Soundcard problem - clicking and popping

[[email protected]]

Hi,

I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS soundcard in my pc which worked fine
for over a year. But recently it developed a dreaded snap crackle pop
that I've been reading about on their forums and it seems like a
fairly common problem, but not an easy one to fix.

My computer is a Dell Dimension 4700

I've tried all the suggestions so far - moving soundcard further from
video card, lowering video acceleration, etc...

Nothing fixes it. The only thing that temporarily works is to shut
down the computer completely and reboot. Must be a power down to
temporarily alleviate the problem. But the clicking comes back. It
is worst on playing midi files, but it also pops when the system is
sitting idle, although not nearly as much as when playing a midi sound
file.

The thing is, the card worked fine for over a year, and I haven't done
anything to change my system that I know of. Sounds like the card is
bad, doesn't it?

Should I just go out and buy a new sound card at this point?

Would appreciate any advice on either fixing this problem, or
recommendations for good sound card.

I do a lot of recording my guitar through my PC and also need firewire
to upload video to PC.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[Richard Crowley]

> wrote ...
> I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS soundcard in my pc which worked fine
> for over a year. But recently it developed a dreaded snap crackle pop
> that I've been reading about on their forums and it seems like a
> fairly common problem, but not an easy one to fix.

I'd bet that you installed some kind of "upgrade" or
"update" or some new hardware or software. Have
you done *ANYTHING* to change your computer
since it worked properly? The word "anything" is
far more critical than you think.

Many of us use older cast-off computers for general
office computing, surfing the web, email, etc. and
keep the latest, newest system exclusively for audio
and/or video editing so that we don't have to deal
with these kinds of wierd interactions.

Maybe a good excuse to get a new Core2 computer
and use your current one for general purpose stuff?
:-)

[Abemeister]

If you have a second Sound card (motherboard (mobo) sound?), try it to
make sure that you don't have a mobo problem.

Otherwise, you may have a problem with the audigy. If you are using a
mixer, check your cables too. I don't like the audigy stuff, I use the
RME, Echo, or EMU pro cards with the RME and Echo on top. Emu is kind
of flaky too.

On Jan 29, 9:51 am, " > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS soundcard in my pc which worked fine
> for over a year. But recently it developed a dreaded snap crackle pop
> that I've been reading about on their forums and it seems like a
> fairly common problem, but not an easy one to fix.
>
> My computer is a Dell Dimension 4700
>
> I've tried all the suggestions so far - moving soundcard further from
> video card, lowering video acceleration, etc...
>
> Nothing fixes it. The only thing that temporarily works is to shut
> down the computer completely and reboot. Must be a power down to
> temporarily alleviate the problem. But the clicking comes back. It
> is worst on playing midi files, but it also pops when the system is
> sitting idle, although not nearly as much as when playing a midi sound
> file.
>
> The thing is, the card worked fine for over a year, and I haven't done
> anything to change my system that I know of. Sounds like the card is
> bad, doesn't it?
>
> Should I just go out and buy a new sound card at this point?
>
> Would appreciate any advice on either fixing this problem, or
> recommendations for good sound card.
>
> I do a lot of recording my guitar through my PC and also need firewire
> to upload video to PC.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Steve