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I have the Intel D975XBX2 motherboard, aka the Bad Axe 2, and am now running Windows 7 64-bit. I think poor audio driver support is killing me on a lot of stuff. I am running the Vista 64-bit IDT 92XX 20001.0 drivers from Intel's official site, here, because they have not (and apparently will not) release Win7 drivers.
On some bootups, audio works fine. The volume control will work, iTunes and MPC-HC will play songs and video just fine, and so on.
On some bootups, however, audio takes a holiday, and the volume control, iTunes and MPC-HC will lock up if I attempt to use them. Games and anything that wants to play audio can be affected as well. The only solution is to reboot Windows, often many times in a row before sound works properly again.
On some bootups, audio will work for a little while, and then quit working and I must reboot Windows.
When I start up iTunes, an odd thing may or may not happen, seemly not dependent on whether audio is working that time - the audio will emit a bunch of clicks, which is (I think) ding.wav played about a dozen times in less than half a second. ding.wav is in the Windows Sound control panel Sounds tab, but I use the Windows Default sound theme, and the the only item set to to use ding.wav is the Fax error sound (and I do not have anything to do with faxes set up on this computer).
While in the Sound Control Panel, I noticed that "Play Windows Login Sound" is turned on, but I have never yet heard Win7 make a sound on startup, even when audio is working. Also, when I am logging off, especially after experiencing an audio problem, I get the "The following programs are still running: Explorer.exe Playing logoff sound" error, as described in this Microsoft Support article; their solution is not helpful, and it's obvious the problem is being caused by Window's inability to play the logoff sound at all.
Is my only solution to buy a dedicated sound card? That is a very unsatisfactory solution, and I'd rather buy a new motherboard instead.
On some bootups, audio works fine. The volume control will work, iTunes and MPC-HC will play songs and video just fine, and so on.
On some bootups, however, audio takes a holiday, and the volume control, iTunes and MPC-HC will lock up if I attempt to use them. Games and anything that wants to play audio can be affected as well. The only solution is to reboot Windows, often many times in a row before sound works properly again.
On some bootups, audio will work for a little while, and then quit working and I must reboot Windows.
When I start up iTunes, an odd thing may or may not happen, seemly not dependent on whether audio is working that time - the audio will emit a bunch of clicks, which is (I think) ding.wav played about a dozen times in less than half a second. ding.wav is in the Windows Sound control panel Sounds tab, but I use the Windows Default sound theme, and the the only item set to to use ding.wav is the Fax error sound (and I do not have anything to do with faxes set up on this computer).
While in the Sound Control Panel, I noticed that "Play Windows Login Sound" is turned on, but I have never yet heard Win7 make a sound on startup, even when audio is working. Also, when I am logging off, especially after experiencing an audio problem, I get the "The following programs are still running: Explorer.exe Playing logoff sound" error, as described in this Microsoft Support article; their solution is not helpful, and it's obvious the problem is being caused by Window's inability to play the logoff sound at all.
Is my only solution to buy a dedicated sound card? That is a very unsatisfactory solution, and I'd rather buy a new motherboard instead.