Snap Crackle Pop, and no its not my cereal

Just as a matter of interest, did you try installing your suspect card into one of your friends' PCs? That way you can test whether it is a card/game problem. If the problem goes away then you know for sure that the card is ok and that maybe it is a game setting - either that or there is a dodgy setting somewhere in the OS. At least you could then rule out faulty cards or game incompatibility or whatever.

You also mentioned that the crackling only seems to happen when the HDD is being accessed. If you're sure about this, then perhaps it's a problem with either the IDE/SCSI cables or maybe even a problem with the HDD iteslf? (I don't know much about this sort of thing, but I guess it must be at least possible for HDD to cause interference...)

Dan.

Quote:

---

?? What? That hercules card is rated better than the audigy 2. Even has a better SNL.

~Chris

---

Tom's Hardware review in 2001 of the card. Comparing it against a SBLive.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/video/2...ocards-01.html

Unless it was several years ahead of it's time or the Audigy and Audigy 2 are really just minor upgrades.

Quote:

---

Just as a matter of interest, did you try installing your suspect card into one of your friends' PCs? That way you can test whether it is a card/game problem.

---

Actually I have no friends within 100 miles of me to test it out. Just my mom's computer which is too old to attempt it in.

As for the HD it is brand new less then 3 months old. I would hope it isn't failing already. Same with all the cables.

I am right now reformatting the HD and reinstalling windows to see if that solves the issue and to fix my Disabled PS/2 Ports (stupid Microsoft Mouse).

Will let you know what happens. If after a clean install the Audigy 2 still does it I am returning it and getting the Terratec Card. If the Terratec Card does it as well then that only leaves one solution it is a game issue.

-Eric

Bah, I just reinstalled and this is what I did Exactly:
Reinstalled Windows XP (clean formatted HD)
Installed Norton Systemwork 2004 (I know, I know but if this causes the mess up then I would rather have bad sound. Only running AV and PWM.)
Installed DX9.0b
Installed Horizons

Launched Horizons and put it into windowed mode and snap, crackle, pop. In the process now of reinstalling all my software and settings from File and Settings Transfer Wizard.

Going to buy the Terratec card and pray that it works. If not then I know it has to be a game issue.

Recap:
Audigy 1 had problems.
Audigy 2 had problems.
Onboard Sound had problems.
Audigy 2 NX (external) had problems.

-Eric

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by imagoon

?? What? That hercules card is rated better than the audigy 2. Even has a better SNL.

~Chris

---

Please post a review that compares it to the Audigy 2. All I have seen are reviews from 2001 when they compared them to the Live.

-Eric

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eedmond

Unless it was several years ahead of it's time or the Audigy and Audigy 2 are really just minor upgrades.

---

They are actually. The EMU101K is the same chip on all 3. The code from the the audigy can be loaded on to the live card and the card then appears as audigy. Also the pin outs for the live drive and audigy drive is identical. I have a sblive, optical card from hoontek installed on the audigy with no mods. So I really must ask you what are the real diffrences from the live, audigy and audigy 2? The firmware on the card. They added a few signal filters on the card to but logic wise nothing. It is annoying me because I can find the page where they showed this. They removed a small 16(?) pin eeprom from the card (upper left I think) and loaded audigy code into it. Reinstalled. They did it with several diffrent versions. Things of note: All of the "new" sampling rates on the audigy where enabled, ie 24khz, 44.1 khz, 96khz etc that was not available on the live worked fine. All of the new voices worked fine, all the enviroment effects worked, the point was the entire card was 100% logically an audigy. So compare the card to the live. The audigy is the same card. Look at the part number on the main CPU (EMU101K) and note they are the same.....

Also to top it all off, linux uses the exact same driver to drive the cards.

This showes all the creative type cards from the value to platnum live as identical:

http://www.ilikediy.com/product/soundcard/sound1.htm


~Chris

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by imagoon

They are actually. The EMU101K is the same chip on all 3. The code from the the audigy can be loaded on to the live card and the card then appears as audigy. Also the pin outs for the live drive and audigy drive is identical. I have a sblive, optical card from hoontek installed on the audigy with no mods. So I really must ask you what are the real diffrences from the live, audigy and audigy 2? The firmware on the card. They added a few signal filters on the card to but logic wise nothing. It is annoying me because I can find the page where they showed this. They removed a small 16(?) pin eeprom from the card (upper left I think) and loaded audigy code into it. Reinstalled. They did it with several diffrent versions. Things of note: All of the "new" sampling rates on the audigy where enabled, ie 24khz, 44.1 khz, 96khz etc that was not available on the live worked fine. All of the new voices worked fine, all the enviroment effects worked, the point was the entire card was 100% logically an audigy. So compare the card to the live. The audigy is the same card. Look at the part number on the main CPU (EMU101K) and note they are the same.....

Also to top it all off, linux uses the exact same driver to drive the cards.

This showes all the creative type cards from the value to platnum live as identical:

http://www.ilikediy.com/product/soundcard/sound1.htm


~Chris

---

Thank you for explaining this to me. Unfortunatly the website you linked is in chinese so I was unable to read enought of it to make any sense of it. My knowledge of soundcard technology is very limited.

I actually was just looking at this article at Tom's Hardware http://www6.tomshardware.com/game/20030405/index.html that compares my onboard sound to a Audigy 2. Apparently my onboard sound is better than an Audigy 2. <laugh> I know if you go to Asus's website it says my board should be the Realtek ALC650 but it isn't. The sound drivers on their download page do not work for my sound. I have to download the motherboard unified driver from Nvidia and install it's sound drivers to get it to work. I have submitted a question to Asus about this. I also checked my MB to verify that I do not have the ALC650 chip. I could not locate it. Only the Nvidia chips. I think before I buy the Terratec card ($130) I am going to investigate sound cards alot more. In the meantime the Onboard Sound produced the least amount of noise in my game so it will do for now.

Thanks,
Eric

P.S. If you have another soundcard that you really like please post it's reviews for me to look at.

Another possibility...

I haven't heard anyone mention this, but I had a similar problem a few years ago with my SBlive platinum card. I was playing Quake 3 and i would get strange sounding distortions whenever I would pick up armor. As some might remember the armor sound was rather complicated for it's day. Anyway, it happened consistantly and I never had any trouble when using my old SB16. I found that when i upgraded from my generic 300watt psu to an enermax 430 the distortion stopped.

So if you are using a generic or small power supply I would recommend trying a better one. See if that helps at all.


Tyler

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Locutus

Another possibility...

I haven't heard anyone mention this, but I had a similar problem a few years ago with my SBlive platinum card. I was playing Quake 3 and i would get strange sounding distortions whenever I would pick up armor. As some might remember the armor sound was rather complicated for it's day. Anyway, it happened consistantly and I never had any trouble when using my old SB16. I found that when i upgraded from my generic 300watt psu to an enermax 430 the distortion stopped.

So if you are using a generic or small power supply I would recommend trying a better one. See if that helps at all.


Tyler

---

I would have to discount that possibility for two reasons:

First:
My computer has a Raidmax 350W PS(Not sure if this is good or not) in it and am running:
1 AGP 8X GF4TI4800
1 Promise SATA card
1 Soundcard (Audigy/Audigy2/whatever)
1 160GB HD
1 Zip Drive
1 Floppy Drive
1 DVD/CD-RW combo drive
1 side case fan
1 CPU Volcano 11 Fan

I can also add a second 160GB IDE 133 HD and it has no ill efects. Which is really not much. I have seen 350's run 3 or 4 more HD's and a few extra cd burners too.

Second:
The Sound Blaster Audigy NX that I tried was external and plugged into a wall outlet and it had the same issues.

-Eric

This happened to me and my friend. My card was popping all of the time. I'm running xp pro with a AIW9700pro. The ATI card came with a diagnostic program to check my systems status for recording video. After I installed my Audigy( when the popping started) the ati diagnostic told me that I did not have any mmx support anymore. The creative diagnostic told me everything was fine. I had to uninstall both sets of software leaving only my video drivers. I then proceeded to install just the drivers for the Audigy. I made sure I had the most current drivers. I then installed the software to my vid card and ran the diagnostics. It worked. I had my mmx support back. The popping was gone. I hope this helps.

Later
Tsunami451

just thought i would give my 2 cents....

have you made sure the Mobo is ground properly or not grounded....

A7N8X has issues with this and should or should not use the Paper wafers that usually come with new computer cases as part of the "Package"

And to make a point about an off topic....

The analog sound output is crap.... what is happening is the Digital to Analog coversion. If you used a Digital converter, maybe included in a Dobly speaker set, you will notice Audigy 2 quality with the Coaxil Digital output...SAVING roughly 80-120 Dollars!!!! So don't under estimate the quality of the nforce chipset. At least version 2.

oh by the way the Sound chip is call SoundStorm. By far the best chip around in my opinion, till Audigy 3 comes in with a DIFFERENT CHIP.

Also using the digital portion gives back all the resources any pci card would take up and any pci latency would be practically null if you're not hogging the CPU entirely by encoding video.

I'm not a complete expert, but i've been reading alot about it, since i have the same board! and have had some of your problems.

If you search AMDFORUMS . COM you will find an ASUS section about everything you ever wanted to know. I'm sure if you search there again, you'll find SB stuff too...

hope that helps a little

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xycury

just thought i would give my 2 cents....

have you made sure the Mobo is ground properly or not grounded....

A7N8X has issues with this and should or should not use the Paper wafers that usually come with new computer cases as part of the "Package"

And to make a point about an off topic....

The analog sound output is crap.... what is happening is the Digital to Analog coversion. If you used a Digital converter, maybe included in a Dobly speaker set, you will notice Audigy 2 quality with the Coaxil Digital output...SAVING roughly 80-120 Dollars!!!! So don't under estimate the quality of the nforce chipset. At least version 2.

oh by the way the Sound chip is call SoundStorm. By far the best chip around in my opinion, till Audigy 3 comes in with a DIFFERENT CHIP.

Also using the digital portion gives back all the resources any pci card would take up and any pci latency would be practically null if you're not hogging the CPU entirely by encoding video.

I'm not a complete expert, but i've been reading alot about it, since i have the same board! and have had some of your problems.

If you search AMDFORUMS . COM you will find an ASUS section about everything you ever wanted to know. I'm sure if you search there again, you'll find SB stuff too...

hope that helps a little

---

Well when i installed the MB I did use the little red round gaskets on all the screws on the board.

Quote:

---

The analog sound output is crap.... what is happening is the Digital to Analog coversion. If you used a Digital converter, maybe included in a Dobly speaker set, you will notice Audigy 2 quality with the Coaxil Digital output...SAVING roughly 80-120 Dollars!!!! So don't under estimate the quality of the nforce chipset. At least version 2.

---

I don't understand this. Please clarify. Are you speaking about my onboard sound? I do not have a Coaxial Digital Output on my motherboards onboard sound. Just analog. Or are you saying that I should buy digital speakers to plug into my audigy 2? That would cost me an extra 80-120 not save me.

In general I don't understand your post.

-Eric

Part 1- So you've used the space washers, see if removing them helps. I've heard from other forums that Asus says to put them on or off to solve that problem.

Part 2-
Ah bummer... you probably dont' have the digital out portion because of the non deluxe....

What i have from Asus is A7N8X- Deluxe.... The only difference is that some of the back panel you won't get ( Like the Digital stuff) but otherwise no differnce.

From what i was talking before.....
Soooo to add that digital portion you need to find a SPDIF Connector header that will lead from your mobo to the backside pci connector, and hook up something digital, that will eliminate all noise that would assiociate from the PCI or Analog. This is in your manual... and of course optional so you probably don't have it.

Asus sells this as an optional piece. should be around 15 to 20 dollars. but only to match up against a digital decoder or with digital decoder speaker set.

i know this isn't much help.... but you've done soo much now, you should test it with digital outs. But only if you have a digital decoder, say on a home theater system or with a speaker set.

Of course you could test this on a Audigy 2 card that has digital out. But you state you don't have any speakers that have a digital decoder. If you've returned all the Audigy cards and went out and bought a decoder or speaker set, it would be the same price spent for that Sound Card... maybe by 20 or 30 more....

I had the same problems..... hiss and crackle but now have the a Creative Digital 5500 and it solved everything. Plus it's a good investment to have a digital decoder.

I know you've been working on this and going down different paths, but this one worked for me. True i had to pay some money for it, but it was worth it not to ever have any hiss or pops, and also the finer sound quality coming from everything audio out from my PC.

I wish you good luck in finding other resources and answers!

-Jake :)

From all the tech's I have talked to in town said that a Digital Speaker system would not help me because the fault is in the soundcard and not interference in the cord of the analog speakers.

On just a whim I decide to put my Original Audigy 1 back in. But this time I did not upgrade the drivers. I just let Windows XP find it and use it's drivers. The snap crackle pop is 98% gone. The ONLY time it happens now is when the game needs my whole cpu but some cpu usage is being diverted to the desktop for when I am doing things there. I wish it didn't do that but I am not sure how to fix that. I think the creative issue is all drivers problems. I wish somebody local would carry something other than Creative soundcards other than the generic cheapo $10 ones.

Thanks,
Eric

Eric,

I think what the other guy is saying is that the problem is not actually related to interference from wires or cabling, but *IS* a soundcard problem - a soundcard problem which relates to the DAC (digital/audio conversion). Although I don't know much about this sort of stuff, I'd guess it would be done by software (i.e. drivers).

So what xycury is saying is that

(a) your local experts are right - it IS a soundcard problem (not interference);
(b) it is related to DAC, and so this is why different drivers give different results; and
(c) if it were possible to use hardware DAC (in a speaker set of home theatre for example) the problem may be completely resolved because it would no longer rely on software DAC which uses system resources (which could be why the distortion is worse when the system is busier).

As a theory I reckon it's a good one, but it means extra spending to test it out :( and it's only a theory - so extra spending might turn out to be in vain after all :( But as xycury says, hardware DAC is probably a good investment anyway...

HTH!
Dan.

Ok, I don't mind going to digital, I still have my Audigy 1 which I just plugged back in. But I have not seen a single set of Digital 2.1 speakers yet. Can you take the 5.1's and dumb them down to 2.1 by not plugging in the extra speakers? I don't have place to put anything more than a 2.1 system.

-Eric

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Locutus

Another possibility...

I haven't heard anyone mention this, but I had a similar problem a few years ago with my SBlive platinum card. I was playing Quake 3 and i would get strange sounding distortions whenever I would pick up armor. As some might remember the armor sound was rather complicated for it's day. Anyway, it happened consistantly and I never had any trouble when using my old SB16. I found that when i upgraded from my generic 300watt psu to an enermax 430 the distortion stopped.

So if you are using a generic or small power supply I would recommend trying a better one. See if that helps at all.


Tyler

---

I am wondering if you are correct. Tonight my cat had a problem and woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep so I went to play horizons but turned off the speakers. I was hearing this weird tiny snap sound, sounded like when you first turn on a Fluorescent bulb and they are snapping and crackling as they warm up. Sounded just like that but very hard to hear. I started to listen around and the sound is coming from the back of my computer. I just opened my case and listened and over the noise of my HD I could hear it coming from the top back end of my case. This sound is not one I have ever heard come from a computer before so I don't think it is a fan. Will go down to my local PC shop and buy a 400w. Need to upgrade anyway.

-Eric

Almost forgot, I also narrowed down the snap-crackle-pops on my sound card to so far one specific type of sound file. MP3's. I was listening to Realplayer playing some MP3's when it did it. I downloaded Winamp and played some MP3's and it did it as well. Every time it would pop in game it was the music and NEVER the sound effects. I was downloading their new patch and noticed that they use MP3's as their music. Are MP3's controlled by a soundcard differently than say a Wav? Horizons uses wav's as it's sound effects. I have never had the windows sound effects do the popping that I can remember. It has always been playing music from MP3's in every instance of the noise that I can remember but I don't have any other file types RA's or Media Player or Ogg's or any other sound files to listen to. I will download some MOD's and play those.

-Eric

an mp3 is of course compressed so needs un-compressing before it can be played, which is more work for the cpu or hardware codec on any s/c...

Just running Realplayer and IE surfing the web. I just did a check with this window open and Realplayer. The two together use 0% CPU usage until Realplayer loads a new song then it sky rockets to 100% CPU usage all in Realplayer. That seems a tad much for decompressing a MP3 to me. Just installed and tried it with Winamp 5.01. It uses 0% CPU usage during playback and loading maxed out at 5% CPU usage. Will have to listen to MP3's more often in Winamp 5.01 to see if it will do the noise. I had it do it in Winamp 3 I believe it was last time I used Winamp.

Forgot to mention that when the sound does crackle it doesn't necessarily do it at the begining of a song. Is it possible during the loading it could cause the crackle half way through or at the end of the song? Most of the time that I can remember the noise happens at least 1/3 into the song or later. I can go back into the song and rewind it and listen again and it is fine. Does the MP3 get loaded into a buffer then is rebuffered when you rewind the song?

-Eric

I'd chance a guess that not all the file is getting loaded at the start, when you replay it, its all already in memory ...

Eric,

MP3s are probably decoded on the fly. The heavy CPU useage is most likely not the decoding process, but the player "preparing" to do whatever it does. I reckon you're right about the buffer thing - the MP3 will probably be stored in a temporary cache or something so there is less processing when you play it again.

Did you have any luck with the PSU?

Dan.

Only 7:45am here so be a bit before the stores open for the PSU. On the MP3 front I remembered a hardware setting in Realplayer and checked it out, it was set to Best Quality under Playback Settings, I lowered this to Lowest CPU Usage now when it loads a MP3 it maxes out at about 35% CPU usage. This might fix the problem in Realplayer but I know of no command like this in Horizons. Will test it out heavily today in Real and Horizons. Will also buy the new PSU and try it out later today and let you know.

-Eric

Bought a Thermaltake 480W W0013RU W/O PFC Power supply. The clicking noise from the PS is gone but the sound still crackles while playing music. If you ever buy one of these Powersupplies have alot of cord ties available I have never seen SO many power cables. Filled my case full.

-Eric

Sigh, I am not sure what is going on now. When I downgraded my video card drivers and rebooted the BIOS beeped and said it couldn't find a keyboard. I just rebooted and it worked fine. I think I am gonna toss this board and gonna buy a Abit NF7-S board. Would buy the Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe but I am not sure with reading all of those sound issues with the Deluxe board.

The Abit board will allow me to lose my Promise PCI card and my Audigy.

Anybody have experience with this Abit board?

-Eric

Well before I go and buy a new MB I did some investigating on Asus's website. Found under their FAQ that installing the nVidia Unifide driver on the A7N8X could cause problems due to their tweaks they did to the nVidia chipset. So I have since uninstalled the nVidia drivers and am running the Asus ones now. Unfortunatly the game servers are down for a patch so will have to wait a bit to see if this causes any differences in either the sound or video issues I have been having.
http://www.asus.com/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=83982

-Eric

nothing is changed with the correct Asus drivers.

-Eric