Popping in Speakers

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Popping in Speakers

joe in nantucket

4:25 am on Apr 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

Good evening everyone, I'm having a very annoying problem with my speakers. There is a constant popping/crackling noise coming out of both of them. This has happened with previous speakers so I believe it's not a problem with them, I have also changed sound cards, thinking it may have been a problem with the connection there but again, the sound persists. It's at the point where I can't listen to music or anything on my system.

It's just a 2 speaker setup and they are Logitech (can't remember the model number off the top of my head and their support was not helpful at all).

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

vincevincevince

4:37 am on Apr 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

This is often due to other components in the machine. In the past it was almost always the CD-ROM drive (disconnect the direct audio line from CD-ROM to motherboard/soundcard to find out. Now it is often the harddrive.

Go into your volume control application, use the properties menu option to view every single available setting, and then turn them all down to zero. Turn up just the one you want, and see if the crackling was coming in on one of the other available lines.

If you have something containing a USB soundcard, try that - e.g. a USB headset / phone handset or FM transmitter. See if the crackling abates.

joe in nantucket

2:26 am on Apr 19, 2008 (gmt 0)

disconnect the direct audio line from CD-ROM

I never connected the line because as I remember, the drive wouldn't open if it was connected, why I don't know, but it's not connected anyway.

Go into your volume control application, use the properties menu option to view every single available setting, and then turn them all down to zero. Turn up just the one you want, and see if the crackling was coming in on one of the other available lines.

I turned down and muted all the lines except for Play Control and Wave. Even when I mute all of them (including those two), the crackling persists. When I go into the Properties in Volume Control and the only device is my SoundBlaster Audigy 2. I can get the crackling to stop if I go to the Advanced settings and check "Digital Output Only" however, I can't get any sound if I do that.

If you have something containing a USB soundcard, try that - e.g. a USB headset / phone handset or FM transmitter. See if the crackling abates.

I don't have anything that has a USB soundcard. I do have a Haupaugge TV Tuner, I tried unplugging the cable and yanked out everything in all my USB drives, still nothing.

If it is being caused by my hard drives, how can I remedy that? I have 3, a 160 GB, 250 GB (both Western Digital) and a 300 GB Maxtor.

Thanks for helping.

kaled

10:20 am on Apr 19, 2008 (gmt 0)

It's either hardware or software. Since you've switched cards, if it's hardware it's most likely a faulty motherboard. You should try another PCI slot and also check that BIOS settings are correct. PCI slots run at 33MHz (I think) but if, for instance, you are overclocking the CPU maybe this is having a knock-on effect.

If it's software, then a device driver is most likely misbehaving. Try updating all the drivers (one at a time) from the manufacturer's website.

Also, most motherboards have integrated sound these days, so either try switching to that or ensure that it is disabled in the BIOS.

Also, these may be new speakers, but perhaps you're using the same faulty cable or the same faulty power connector, etc.

Have you tried plugging in headphones? That could tell you a great deal!

Kaled.

joe in nantucket

9:10 pm on May 10, 2008 (gmt 0)

I moved my sound card to another PCI slot and that seemed to fix it, thanks a lot, that was driving me crazy