I've got two X-Fi Forte's (had to buy a replacement because of a broken connector), and recently both have started intermittently making a horrible crackling noise through the headphone output. Not sure if crackling is the right word for it - kind of a rhythmic crack, crack, crack kind of sound. I've troubleshot it as much as I can, tried both cards, tried all the PCIe slots, tried different headphones, but can't seem to pin it down. Anyone have anything similar? I've read some threads about driver problems, but it just started happening a few months ago (with the same drivers), and I've tried re-installing the older drivers to no effect - and last night while I was fooling with it it was making the noise as soon as the system completed POST, before it even booted into windows, so I'm thinking it may not be drivers. One of the cards was very hot, so I tried blowing a fan on it, but that didn't seem to help either. Maybe a BIOS setting?
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Horrible crackling with X-Fi Forte
- Thread starter Forceman
- Start date
I'd try a different computer but the crackle could be to a dead op-amp which can be replaced. Also does your card have a heatsink on it or is it bare? I think the card generated more heat than Auzentech predicted causing premature failure on some cards.
No heatsink - I thought of that because the chip does get hot (so I tried the fan). Maybe I'll try to stick a little RAM sink on it tonight. Good thought on the op-amp, though I get the crackling on both cards, which made me think it might be something system related.
Dion
2[H]4U
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- Oct 2, 2004
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Its a known problem on all creative X-Fi chipsets. They just deny it. Stay away from Creative products in the future. I sold off my X-Forte never been happier.
Only problem is that I like CMSS-3D better than Dolby Headphone. But I ordered another Xonar the other day, so I'm just trying to limp through until it arrives.
No, this is one of the Forte's well documented problems. The caps die under heat and a rhythmic sound happens and is annoying as hell. You can replace the caps yourself if you like to DIY. Auzentech has a horrendous record dealing with Forte problems.
That appears to be what happened as it got progressively worse. Do you know what caps need to be replaced?