Curse

Daedelous · Oct 20, 2008, 10:22 PM // 22:22

I have been playing GW and Factions for a at least a few years now, with little issues other than the random sound glitching of clicks and pops. Recently, upon upgrading my main systems sound card and speakers. When inside the game, sound just totally stops and sometimes comes back and sometimes it doesnt. When the sound stops, the control pod for the speakers displays no digital data, and even after exiting the game it still shows that. I have to disable then renable dolby digital live before my sound works again. It also has done the loud glitching with really loud high pitched squelching or just static. Other than that, everything else works fine. The new sound card i purchased is an Auzentech X-FI Preulde and the speakers are the Logitech Z-5500. I am using the Coaxial digital connection from my sound card to the speakers. I have dolby digital live turned on in the sound settings under game mode. I have the latest drivers for all of my devices under Windows XP SP3. This install was a clean fresh install, with just all the current drivers installed, directx updated to current version, configured and the game installed and all updates downloaded. I have tried the same with a fresh install of Windows XP SP2 and I get the same results. The sound drops out in other games as well. Any ideas and help would be more than appreciated and I have tried the different command switches with GW to see what might help, none of which made a difference. A side note, there has been a few days randomly when everything was running prefectly without any issues at all, even after playing for a few hours constant. Then the next day and its back to the same old mess. Thanks in advance.

Quaker · Oct 21, 2008, 01:58 PM // 13:58

You didn't mention what sort of sound system you had before. If it was "on-board sound", make sure that the on-board (or AC97) sound is disabled in the BIOS.

Daedelous · Oct 21, 2008, 08:15 PM // 20:15

The previous sound card was an Audigy 2 ZS, and yes the onboard sound and all related items to it have been disabled in the bios. The PCI slot the sound card is in isnt sharing an IRQ with any other devices either. If my system specs would make any difference, let me know.

Quaker · Oct 22, 2008, 03:21 PM // 15:21

There's always the possibility that the sound card is just bad. A bad solder joint on the card can heat up (or "warm up" more accurately) and open circuit enough to cause problems. Unfortunately, the only easy way to check that would be to replace the card.
Is Auzentech just a European Sound Blaster? I know you said you have all the latest drivers, but does that include the sound card?

At any rate, latest drivers or not, it could be some sort of driver conflict between devices.

Edit: one way to check for a "thermal" problem on the sound card is to spray the card with "freeze mist" when it stops working. If the cooling causes the sound to return, you likely have a bad solder joint. (Freeze Mist can be faked by using a can of "Dust Off" (or w/e compressed "air") held upside down while spraying.)
Also, you'll need to open the computer up, of course, to spray the sound card when it cuts out. If it doesn't cut out with the side off, that would be another sign of a "thermal" (A "thermal" is a term we used in the electronic repair biz for a component or connection that has problems when it warms up during use - it's not quite the same as "overheating", the temps don't need to be high, just normal.)

Daedelous · Oct 22, 2008, 10:13 PM // 22:13

I also put in a ticket with Auzentech regarding this issue and hopefully they will give me some idea of what is going on and if an rma would fix my issue. If it is driver related, then the waiting game is my only other option, which really sucks. My case is well ventilated with my back fans being an 120mm that pushes out 190 cfm, an 120mm fan pushing out 93 cfm ( mounted over expansion cards), 2 80mm fans pushing out 75cfm each. Just think its odd that it only cuts out when im trying to play games. It has cut out before with previous sound card drivers when i was watching a dvd in media player classic. But that has been at least 3 revisions back since that happened. Thanks again for your help.

ag3ntblak · Oct 24, 2008, 11:06 AM // 11:06

Might not have enough power reaching it or it's overburdened when you open a game. What are your system specs? Your current PSU might not be enough to run all your hardware.

Quaker · Oct 24, 2008, 03:10 PM // 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedelous

Just think its odd that it only cuts out when im trying to play games.

Well, when you're playing games is when the sound card has to use a lot of positional information and handle multiple sound streams. So, the card itself has to do more work, and the drivers use more of their code. So, it's not surprising that the sound card could have problems only when playing games.

Have you tried putting the sound card in a different slot?

P.s. I've dealt with problems in the past where on-board functions were not fully disabled by turning them off in the BIOS. But that was a few years ago and shouldn't be a problem these days.

Daedelous · Oct 24, 2008, 09:20 PM // 21:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by ag3ntblak

Might not have enough power reaching it or it's overburdened when you open a game. What are your system specs? Your current PSU might not be enough to run all your hardware.

The information requested is listed below -

Case: Lian-Li PC-V2000 Plus
PSU: Enermax Noisetaker 600Watt
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 CacheSocket 939 (110 Watt)
MOBO: Asus A8V
RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWINX 2GB Dual Channel DDR400 CAS2
FLP: 3 1/2" Floppy 1.44MB
OPT: DVD -/+R/RW/RAM/DL EIDE ATA-66
HDD: Boot Drive- 4 x Raptor 36GB SATA-150 Raid 0
Storage Drive- 250GB Maxtor SATA-150 (all connected to 2810SA)
VID: Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ 512MB AGP8x - 1 x 6-pin PCI-E power con.
PCI: Adaptec 2810SA 8-port SATA-150 Raid Controller w/64MB Cache
PCI: Asus Physx P1 Ageia 128MB - 1 x Molex 4-pin power con.
PCI: Auzentech X-Fi Prelude
FAN: Upper Mobo zone- 1 x 120mm Delta 190cfm (rear exhaust)
Blue LED 1 x 120mm Thermaltake 93cfm (above pci slots)
Blue LED 1 x 80mm Thermaltake 75cfm (cpu fan)
Lower HDD/PSU - 1 x 120mm Lian-Li 56cfm (hdd fan)
Blue LED 2 x 80mm Thermaltake 75cfm (rear exhaust)

Hopefully this helps make things easier for those reading this reply. Thanks again for any and all help, it is more than appreciated.

Daedelous · Oct 24, 2008, 09:23 PM // 21:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

Well, when you're playing games is when the sound card has to use a lot of positional information and handle multiple sound streams. So, the card itself has to do more work, and the drivers use more of their code. So, it's not surprising that the sound card could have problems only when playing games.

Have you tried putting the sound card in a different slot?

P.s. I've dealt with problems in the past where on-board functions were not fully disabled by turning them off in the BIOS. But that was a few years ago and shouldn't be a problem these days.

It is suggested from information i have read to make sure the sound card isnt sharing an irq with any other device(s). The only slot that doesnt share any interrupts is pci slot 4. All others share with some device, being integrated or other expansion slots. This issue has been a problem since i first installed the sound card, basically from day one.