USB Putting out too much power for headphones?

[Guest]

So I have a GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard giving me a bit of a problem. I am running Windows Vista 64, it has 4 GB of RAM, ATi 4890 video card, and 2 TB of hard drive space.

The issue I am having is that my new SoundBlaster Arena Surround headphones don't seem to work on this motherboard. I disabled the on-board audio, I uninstalled the ATI HDMI sound driver, and re-installed the newest web downloaded drivers for this product. I even updated the USB 3.0 driver and Intel INF files through Intels website. Still the headphones cut out spontaneously.

This motherboard is marketed as pushing 3 times the normal power to the USB devices and a good friend of mine said that the problem I am having sounds like the motherboard is overpowering the USB headphones.

I've not tried reinstalling this OS since this is my primary computer at the moment and I don't have much of a problem not using these headphones. But it's just more of a constant annoyance that these headphones work flawlessly on my AMD system, my laptop, my netbook and my wife's laptop.

Does anyone have a clue to throw me as to what would be causing this stuttering/ jitter over USB headphones (with built in sound card)? Does this sound like a simple issue of "The motherboard is putting out too much power for the headphones"?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[bilbat]

Does this sound like a simple issue of "The motherboard is putting out too much power for the headphones"?

Electronics doen't work that way... Think of a supply of power as a water pipe. When something 'attaches' to that supply, it might attach with a drinking-straw sized little tube, or a garden-hose; whatever it will draw, in the way of current - it will draw - the size of the original pipe doesn't matter - unless it's too small

I'd suggest you run this tool:

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Usually, 'pops' and 'drop-out' are due to excessive depth of the deferred procedure call stack - the tool will check on this, and the page it's on will explain a bit about the mechanism. Once you've checked, post back for some suggestions about the possible causes...

 

[Guest]

Actually what had happened is I forgot that I had installed a updated audio driver and that was the mistake. I had 2 conflicting drivers causing the problem. So I uninstalled the updated driver and re-installed the original and it's working fine now. The way I tested it was kind of a pain in the ass. I used a Sata 320 gb laptop drive (WD Blue Scorpio if anyone is interested) and loaded XP onto it and then modified Windows Boot Manager in Vista to allow me to dual boot. Then installed all the proper drivers and tested it with some music (running Winamp) and some gaming in WoW and that told me it was a software issue and not hardware. So now I am dual booting and have everything just humming along nicely.

Good Attempt to help, Bilbat. At least you tried, so I am making you "best answer" although it didn't fix the issue.

Unrelated: Now this computer is running 3 WD drives. 1 Black 1TB, 1 Green 1TB and one Blue 320GB. I should be sponsored by WD now a days.

 

[Guest]

Best answer selected by GreeneMan510.

 

[bilbat]

Gotcha beat - 4 WD VelociRaptors in two RAID0 pair (alternating boot & swap partitions - four 'flavors' of seven, Xp32, Vista64, Debian Linux 32 & 64); two WD RE3s in RAID1 for data; and they're a damned good choice! After 'bout a year or so, lost an RE3 - took all of two hundred seconds on WD's site to: verify drive was bad, verify warranty coverage, set up CC guaranteed 'cross-ship'; two mornings later, drive appeared on my porch; two hours later, array was up & rebuilt - never a byte of data 'at risk' I p&m'd a lot about the relative price of 'enterprise' drives, but I'll buy 'em again in a heartbeat...

 

[vinceneil1]

Actually what had happened is I forgot that I had installed a updated audio driver and that was the mistake. I had 2 conflicting drivers causing the problem. So I uninstalled the updated driver and re-installed the original and it's working fine now. The way I tested it was kind of a pain in the ass. I used a Sata 320 gb laptop drive (WD Blue Scorpio if anyone is interested) and loaded XP onto it and then modified Windows Boot Manager in Vista to allow me to dual boot. Then installed all the proper drivers and tested it with some music (running Winamp) and some gaming in WoW and that told me it was a software issue and not hardware. So now I am dual booting and have everything just humming along nicely.

Good Attempt to help, Bilbat. At least you tried, so I am making you "best answer" although it didn't fix the issue.

Unrelated: Now this computer is running 3 WD drives. 1 Black 1TB, 1 Green 1TB and one Blue 320GB. I should be sponsored by WD now a days.

Greeneman...could please run me through this procedure. Im having the same exact problem & its been driving me absolutely crazy. These USB Headfphones have been a total nightmare!!!!!!!!

 

[bilbat]

You might want to try PMing him - thread's kind of old - may not get a response... If you will give headphone mfg & p/n, & board p/n, I can try to research fixes?

 

[vinceneil1]

IHome Lifetalks USB Foldable headphones IH-H410UR


Heres a quick run down of my issue. I bought a usb headphone set about 4 months ago. Installed em no problem, but every once in awhile when I would turn on my ITUNES, the songs would play at a higher pitch & sound warbled. I would close ITUnes & reopen or just unplug the headset & replug in & all would be fine.

A few days ago, I could be playing a song & the volume would just crackle really bad & just quit. Then it would play a song, but if I went to play something on Youtube, there would be no sound at all. Now, sometime when i go to play a song, Itunes wont even play at all.

Ive re downloaded drivers, service packs, updates, BIOS, EVERYTHING....& nothing will resolve this issue.

 

[vinceneil1]

Also, Im running Windows Vista on a Sony Vaio Model # VGN-CS215J

 

[bilbat]

download the 'DPC Latency Checker'; if it shows grief, sometimes the latest BIOS will clear up the problem; if not, you need to check your start-up programs, and drivers for the culprit! These days, it seems like every %$#@ thing you install has to put some POC (or two, or three) in startup - lessee, we gotta have an upgrade watcher, and a quick startup loader, and, um, an extra drive indexer (as if MS's wasn't bad enough), and, oh yeah, a monitor to tell us where your browser's been, so we can find more suckers to sell this ^&%$ to...

Another good tool is Glary's QuickStartup, which will allow you to 'see' (and kill) the (likely enormous) pile of crap your system is loading up your CPU with when (every time ) it boots...

 

[vinceneil1]

Bro...I Dled the DPC LC & it said EXACTLY what was wrong w/ my computer within seconds. It told me to go my device manager & disable/re-enable each & every device 1 at a time & Ill be damned it seems to have worked. I rebooted my laptop - went straight to the DPC LC & I have a clean bill of health. My ITunes are working fine. Hopefully my nightmares are now over.

NO SOONER DID I JUST GET DONE TYPING THAT & MY ITUNES JUST DROPPED OUT AGAIN. UNBELIEVABLE

 

[vinceneil1]

I have tried everything & I just cant figure out why this keeps doing this. Whats funny though, when I click on a song to play on ITUNES after the volume dies off, the song itself wont even play period

 

[bilbat]

You may have a bad driver, 'ring zero' program, service, or startup item. Can you post the screen for QuickStartup? It wioll give me a place to start...

 

[vinceneil1]

Sure....could ya explain to me what that is though

 

[vinceneil1]

sunjavaupdate
intuit sync manager
vaio registration
vwlasu -vaio wireless wizard auto launch ( But I have & use DSL)
ISBM.gr.exe
quicktime task
ITunes helper
ehTray.exe
VMpTtray.exe
Macafee Security

 

[bilbat]

Download the second item, 'QuickStartup', in the same post where I showed you the DPC checker... Run it, pull a corner of it down far enough to display the whole list, and post it here

...I have posted a tutorial on capturing and posting images, in case you've never done it, here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264718-30-capture-post-images-forum

 

[bilbat]

Sorry - had it open already and didbn't see the update - give me a bit, I'm doing a little gardening...

 

[bilbat]

Ok, garden dug up, lawn mowed, soil samples taken [:bilbat:5]

Here 'ya go:

sunjavaupdate - kill it! Once a month, or every other month, go to Sun downloads and check for updates yourself...

intuit sync manager - unless you are actually 'synching' to an online source, like a banking account site - kill it! Intuit Sync Manager overview

vaio registration - kill it!

vwlasu -vaio wireless wizard auto launch ( But I have & use DSL) - can't find decent documentation, but my guess is that this is a setup assistant - try system without it - if wireless still works - kill it!

ISBM.gr.exe - battery monitor/manager - keep it...

quicktime task - kill it!

ITunes helper - unless you're plugging in an iPod/iPhone/iPad - kill it!

ehTray.exe - tray bar process for the Microsoft Media Center - kill it!

VMpTtray.exe - Sony 'media sharing' bloatware - kill it!

 

[vinceneil1]

No Dice...I deleted everything that you said, rebooted my computer, got 30 seconds into a song & the volume died again. My latency checker gives me a total clean bill of health though. Whats weird though...even w/no voulme, there is still occasional crackling coming from the headphone speakers.

Thanks for all your help though, its sincerely appreciated. I just dont know what else to do.

 

[vinceneil1]

ALSO....before, when the volume would die, their is a green/orange on the USB adapter itself, to let you know if your in speaker or mike mode. Before, when the volume would die, the green light died as well. Now, it stays on. & just to be safe...I checked youtube as well....no volume.

 

[bilbat]

Only other thing I can find (which you've likely done, as it's in the 'quickstart' doc, except for my additions...)

Go to Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound. Choose the Playback tab, then choose C-Media USB Headphone Set. Click Set Default. Disable any others...
Next, select the Recording tab, then select C-Media USB Headphone Set. Click Set Default. Click OK. Again, disable any others...

Might try their tech support & ask if they have a newer driver - they don't list one on their website...

 

[vinceneil1]

Ive done all that, Bro. Its just the damndest thing. This is weird also....when I go to Sound in Control Panel, when I click on the recording tab, it completely freezes &becomes unresponsive. Its done this a few times now.

 

[bilbat]

When you look at it in DeviceMgr, does it come up with a generic 'MS-supplied' driver, or is it manufacturer specific? I'm just wondering whether 'pulling' the driver, and letting it 'be replace' by a generic windoze driver might improve things - but - Vista certainly isn't very 'slick' about its handling of drivers, like seven finally is...

 

[vinceneil1]

Nah...It comes up as C Media USB Headphone Set & Realtek High Def. Audio

 

[bilbat]

I'll hunt around a bit re. the driver issue - TechNet's down for maintenance 'till Monday...