Vista sound woes

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b1k3r4ck

n00b
Joined
Jun 5, 2004
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vista ultimate sp1
asus a8n-sli
AMD x2 4400+
2GB ram

This is driving me absolutely crazy. I started running Vista on this machine last June (2007) and everything ran fine until I had some issues with the machine and had to reload the OS in January (2008). Even then things were good. I believe the issues started when I installed SP1. I don't have an exact date unfortunately but I know I still have a problem.

I use this machine for pretty regular stuff like web browsing, e-mail, etc. The main purpose of it though is a "media center" for when I'm gaming. The issue I'm getting since SP1 is sporadic static when listening to music whether it's mp3 or a stream, winamp or wmp, creative x-fi or realtek onboard sound.

I recently tried a reinstall and things went great for 10 days. The system is still actually performing better than it ever has but the sound issue has returned. I don't want to rebuild and go back to XP SP3 but if the main purpose of the box is to listen to music and it's spitting out static all the time I've got no choice. Last night I tried the new Creative beta drivers and they were no help either. I'm hoping someone's found a fix for this but I'm guessing it's a Vista issue and I'm screwed til MS fixes it or releases Windows 7.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Sorry I was so longwinded.
 
Hmm.

When you reinstalled, did you do a clean install with SP1, or was it pre-SP1 Vista and then the service pack was applied?

I'm guessing nothing has been changed in the system around the time the problem came back, so perhaps the problem involves something in the update to SP1 process?
 
I reinstalled from a vista sp1 dvd. sp1 was integrated. I'm not sure why it was fine for a week and a half but it's back to the same old. I copied off the system drive with driveimage xml and I'm putting SP3 on now.

I've googled and googled and can't find anyone who's got a fix but I can find plenty with similar issues. Seems to be an OS issue. I really want to like Vista but it's not gonna fly when it can't even get audio right. Once it's been around a bit it'll be fine I'm sure. We'll all be troubleshooting the next version wishing it was as stable as Vista :p
 
Yessir, tried different speakers, tried the same speakers on my XP box. Possibly an issue with my hardware config and Vista on this particular machine but I'm not buyin a new machine to listen to music on Vista (the gaming and media friendly OS).

Kind of disappointing but it's all good. I'll just run Vista on a virtual machine when I want to mess with it.
 
It's an old thread I know but just to update this over the last couple months...

I did go back to XP and had no issues at all with sound for the 2 months I ran it. In July I read about a Vista update that fixed issues with stuttering/static sounds. I also got the news about the updated Creative drivers. I was missing Vista after using it for a year so I decided to put the image I made back on this system and then apply these updates to see what the results were. No luck. The periodic static while listening to music remained.

I put my XP image back but still wasn't satisfied. Then I realized I'd not yet tried Vista 64x. I did a clean install and so far everything seems to be working well. Not sure why Vista 32 bit was giving me such troubles but 64 bit seems fine. Crossing my fingers that I didn't just jinx myself cause the 32 bit was fine for about 10 days before it went downhill.
 
b1k3r4ck said:
I tried the new Creative beta drivers
I also got the news about the updated Creative drivers
Click to expand...

1) If you're posting a thread about your audio issues - don't forget to mention your audio equipment.

2) Creative sound cards have a nasty tendency to introduce all sorts of fun noise. Does it help any if you try muting the line-in or microphone channels?

Also check that your cables are firmly attached and that the sound card is firmly seated. I would check all that before hunting for a more involved issue.
 
ashmedai said:
1) If you're posting a thread about your audio issues - don't forget to mention your audio equipment.

2) Creative sound cards have a nasty tendency to introduce all sorts of fun noise. Does it help any if you try muting the line-in or microphone channels?

Also check that your cables are firmly attached and that the sound card is firmly seated. I would check all that before hunting for a more involved issue.
Click to expand...

He did mention his audio equipment.

Right in the first post (which hasn't been edited):
The issue I'm getting since SP1 is sporadic static when listening to music whether it's mp3 or a stream, winamp or wmp, creative x-fi or realtek onboard sound.
Click to expand...
 
I also use the realtek on my asus a8n-sli. I have a similar issue. my cracks and static come in at the end of an audio operation. so at the end of the sound it occurs. I am personally using the optical out on my mobo. and that gets fed to my razer barracuda, then from there it goes to my meridian dsp5000s. so I'm daisy chaining sound from one computer to the other. works well when your speakers only have one functional input at a time and you want sound from 2 computers at the same time.
 
ashmedai said:
Yes, and I quoted it. I was referring to this:



Do you need any more help reading my post?
Click to expand...

Yea sure, help me out all you can, because I'm seeing you trashing his thread about not listing his audio equipment when it's right in the first post. It may not be in the list at the top, but he definitely said what he was using for audio.
 
ashmedai said:
1) If you're posting a thread about your audio issues - don't forget to mention your audio equipment.

2) Creative sound cards have a nasty tendency to introduce all sorts of fun noise. Does it help any if you try muting the line-in or microphone channels?

Also check that your cables are firmly attached and that the sound card is firmly seated. I would check all that before hunting for a more involved issue.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify here .. I was just updating this thread in case anyone else comes across this post in a search of these forums trying to solve a similar issue. I like these forums because there's a number of knowledgeable people that can point out what I might be missing when I'm caught up in a frustrating situation like this.

While my solution might not be ideal (if it can even be called a solution to the original problem), someone else with similar hardware or configuration will be able to see that my set up works perfectly fine in XP and Vista 64 but not Vista 32.

I appreciate your suggestions but everything is a-ok at the moment with Vista 64. Using 64 bit actually gave me a reason to install 4GB of RAM on this box too. ;)
 
b1k3r4ck said:
Just to clarify here .. I was just updating this thread
[...]
I appreciate your suggestions but everything is a-ok at the moment with Vista 64. Using 64 bit actually gave me a reason to install 4GB of RAM on this box too. ;)
Click to expand...

Ah, missed this line:

Then I realized I'd not yet tried Vista 64x. I did a clean install and so far everything seems to be working well.
Click to expand...

Glad it's working, then! File the other away in case it acts up again, I suppose.

It's interesting that Vista 64 behaves when Vista 32 doesn't.
 
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