soundblaster skipping question

[Aaron Collins]

hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks in advance for any help with this matter :)

aaron;

[Ricky W. Hunt]

"Aaron Collins" > wrote in message
om...
> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?

Does it coincide with disk access? Is you hard drive light blinking when it
happens?

[Ricky W. Hunt]

"Aaron Collins" > wrote in message
om...
> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?

Does it coincide with disk access? Is you hard drive light blinking when it
happens?

[Arny Krueger]

"Aaron Collins" > wrote in message
om

> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card

Specifically which one?

>and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?

Clean up any possible spyware, viruses, and/or file-sharing programs.

[Arny Krueger]

"Aaron Collins" > wrote in message
om

> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card

Specifically which one?

>and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?

Clean up any possible spyware, viruses, and/or file-sharing programs.

[Yuri T.]

(Aaron Collins) wrote in message >...
> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> thanks in advance for any help with this matter :)
>
> aaron;


I've seen the same problem. Do you know which model it is? It's
stenciled on the top right corner of the component side of the board.
I had problems with the SB0220 Soundblaster Live!. I then found an
SB0100 Soundblaster Live! and the problem went away.

This was using broadcast auidio software that also does real time
encode/decode of streaming MPEG audio. Loooks like a problem with the
driver.

[Yuri T.]

(Aaron Collins) wrote in message >...
> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> thanks in advance for any help with this matter :)
>
> aaron;


I've seen the same problem. Do you know which model it is? It's
stenciled on the top right corner of the component side of the board.
I had problems with the SB0220 Soundblaster Live!. I then found an
SB0100 Soundblaster Live! and the problem went away.

This was using broadcast auidio software that also does real time
encode/decode of streaming MPEG audio. Loooks like a problem with the
driver.

[Al Phillison]

(Aaron Collins) wrote in
om:

> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> thanks in advance for any help with this matter :)
>
> aaron;

Yes...skipping soundblasters ENTIRELY for audio
is a good thing...

[Al Phillison]

(Aaron Collins) wrote in
om:

> hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> thanks in advance for any help with this matter :)
>
> aaron;

Yes...skipping soundblasters ENTIRELY for audio
is a good thing...

[Aaron Collins]

(Yuri T.) wrote in message >...
> (Aaron Collins) wrote in message >...
> > hello, i just purchased a $20 soundblaster PCI card and when i play
> > mp3s, wmas, or online music, i get an unpredictable skipping. it seems
> > to happen every couple minutes, but is inconsistant. there are no
> > other pci cards on this machine. its a 1.8 p4 w/ 512 ram running xp
> > sp2. does anyone have any suggestions?
> >
> > thanks in advance for any help with this matter :)
> >
> > aaron;
>
>
> I've seen the same problem. Do you know which model it is? It's
> stenciled on the top right corner of the component side of the board.
> I had problems with the SB0220 Soundblaster Live!. I then found an
> SB0100 Soundblaster Live! and the problem went away.
>
> This was using broadcast auidio software that also does real time
> encode/decode of streaming MPEG audio. Loooks like a problem with the
> driver.


Thank you everyone for your replies. I looked on my card and the model
# is CT4750. I've narrowed down the skipping to network activity. if i
close my browser and email, the problem goes away. would it help to
buy a better quality card? i've never had this problem running cheap
sb cards on slower machines, so i didn't think it would be the card,
but i don't know. the nic card is the only other pci card on my
machine, maybe that has something to do with it. any help is greatly
appreciated.

aaron;

[killermike]

On 27 Nov 2004 22:11:15 -0800, Aaron Collins wrote:

>
> Thank you everyone for your replies. I looked on my card and the model
> # is CT4750. I've narrowed down the skipping to network activity. if i
> close my browser and email, the problem goes away. would it help to
> buy a better quality card? i've never had this problem running cheap
> sb cards on slower machines, so i didn't think it would be the card,
> but i don't know. the nic card is the only other pci card on my
> machine, maybe that has something to do with it. any help is greatly
> appreciated.

Could be related to an IRQ clash.

From the alt.music.home-studio FAQ:
http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amh-s-faq.html

In short, it might be worth trying the SB in another slot.

"2.4
Q - What is IRQ sharing, how can it be avoided and is it a problem?
A - PC compatibles running Windows can have this problem. Each PCI
expansion slot is assigned an IRQ number. System resources such as IDE
channels, AGP graphics, USB and Firewire also have an IRQ number. When two
system resources are assigned to the same IRQ, problems can occur. Typical
symptoms of an IRQ clash can include stuttering, popping sound or system
slowdown/crashes during audio playback/record.

Here is an edited version of a post that I made to alt.steinberg.cubase on
the subject of troubleshooting IRQ conflicts:

"Bottom line - IRQ sharing is supposed to be problem free on modern systems
but I've had bad luck when attempting it and I've heard lots of reports of
other people having problems with it.

On mother board implementations that I have encountered each of the PCI
slots is hardwired to an IRQ. Unfortunately, each of the those IRQs is
usually hardwired to a system resource too. So, it would seem that your PCI
slot 1 is hardwired to IRQ 11 and that the AGP slot is also hardwired to
IRQ 11. Moving the card into another slot should overcome this conflict.
However, bare in mind that each of the other slots probably shares an IRQ
with a system resource as well. For example, slot 2 might be on the same
IRQ as USB, which could cause more problems if you want to use USB and the
audio card at the same time.

There is often a page in the BIOS that tells you which slot is hardwired to
which IRQ. However, this won't help you resolve conflicts because when you
change the IRQ assigned to a slot, the system resource that it shares with
will also change (on every board I've ever used, at least). So, a bit of
experimentation is probably required. You could try going into the BIOS
setup and making a note of which slot is linked to which IRQ. On most
systems, there is screen that pops up after the POST memory test has
completed and just before the operating system starts to boot. This screen
often gives a list of IRQ assignments. I consider this list to be
definitive and the information in Windows' Device Manager to be less
reliable/accurate. This screen can go by too quickly so you could put a
blank floppy disk into the drive (which should produce an error) to keep
that screen up. [Update - I just discovered a neat little trick: pressing
the 'Break/Pause' key causes this screen to stay up. I had to press space
to get the machine to continue booting.]

"

So in short, technically, it may be possible to run more than one resource
on the IRQ but in practice, it often causes problems and is probably best
avoided. It is good practice to make sure that no two resources which will
be used during audio/midi recording occupy the same IRQ.

"



--
***My real address is m/ike at u/nmusic d/ot co dot u/k (removing /s)
np:
http://www.unmusic.co.uk
http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amh-s-faq.html - alt.music.home-studio FAQ
http://www.unmusic.co.uk/wrap.php?file=vhs.html - vhs purchase log.

[Aaron Collins]

killermike > wrote in message >...
> On 27 Nov 2004 22:11:15 -0800, Aaron Collins wrote:
>
> >
> > Thank you everyone for your replies. I looked on my card and the model
> > # is CT4750. I've narrowed down the skipping to network activity. if i
> > close my browser and email, the problem goes away. would it help to
> > buy a better quality card? i've never had this problem running cheap
> > sb cards on slower machines, so i didn't think it would be the card,
> > but i don't know. the nic card is the only other pci card on my
> > machine, maybe that has something to do with it. any help is greatly
> > appreciated.
>
> Could be related to an IRQ clash.
>
> From the alt.music.home-studio FAQ:
> http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amh-s-faq.html
>
> In short, it might be worth trying the SB in another slot.
>

thanks for the suggestion. unfortunately, i tried this and its still
skipping. and it has nothing to do with my network card. it skips when
the only app open is winamp/win media/musicmath. so i'm not sure if i
have to buy a new a card or what. it really sounds like more of an
issue with my mb/bus. i wonder if it matters that i used to have
onboard audio, but had to disable it and buy a cheap sb card due to
the fact that my onboard audio record input never worked. i went into
the bios and disabled onboard audio, and other than the occasional
annoying skip every 4 min or so, the pci sb card works great. i sure
wish i could figure this out.

aaron;