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View Full Version : PC audio popping and crackling.

DaForce
12-19-2003, 06:59 AM
Hey,

When im playing games, occasioanlly every 10seconds - 30seconds my audio will pop or crackle fairly loudly. Very annoying especially when the volume is cranked. The other thing is that when the audio does pop/crackle most of the time the game lags/jerks abit when it happens. Some times its not noticable sometimes it is.

My computer details are below in my Signature, also having my computer overclocked or running at stock makes no difference.

Now, when im at my friends place, it doesnt happen at all. (I lug my machine over there for LAN nights) but when im there i use a fairly basic set of speakers so i only run my soundcard in 2.1 mode, at home its in 5.1 due to my speakers.

There are a few things i think it could be.

My computer, monitor and desklamp are plugged into an old-ish 4 port powerboard, and my speakers are plugged straight into the wall on a seperate power point. (the powerboard is plugged into a point about 3m away) So it could be bad power to either the computer or speakers.

I will try setting my Soundcard to 2.1 when using my speakers and see if that makes a difference.

But i really think it will come down to some sort of power fluctuation.

p.s. Its not a heat problem either as when i was at my friends place my comp was at the same temp as it is usually at my place.

Any thoughts?
stephen2002
12-19-2003, 02:39 PM
If the game lags/jerks when it occurs then you probably have something wrong with the software side of things. The fact that it is not happening in 2.1 mode tells me that it is a data transfer problem. A 2.1 mode requires less information than a 5.1 mode.

First upgrade the drivers to the most recent version. Then since it is a Creative card one thing you might try is reducing the PCI latency time in the BIOS.
DaForce
12-19-2003, 09:01 PM
yeah i was thinking that too. But the other day when i was at my friends place i still had it set to 5.1 and it was not doing it.
But i think you might be onto something.

You wouldnt happen to know where the PCI latency is in the bios of a Asus A7N8X or what it would be called.

Thanks :-)
singularity2006
12-20-2003, 12:55 AM
could it be that your speakers are getting old and simply don't handle as well anymore?
DaForce
12-20-2003, 01:21 AM
ahhhh "Logitech Z-680 5.1's" these are pretty new.....its not a problem with the speakers.

If it was it would not cause the frame rate to jerk when it popped.
CgFX
12-20-2003, 07:42 AM
Is it with one game or many? Sometimes you need to make sure HW acceleration is turned on for the audio (e.g. BF 1942)
DaForce
12-20-2003, 09:12 AM
Its pretty much all games.....XIII, beyond good and evil, simpsons hit and run, raven shield...just to name a few.

I remember it also happening on my 5.1 headphones as well.

And to test i switch my soundcard back to 2.1 mode and it was still popping.

I bought a new powerboard with surge protection and that didnt fix it, i move plugged the speakers into the same board with my computer..no difference....its really weird.

I will borrow a UPS from work and see if that fixes it..

Any other ideas?
CgFX
12-20-2003, 07:49 PM
If you are using the nForce Soundstorm audio of an ASUS nForce2 Deluxe mobo then upgrade your nForce drivers. Their was some resource related audio popping that was fixed in new versions of the nForce driver suite.
stephen2002
12-20-2003, 08:38 PM
If it is hitting your frame rate than it has to be a hardware/software conflict or something along those lines. Bad power usually wouldn't cause things to freeze up for a moment and then resume.

Did you ever find the PCI latency?
DaForce
12-20-2003, 11:33 PM
CgFX: Im using Audigy 2...as in my signature.

stephen2002: Yeah i though it was going to be a software/hardware issue as well, but then why would it work perfectly over at my mates place?

If it was a power issue, and if the power at my end of the house was not so great then if the power fluctuates to much it could cause popping...possibly. Although i dont see how it can be as my room is an extension with its own power circuit, and its own Circuit breakers.

PS I could not find the PCI latency, it appears i dont not have hte option to change that in bios, i even update to the latest bios, with no difference.
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