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Before this mess, I had onboard audio, described in my motherboard manual with the following details:
-7.1 Channel Audio
-Complies with AC'97 Rev 2.3 specifications
-Six audio jacks with automatic jack sensing
-Supports 48KHz coaxial S/PDIF output
-EAX/Direct Sound 3D/13DL2/A3D compatible
So I bought the SoundBlaster Live 24bit soundcard (I know, I know...just keep reading). I just wanted to see if it would make a noticeable difference in my games or music. I stuck it in the bottom PCI slot and popped in the driver disk. The installs went great, no problems. Restarted my computer, expecting a wonderful chime as Windows logged on. What I got was STATIC. Constant static. I messed with all the settings there were, testing the speakers (old & generic, Klipsch Promedia coming for xmas) and nothing worked. I jiggled all the wires and put them into all the different inputs. The software said the drivers were installed properly and working.
I uninstalled the Creative drivers and went to the website to download the drivers there, thinking they may be more updated. Installed, same as usual. This time a slightly different result. Still static, but I could barely make out the song I was playing. It sounded about 5 miles away though. Ughh, so then I had to go download my old onboard drivers and revert back to onboard sound. I'm hoping maybe that my speakers are just too old and somehow just don't work with this card.
Another problem that I also have with this card being installed is that my video card's idle temp is 10 degrees higher! The fan on the vid card is pointing downward and now that the sound card is below that, it can't take in as much cool air. The sound card is in the farthest away spot possible.
What should I do?
(And don't say get a better soundcard because I'm not gonna).
-7.1 Channel Audio
-Complies with AC'97 Rev 2.3 specifications
-Six audio jacks with automatic jack sensing
-Supports 48KHz coaxial S/PDIF output
-EAX/Direct Sound 3D/13DL2/A3D compatible
So I bought the SoundBlaster Live 24bit soundcard (I know, I know...just keep reading). I just wanted to see if it would make a noticeable difference in my games or music. I stuck it in the bottom PCI slot and popped in the driver disk. The installs went great, no problems. Restarted my computer, expecting a wonderful chime as Windows logged on. What I got was STATIC. Constant static. I messed with all the settings there were, testing the speakers (old & generic, Klipsch Promedia coming for xmas) and nothing worked. I jiggled all the wires and put them into all the different inputs. The software said the drivers were installed properly and working.
I uninstalled the Creative drivers and went to the website to download the drivers there, thinking they may be more updated. Installed, same as usual. This time a slightly different result. Still static, but I could barely make out the song I was playing. It sounded about 5 miles away though. Ughh, so then I had to go download my old onboard drivers and revert back to onboard sound. I'm hoping maybe that my speakers are just too old and somehow just don't work with this card.
Another problem that I also have with this card being installed is that my video card's idle temp is 10 degrees higher! The fan on the vid card is pointing downward and now that the sound card is below that, it can't take in as much cool air. The sound card is in the farthest away spot possible.
What should I do?
(And don't say get a better soundcard because I'm not gonna).