Optimizing your system for better sound performance
During audio play back, you may receive random drop outs, repeating sounds or constant distortion (hissing/crackling sound). All these symptoms (and any other degradation of sound quality for that matter) can mostly be traced back to system / BIOS settings that prevent your audio sub-system from functioning properly. In other words, if your system is optimised ("tweaked") for a specific task, the result might be that the extra bit of 3D power or data transfer speed to the drives uses up so much of the systems resources, that there is simply not enough left for your sound card to do its job as it should. Sometimes even the factory settings of certain PCs / Motherboards can cause symptoms as described above.
The following guide is separated into the following main sections. If changing one specific setting does not resolve the difficulty, it is recommended that you change it back to the previous setting, or the default setting, before proceeding with a different configuration.
General Troubleshooting steps
* Ensure your Sound Blaster card is installed in a PCI slot as far away as possible from components such as graphics card, CPU and hard drives.
* Ensure that the PCI slot doesn't share resources with other devices in your PC (mainly graphics card, drive interfaces, etc...)
* Remove all unnecessary hardware. Every device installed in your system uses some of the available resources, even if you do not actively use it.
* Tidy up all cables inside your computer as electrical interference may be caused otherwise.
* Ensure that audio drivers are up to date.
* Download and install the latest chipset drivers and BIOS update. The major chipset manufactures are: VIA/ETEQ, AMD/Nvidia, Intel, SIS. Ali Note: If you have a motherboard with a hybrid chipset consisting of AMD Northbridge and VIA Southbridge, ensure you download the latest driver package from your motherboard manufacturer.
Toggle the DMA access for your drives:
Windows 98SE/ME:
* Select Start - Settings - Control Panel then double-click System
* Select Device Manager
* Double-click the Generic IDE Disc Type (xx) entry found under Disc Drives and click Settings
* Check the box next to the DMA (Direct Memory Access), then click on OK
Windows 2000/XP:
* Click on Start - (Settings) - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager.
* Click on View and select Devices by connection. This allows you check which IDE controller the Hard drive(s) is (are) connected to.
* Locate your Hard drive(s) and double click it (them) to open its (their) property-sheet(s).
* This allows you to find which drive is connected as Device 0 or Device 1 (Location, see Image below).
* Right-click on the IDE Channel to which the drive is connected (in our example "Primary IDE Channel"), select Properties and Advanced Settings.
* Click on the Transfer Mode drop-down menu shown under the device number that represents the location of your drive. Select DMA If Available.
In addition, be sure to verify that the Hard Disk Controller properties in Device Manager match that in system BIOS, especially if your motherboard and its chipsets are dated prior to the release of Windows XP.
Reduce the the Hardware Acceleration of the graphics card:
Windows 9X
*
Right-click on My Computer
*
Choose Properties - Performance - Graphics.
*
Move the slider for Hardware Acceleration down 1 notch.
*
Restart the system; if necessary, repeat procedure.
Windows XP/2000:
*
Right-click on your desktop
*
Choose Properties - Settings - Advanced - Troubleshoot.
*
Move the slider for Hardware Acceleration down 1 notch.
*
Restart the system; if necessary, repeat procedure.
Change the resources for SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device:
Under Windows 9X, PCI Sound Blaster cards take two Interrupt requests (IRQ): One for the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device and one for the PCI Sound Blaster itself. Normally, the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device defaults to IRQ 5, 7 or even 9 whereas the Sound Blaster usually uses IRQ 9, 10 or 11, or whatever assigned to it. Occasionally this allocation may be reversed (for example when running Windows 98 with motherboards based on the VIA MVP3 Chipset which may not have the appropriate IRQ Routing Miniport Driver installed), or both devices may be allocated the same IRQ. This sometimes causes sound problems or may result in a malfunction of the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device.
To check the IRQ allocation:
Select Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Device Manager. Click on the Computer icon (the first icon in the list) in Device Manager to view the resource allocation for all your devices. If the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device either shares an IRQ with another device or takes an IRQ higher than the one used by the Sound Blaster, try to install the latest Chipset drivers (specifically the IRQ Routing Miniport Driver when using older VIA Chipsets).
In Device Manager select Creative Miscellaneous Devices, SB 16 Emulation (or Sound, video and game controllers, Legacy Device, depending on the card you have). Select this entry and click Properties. Click the Settings tab and select LPT Interrupt Sharing. This allows SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device to use the same interrupt as the Printer Port (Parallel Port, IRQ 7), which does not state a problem, as there hardly will be a situation where the Parallel Port and the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device are used simultaneously.
Changing/disabling ACPI configurations in Windows 2000/Xp
Disable ACPI in your BIOS Note: We recommend you check with the motherboard manufacturer for more information about performing these steps
Windows XP:
* Disable ACPI automatically
* With ACPI disabled in the BIOS, reinstall Windows over the original installation
* Disable ACPI manually
* Copy the install CD to your hard drive
* Edit the Txtsetup.sif file to change the ACPIEnable value to 0.
* Save the file, and then rerun the installation
Windows 2000:
* Disable ACPI automatically
* With ACPI disabled in the BIOS, reinstall Windows over the original installation
* Disable ACPI manually
* Start Windows 2000 Setup as an upgrade.
* Press F7 when Setup generates the following informational message: "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver" .
* Choose the correct HAL for your system fro m the provided list
* MPS Multiprocessor PC
* MPS Uniprocessor PC
* Standard PC
NOTE: You do not receive a visual indicator that auto detection is taking place when you press F7; proceed normally with setup until it is completed.
BIOS settings
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