Help me please ! Crackling noises using Audigy 2 NX card

What are your system specs?

My thinking is that since you are using a USB external sound device, your system may be getting slightly overloaded. If you have a laptop and/or onboard video, this is even more likely.

It could also be a power issue, though I still lean toward system overload.

Thank you for your reply :-)
My system is a desktop.
There is something I didn't mention in my first post : I recently upgraded my OS, from Windows Me to Windows XP. The card did not make any noise when I used Windows Me. So it can't be a power issue or a system overload.

By the way what do you mean by "system overload" ?
And how can I check if it is a "system overload"
And what can I do about it ?
Louis

Had that problem in the past. If I remember correctly, it was some kind of induced signal into the cable which I had running to my front sound ports. Do you have front sound connected? Also try moving the card away from your video card if it is in the slot right next to it. It was I while back that I dealt with that so I am not exactly sure what I did to fix it. But I remember getting it when I scrolled down web pages, or there was flash animation on it. But try rerouting cables or moving the card away from nearby devices.

- Yes, I have front sound connected (as required in the manual). With other connections (c/sub, rear) it doesn't work.

- Since the card is an external card, it is not in a slot near the video card.

- I also get the noise when scrolling down web pages.

I really don't know what to do.

Louis

P.S. I moved the card as far as I could from nearby devices.
The noises are still there.

Did you update the drivers? Since it worked fine in one OS and not in another my guess is that it’s XPs built in drivers.

Yes I updated the drivers, it's also the first thing I thought of.

I run my onboard sound (Realtek ALC850 chip) and I get cracking sounds, too. But not all the time. It seems to be random and usually is OK most of the time.

The reason I point this out, is it tends to say the problem is not "where" your card is, or "what" cables you use, but digital corruption in the Digital to Analog conversion process.

I imagine that this is a common problem from what I read, and it is similar in solution, or you're stuck with it, across the baord.

I've ordered a X-Fi Extreme Music and will be curious if I hear the same issues, and about as random, as I do now with the 16-bit onboard chip . I'll let you know.

Thanks for your reply but if it was digital corruption in the Digital to Analog conversion process, then it should also happen when I connect my speakers directly to my computer, don't you think so ?

What I meant by "system overload" is basically, too much going on for your CPU/RAM/FSB to handle.

Windows XP certainly requires more system resources than Windows ME. Speaking of which, did you do a fresh install of XP or an upgrade-install? I've had bad experiences with the upgrades in the past, so that may be something to consider.

When I asked for your system specs, I meant specific hardware inside your system  

Ok, I understand better.
So here I go :
Motherboard : Microstar Inc. (MS-6340)
Chipset : VIA KT133
CPU : AMD Duron 750 MHz
RAM : 384 Mo (256 + 128)
Graphical card : Nvidia Corp GeForce2 MX/MX400
Hard Drive : generic IDE disk 40 Go
I hope my translation of technical terms is correct.

I don't think it is a system overload because presently for instance (I type and listen music at the same time) 25 % of the CPU is used and 262 Mo of the RAM.

I made a fresh install of XP after formating the drive (actually I didn't do it myself, someone did it for me).

I still think that your system is getting bogged down... You said it happens when animations load on the computer, right? I.E. when the system is under heavier load then normal...

Try updating all your drivers (especially for the USB sound card and the video) and see if that helps at all. Hopefully it's just software related.

I already updated my drivers for the sound card.

I don't know what you call the "video", but I also updated the drivers for the chipset VIA KT 133.

I also hope it's just software related, but frankly I have no idea about how to solve that problem.

By the way thank you for taking time to answering me.

Louis

You are more than welcome.  

By "video" i mean your VGA (Video Graphics Adapter) aka Video Card. For instance, I have an ATi Radeon x800XT video card. So if I needed to update my drivers, I would go to www.ati.com to do so. You should be able to find out which video card you are runing through the Device Manager in Windows. It's most likely either nVidia or ATi... I don't think the KT133 chipset had an option for onboard video.

Ok, so here is what I have :

Device Description : Device Type nVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 3DAccelerator

Device Description : Device Type nVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 MX) Video Adapter

I am going right now to the web site of nvidia to see if they have recent drivers for my card.

Louis

They have a unified driver set, so you can just download the nVidia graphics driver, install it, reboot and you're good to go.

Hopefully this will take care of the issue, as it will allow the video card to handle the animation and take stress off the CPU.

So I installed the driver, then rebooted. But nothing changed, still the same noise.

I chose the GeForce TNT 2 driver (other choice was GeForce Go 7800 GTX). But I didn't suppress any previous Nvidia drivers on my computer as was recommended because I couldn't find any.

This really looks hopeless to me.

Louis

Dude those old VIA chipset mobos were notorious for causing crackling with sound blaster lives. KT133 sounds very familiar to me as I used to meditate on the CL forums for a long time trying to fix my own crackling problems. I bet whatever was wrong then hasn't ever been resolved with that chipset and is giving your Audigy fits.

Can you test with a non CL sound card just for a point of reference?

Well, I don't know what you mean by a non "CL" soundcard.

But if I connect the speakers directly to the motherboard, there is no crackling sound at all.
I spent more than 100 euros on that soundcard to improve the sound. Funny isn't it ?

CL = Creative Labs

Thanks
Unfortunately it's the only sound card I have.

I'm pretty certain it's because of the relatively low spec of your computer that this is happening. For a start you don't have USB 2.0 which would have greater bandwidth for getting audio to the card.

Anyway, I used to have a Duron 1.1Ghz which was fine....for Win98. As soon as I installed XP on it everything went downhill.

Do you also hear 'slowdowns' of sound? That could be a sign that the CPU can't cope. Try and get an old Athlon 2000+ or something off eBay, that'll probably solve it.

Well, I can install a PCI /USB 2.0 card and see if things get better.
Thanks for your input

Actually the onboard sound card counts as a non CL reference. I am taking the fact that you get the static with the Audigy and none with the onboard sound as a very strong piece of evidence......you use the info as it suits you.

But what you mean is that it is hopeless ? Thay I shoudn't use a VIA chipset with a CL soundcard ?

I think that is exactly how many solved the issue, by eliminating either one or the other. I won't say that is the only choice as there may have been some fix that I don't recall. It's just that this was huge back in about 1998-99 and I don't think it was ever really ironed out to everyones satisfaction. I may be rememberring totally wrong but I don't think so.

I've used Creative Live! cards with VIA chipsets in the past no problems, so all is not lost.

However, you really do need to consider that your PC is way, waaaay outdated and that is likely to cause problems on it's own.

well there you go then. this guy has used Creative Live! (what is a Creative Live! card?) cards with via chipsets and has never had any problems. If that is not scientific proof then I don't know what is.

I just hope your PC isn't so outdated it starts shooting out gamma rays or virii or something.