I recently removed the soundcard from my 2.8 Northwood system that was @ 3.6 so started using the onboard sound. But the onboard sound didn't work. I tried resetting the CMOS which reset my CPU back to 2.8ghz. To my suprise the sound then worked!

I tried overclocking again, but the sound stopped working again. So my problem is that when i overclock my intergrated soundcard (AC97 Realtek Intergrated Audio) stops working at all. Windows device manager doesn't seem to think it exists.

Any help on how to make sound work, or why it might not work, while overclocking would be much appreciated. System Specs are:

512mb Pc2700 Generic Ram
2.8 Northwood 400FSB Revision D1
MSI MS-6714 i845GE Mainboard.
PNY 6600GT

Thanks for reading.

QuantumSheep

I'm thinking that when you overclock your system, you're inadvertantly overclocking everything else on the motherboard. Maybe the AC97 chip can't handle this...

Check and see if your bios supports locking your PCI bus when you overclock your FSB or the like. I couldn't tell from a quick look at MSI's site but maybe someone else has the same board and can help you more.

GL and be safe.

Thanks man. I'll try and find an option to lock my PCI Bus etc.

I too have the same issue with my MSI motherboard 865PE NEO2-V(6788-050). My audio also becomes garbled as I increase the FSB via Corecenter. I have tried adjusting the Vcore and going through services.msc and ensuring the audio is enabled. Nothing works to enable the audio when the CPU is overclocked. As soon as I bring the CPU down to its default speed the audio returns.
When I click the volume control it tells me no audio mixers are installed. As if its not recognizing the audio driver.

I have emailed the MSI support team and am awaiting a reply.

em

Would you mind either posting their reply in here or forwarding the response via a PM on here, or forward it to my email address: electriccheese@gmail.com

Thanks for replying.

QuantumSheep

This definitely sounds like a motherboard issue and since I've overclocked my cpu plenty and never had this problem it's either MSI or just that specific board.

I hate to say it but if you were planning on overclocking why did you get an MSI board?

I didn't plan on getting an MSI board, someone gave me their old emachines thing and i decided to overclock it :-P. It's actually pretty quick considering it's a Northwood P4 with a Stock FSB of 400.

Here is the response I got from MSI support.
Hope this helps.

There were 2 issues here.
1. The most current in the issue concerning the audio cutting out when overclocking.

2. The second concerns the difference between CPU temps when comparing the BIOS temp and the temp from their software called "Corecenter" (thought I would throw that in as an FYI, you can read more about Corecenter from the MSI website).

End User
06/22/2006 Dear MSI team, I have recently purchased an msi motherboard (865PE NEO2-V(6788-050) and I am having trouble with the audio when I begin to overclock the cpu through corecenter. I am only able to overclock 1 or 2 mghz before the audio begins to gargle. As I continue to increase the FSB the audio eventually stops working altogether. I have attempted to adjust the Vcore and go through services.msc to ensure the audio is enabled, all to no avail. Have you heard of this before and do you have a solution? thank you!

MSI Tech.
06/22/2006 Dear Customer, Please next go out to the URL below and download and update the bios to the latest version. Which is version 6.2 just please make sure that you do clear the cmos right after the bios has been updated. Use the JBAT1 jumper to clear and make you unplug the power cord when clear. Then enter bios and load the Bios Setup Defaults set up boot sequence then save and exit. We have not encountered this issue with the onboard sound also will include the URL to download the latest sound driver do update that as well.
Thank you,
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/supp [...] 612&kind=1
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/supp [...] 612&kind=1

(They say they have not encountered this before, however, alot of aftermarket boards are purchased with overclocking intentions and if you google some of the error messages generated when attempting to adjust audio properties you'll get alot of hits)

End User
06/15/2006 The core center in the windows environment indicates a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius. When I go into the bios the pc health stats show a temperature of 41degrees Celsius. This is at idle. How do I know which one is correct? Under load they both show a different temperature as well. Which one do I trust? Thank you.

MSI Tech.
06/15/2006 Dear Customer, You want to go off the bios that would be the more accurate. The core center and the bios are well with in the temp range so do not be alarmed.
Thank you,


For me the next attempt will be updating the bios and updating the audio driver.
After that I may consider purchasing a sound card. I understand they can tollerate a higher CPU FSB adjustment.

Thanks for that mate, can you try it and tell me if it works, cos no point in 2 people doing all the work for nothing when 1 person can do it :-P

Sure, I probably won't be able to tackle this one until the weekend, I'll let you know how it turns out.
You may want to see if you have a bios update for your particular MSI model board.

em

I regularly do check using the MSI live update for updates, so far no update have had any effect on the sound....i think i'll steal my Soundcard back off my D805 rig. Stupid MSI.....

Well, I flashed the bios to the current version and reset the CMOS.
So far it appears the audio is working. I have OC'ed my P4 2.0 Northwood to 2.5 and the audio so far is working fine.

The bios update did not specifically say audio corrections were inclusive.
I pulled the CMOS jumper and reset it.
Reseting the CMOS may have done the trick in itself, not sure.

Anyway, I am seriously considering purchasing a sound card from newegg.
The onboard audio, at least for my motherboard sounds as if it has a metallic high pitch noise to it. It does not sound that great, :x : even with no OC'ing.

em

cheers mate, thanks for the help. I'll post back after i have updated!