting that you say the PC works flawlessly in the shop. This may sound strange, but maybe worth a shot. I have found that the circuit that the PC is plugged into may cause the problem. The circuit may be tied to a dryer, air conditioner, microwave oven or similar device that drains the power source when starting thus causing a drop thereby causing the random problem. Just my 2 cents.

[ShAzAm]

I too had a client with similar probs. Only his wasn't buzzing, he couldn't get his PC to cold boot. After 3 trips to the shop, (in which it booted every time,) he still could not get it to boot at his home. He also was an electrician and he checked all the outputs in his home for voltage drop or interference. What I finally did was replace the power supply. IT WORKED! I cannot explain why, but apparently the power supply was weak and not getting quite the minimum it needed from a cold boot start at his home. No problems since. Also, I have run across problematic surge protectors as being the root cause of problems like yours. You may want to check that out too.

Hey, this may not be what's giving you the trouble, but give it a shot with the power supply, you've got nothing to lose!

[WildTech]

Thanks guys for the speedy replies.

Great minds think alike Protech. I ask the customer that exact same question. What else is on this circuit? He claims that the recepticle used by the puter has no big power users on it. I am suspicious of his electrical though, cause like I said, I can not replicate the problem in the shop.

I'll give the power supply a shot ShaZam. Like you say, I've got nothing to lose........hehe. Thanks guys