Soundcard help desperately needed!
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Posted on Nov 15, 2008 02:28 pm
MykMallett
Member Since: Nov 15, 2008
Hi, Im desperate for some help and this place seems knowledgable:
My audiophile 2496 card is having some problems. There is a horrible crackling coming from my speakers. The speakers and amp are brand new and of a high quality and the cabling is all good... it defiantely is the soundcard.
Ive installed new drivers and for a small period that seemed to fix it. Then it will just randomly start crackling again. If I reboot, the problem goes, sometimes for hours and sometimes for minutes...its bizarre. Its not the bitrate of the music as I use have played direct from CDs.
Ive checked for any IRQ conflicts and there are none. I have no other PCI slots to put it into. The card has previously functioned perfectly in my old PC. Ive gone through every process thats running and altered the startup in msconfig so that there is nothing that I can find that would conflict with it. The onboard sound has been disabled, I have the lastest drivers and reinstalled them twice. I have also made sure that the buffer size it at a maximum.
Please Help! The crackling is driving me absolutely mental. The weirdest thing is that if I restart my computer it will go away, then at some point, could be hours or minutes later, the crackling will start again. Even if the computer has been left idle.
My spec is:
Shuttle SN68SG2 Black Barebone System - AM2 With NVIDIA GeForce 7025 Chipset
(www.ebuyer.com/product/131226)
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache
Sony DRU-190S 20X DVD±RW DL & DVD-RAM Serial ATA
Kingston 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Non-ecc CL5 Unbuffered 1.8V
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Socket AM2 2.6GHz
M-Audio Audiophile Delta 2496
Thankyou
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 15, 2008 09:44 pm What software are you using that you are getting the crackling with?
If it is in recording software it may simply be the need to use an ASIO driver instead of the MME driver which is the default driver it will use.
You want to use either the ADIO or the WDM driver so you can set the latency buffer up a little to maybe 128 or 256. This will help avoid any pops and crackles.
Your system looks like it should be up to the task of multi track audio so that is more then likely not the problem.
NightcapVeni, MIDI, ViciMember
Since: Jul 02, 2008
Nov 15, 2008 10:27 pm If I understand correctly from the specs, the system came with Vista? 2 Gig RAM would be kinda minimal.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 15, 2008 11:13 pm Ya, if you are running Vista it has a lot of crap that runs behind the scenes that can conflict with an added Sound card.
But another thought to try is to disable the onboard sound chip and its drivers. This can cause a major problem as well on the Shuttle MoBo's.
Nov 16, 2008 12:27 pm No its XP service pack 3. It was a home build so came without an OS.
I havent even got round to installing any recording software. At the moment its a playback issue, in any program - Media Player, Winamp, PowerDVD.
As stated, I have already disabled the on board sound card.
It is not sharing any IRQs with anything. The hard drive is running in DMA.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 16, 2008 02:20 pm OK, then you probably need to go into the Delta control panel and set it up to run ASIO or WDM drivers for sure. And check the buffer to see were it is at.
That is the most common problem with the pops and crackle is the buffer setting.
Also make sure it is not running set to 24 bit as most media files are at 16 or below and that might also cause the issue.
Nov 17, 2008 08:31 am Its definately running ASIO drivers. The buffer is at maximum!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 17, 2008 02:29 pm I'm wondering if the card itself has gone bad or is going bad then.
The fact it works after rebooting for awhile tends to make me think something is getting hot and causing problems.
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Nov 17, 2008 02:47 pm Hmmm, it sounds like you have a good grasp of thins in regards to ASIO, buffers, drivers etc. You may indeed have a bad card. You do not have a wireless NIC running do you?
Nov 18, 2008 08:37 am Ive got a usb wireless for the internet. This is a screenshot of my system temps etc, my soundcard control panel and a DPC latency check, whilst playing music that is crackling...
Just as an afterthought, when I executed the XPC tools proogram, the music did crackle a lot and the DPC spiked upto 8000 for 3 seconds. Whether this is significant I dont know, and I suspect not as its understandable that it would use system resources, but anyway.
With regards to the card, i have tested it in my old computer and it seems to work fine. How would I be able to check the temp? The Case it is in is very small and so it is quite close to the Nvidia heatsink...but the computer has never had an opportunity to get hot.
Someone told me that it might just be the fact it is Nvidia as they are reknown for problems. Could this be the case and if so, should I send it back?
Thanks for your help by the way, it is very much appreciated.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 18, 2008 08:41 pm It very well could be that things are simply too close. Not to discount the NVidea chipset being a problem but I have been running NVidea chipsets on a few boxes over the years with Delta 44 and not experienced any problems.
I am wondering if it is the micro form factor board and the fact it is just too close for comfort for the 2496 running next to the video card.
I guess one thing that might lead to sending it back and blaming the new PC is the fact the card worked flawlessly in the old box and only has issues that are exaggerated when the video or any processing runs a bit harder on the new one.
I guess if you have access to one other Pc to try it in and verify you could go that route. But I think the simple fact it ran well in the old PC and not in the new one would be good enough for me to want to try a different PC altogether.
Nov 21, 2008 09:25 am Ill give it a whirl in another PC then. Ive sent an email off to Shuttle to see what they say.
Cheers for your help
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Nov 21, 2008 12:04 pm I would also try disabling that wireless device, for some reason they cause grief in certain systems. I have a desktop and a laptop both running wireless and disabling on the laptop is a must.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Nov 21, 2008 01:31 pm There's a latency setting utility somewhere on the net, that can see what your devices want as far as re-fresh timing.
Often, video cards take very aggressive positions, as far as how often they're refreshed.
Here's a link I found, with DL:
downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951
I guess it's not refresh, but instead how long the PCI device gets to run, before giving the token to the next device.
Set your video down, so it's not so greedy, and it may fix your problem. I know it's fixed other's problems.
Also, with the time involved, it sounds like it could be a heat issue. It could be in the power supply as well. Open the case, and blow a fan at the innards, and see if it takes awhile for the problem to come back. That would let you know if it's a heat issue.
And, if you have another power supply (good one) you could try, that would let you know if it's a PS issue. PS issues are quite common, so it's always worth checking out before you go more aggressive on solutions.
Feb 21, 2009 08:28 am Hi. Here's a few basic tips for PC music (on XP):
1.
Go to My Computer / Properties / Advanced / Performance / Settings / "Adjust for better performance". Then, click the Advanced tab and under "Processor Scheduling" set it to "Background Services"
Click OK etc.
2.
Stop running any unnecessary background programs like anti-virus software particularly. In the bottom right of screen, you can usually right-click the icons and exit these programs.
3.
Disable unnecessary network connections while you are recording.
4.
In your recording software, increase your audio buffer size. This will reduce latency (The time difference between input and output) but this is only an issue if you are using MIDI sample software or live effects.
PCs are great tools for recording music, because so much software is available, much of it free! But you have to make it a "lean mean recording machine" - ie. Cut out all the frills!
I've used PCs for years for recording and they always need these tweaks first, after that you can look forward to problem-free recording!
PS. I would avoid Vista for the moment..
