HELP - Is this my soundcard being a POS?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steven C \(Doktersteve\)
  • Start date Start date
"Steven C \(Doktersteve\)" <[email protected]> thought
that a good way to threaten somebody was to light a stick of
dynamite, then call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the
phone and say:
I have two hookups for my speakers (altec lansing, a few years
old. 4 speakers and 1 sub), i have a black and green plug which
need to be plugged in (i think) to the similar colored hookups on
the back of my soundcard. i will however try and rip out the sound
card (not literally lol) and try it with the onboard audio only.
Click to expand...

Usually onboard sound that supports 5.1 but has only 3 plugs (as my
Epox Ep-8RDA+ does) will make use of the line-in jack for the rear
speakers, and the mic jack for the center speaker.
 
If you can ideally arrange your cards depends on your motherboard slot/IRQ
assignment, weather your set up for PCI busmastering, if your bios is set up
as Plug & Play OS or Bios assigned, etc. What is your motherboard?

The chipset incompatibility problem the poster alluded to was a problem seen
a couple years ago with the Via 686a southbridge and was largely fixable
with patches and updated chipset drivers. I have had two boxes using VIA
chipset mobos and Live cards and both worked fine.

ugg
 
ugg said:
If you can ideally arrange your cards depends on your motherboard slot/IRQ
assignment, weather your set up for PCI busmastering, if your bios is set up
as Plug & Play OS or Bios assigned, etc. What is your motherboard?

The chipset incompatibility problem the poster alluded to was a problem seen
a couple years ago with the Via 686a southbridge and was largely fixable
with patches and updated chipset drivers. I have had two boxes using VIA
chipset mobos and Live cards and both worked fine.

ugg
Click to expand...

Ugg, I have a MSI KT3 Ultra motherboard.
Thanks for any other info you can give me in regards to the above mentioned.

Steven.
 
Steven C (Doktersteve) said:
I called the shop where i got all the hardware, and even though i
got the hardware (especially the soundcard) ages ago, i got some
over the phone tech support here at work.

The tech said that i should set up my PCI cards like this (from top
to bottom):

-AGP SLOT
-EMPTY PCI
-SOUNDBLASTER CARD
-USB EXPANSION (again, this doesnt use the pci SLOT, just the metal
mount)
-ETHERNET CARD

If it helps any of you (who have been really really really helpful
btw), this is my current setup:

-AGP SLOT
-USB EXPANSION
-ETHERNET CARD (card in use)
-ETHERNET CARD (card not in use)
-SOUNDBLASTER

So i will be moving up my soundblaster two slots, getting rid of one
ethernet card, and possibly the usb expansion which i dont use, so
why have it hooked up to the motherboard?
Click to expand...

I doubt there's much in it to be honest. It's the AGP and the closest PCI
that tend to share IRQs, but these days IRQ sharing really isn't a problem.
Having said that it's the last slot I populate. Also, leaving spae around
your vid card is generally good to allow increased airflow as the newer ones
at least get pretty toasty.
He said usually you want the AGP slot and soundcard to be one slot
away from each other to make sure there arent too many conflicts,
and soemthing about bandwidth that i dont recall.
Click to expand...

Well the bandwidth issue is moot... two entirely seperate data buses.
My friend who is a little better on the hardware side of things (he
comes to me for windows/software help alternatively) will be over
tomorrow morning, we will see how things develop.
Click to expand...

What problems are you having?

Ben
 
Steven C (Doktersteve) said:
I called the shop where i got all the hardware, and even though i got the
hardware (especially the soundcard) ages ago, i got some over the phone tech
support here at work.

The tech said that i should set up my PCI cards like this (from top to
bottom):

-AGP SLOT
-EMPTY PCI
-SOUNDBLASTER CARD
-USB EXPANSION (again, this doesnt use the pci SLOT, just the metal mount)
-ETHERNET CARD

If it helps any of you (who have been really really really helpful btw),
this is my current setup:

-AGP SLOT
-USB EXPANSION
-ETHERNET CARD (card in use)
-ETHERNET CARD (card not in use)
-SOUNDBLASTER
Click to expand...

Look into your user guide that you got with the MB.
In the guide to my KT3 Ultra 2 on page 2-29 there is
a PCI Interrupt Request Routing table.
To me it looks like the least interferrence should be on
PCI slot 3. Well it's worth a try at least. One of my kids
have a KT3 Ultra ARU with a Hercules fortissimo. Yes
I know it's a different brand but he has no problems and
the card is in slot 3. Otherwise just enable the onboard sound,
he had it for awhile and it was fairly good.
Oh and by the way he has a Geforce 3 Ti 200.
You could also send these questions to:
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar
Or check the forums here:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/e_service/forum/main.php
Or:
http://www.amdforums.com/

Good luck

lyset
 
Steven C (Doktersteve) said:
I recently have noticed that lots of 3d shooters I have installed have
problems with my soundcard.

I notice when playing that the games have stuttering sounds. it will
stutter, and its very annoying.
Its just 3d games though, games that use direct x heavily in particular.

I have:

athlon xp 1800+
512 megs 2100 DDR ram
geforce 3 ti 200
soundblaster live value 5.1

do I need a new soundcard? What can I put in there that has surround sound
and is a "value card". I dont need an expensive soundcard, just something
that works.

I think this must be a sound problem. I have my system completely updated
(newest drivers), and am running windows xp pro with SP1. I have disabled
hardware acceleration of sound in dxdiag, still stuttering.

I have basically done all I can think of to make the problem go away, still
stuttering though.

pls give me some ideas. this is maddening.
thanks alot.

Steven.
Click to expand...

well, the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 sound card is like $49.99 now at Best Buy
(standard price). has full 5.1 capabilities.
 
Actually, I notice this one hasn't been mentioned. Have you tried
downloading the VIA PCI Latency patch?

It's designed to fix cracke in Creative soundcards when coupled with a
VAI KT133 chipset, and it just might be what you're looking for. I
haven't ever had to use it, but it couldn't do any harm.

www.viaarena.com

Civilian Target

Thanks for the reply.
I am not using a pci card, that would be crazy of me when i have a perfectly
good agp slot.
So what i am hearing is that i may not be able to solve the problem at all,
really. That is a shame, i dont like ot hear that at all.

I will try and move the sound card around and as far away from everything
else as i can. I will take out one of the ethernet cards (i have two because
originally i was going ot use windows xp's internet connection sharing, but
decided against it, but got the second card for CHEAP...), and will take out
the usb dummy bracket completely as i dont use that many usb ports.

I really wish that there was a solution that wouldnt cost me alot of money,
but it sounds as if i just got a bad motherboard if it can't handle all the
data flowing through it, and is therefore causing the stutters.

I was considering going to a radeon 9600 pro, but if my current
configuration cant support a geforce 3 ti 200, what would be the a waste of
my money right now, wouldnt it?

Thanks alot again, and if there are any more suggestions, let me know, i am
willing to try anything!
Steven.


and you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life" - Northern-Irish proverb
Click to expand...

"Build a man a fire and you'll keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire and you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life" - Northern-Irish proverb
 
I think I tried that one. It didn't work.

Tom

Civilian_Target said:
Actually, I notice this one hasn't been mentioned. Have you tried
downloading the VIA PCI Latency patch?

It's designed to fix cracke in Creative soundcards when coupled with a
VAI KT133 chipset, and it just might be what you're looking for. I
haven't ever had to use it, but it couldn't do any harm.

www.viaarena.com

Civilian Target



"Build a man a fire and you'll keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire
Click to expand...
and you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life" - Northern-Irish proverb
 
yes, after i installed dx 9.0b, i went into dxdiag and turned down the
acceleration to basically nothing. i tried everything from full to no
acceleration, and find the problem still happens, but after what i
have learned in the past few hours (through this group and through the
tech guy i spoke to), it seems i SHOULD be able to get the Live
working though.
Click to expand...

Don't hold your breath. I finally took my Live 5.1 out of my system and
put in an old trusty SB PCI 16 until I can get a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.
I've had absolute hell with the Live and I will never give Creative one
cent of my business ever again.

I was getting looping sould hard-locks un both ME and 2k Pro. I tried
everything I could think of... every patch and update to no avail.
However, with the 16 in there, now I can play games all day long without
as much as a skipped frame. With the Live, I was lucky to run 30 minutes
in any program with audio, let alone games, which usually locked up
within 5-10 minutes.
 
So if i wanted a makeshift solution in the mean time, i could just
take the live card out, enable the onboard sound in my bios, and let
windows xp detect/install that as my primary "soundcard", correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, but you'll probbly have to have the sound chip's driver from your
motherboard CD.

I just want something that functions. i have been looking at spending
about $400 american at getting a motherboard/cpu upgrade package from
the oem store i do business with, and when that happens, i may just
stick with a motherboard that has good onboard sound, if it doesnt eat
too many cpu cycles like in the old days.
I was reading about how the surround sound on some of these boards are
impressive, some even supporting dolby 5.1.

still though, i will try and get my old faithful live working
tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Old, yes, faithful, no. Creative makes shit nowdays and it's all
overpriced for the quality you're getting. Get a Santa Cruz or anything
besides Creative. Their support stinks and they rarely update drivers, if
at all.
 
well, the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 sound card is like $49.99 now at
Best Buy (standard price). has full 5.1 capabilities.
Click to expand...

And that's *still* gonna choke on the VIA chipset. A Turtle Beach Santa
Cruz is far better and can be found for the same price range.
 
Steven C \(Doktersteve\) said:
So if i wanted a makeshift solution in the mean time, i could just take the
live card out, enable the onboard sound in my bios, and let windows xp
detect/install that as my primary "soundcard", correct?

I just want something that functions. i have been looking at spending about
$400 american at getting a motherboard/cpu upgrade package from the oem
store i do business with, and when that happens, i may just stick with a
motherboard that has good onboard sound, if it doesnt eat too many cpu
cycles like in the old days.
I was reading about how the surround sound on some of these boards are
impressive, some even supporting dolby 5.1.

still though, i will try and get my old faithful live working tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I highly recommend an nForce2/3 based motherboard if you're wanting to
go the AMD route. Sure, nVidia's video solutions are pretty junky
lately, but nForce is still awesome. The onboard sound is extremely
clean, crisp and capable [if you'll pardon the alliteration]. I'm of
the opinion that nVidia should give up the video market for a while
and concentrate on chipsets and audio.
 
In the bios

PNP OS to NO
Reset config data to YES > if your bios does not have Reset config data and PNP os is already NO change to YES

nothing in PCI #1


MSI KT3 VIA? 4in1s done?
 
I'm not so sure your problem is necessarily the SBL card itself (although
you could simply have a crummy card). Let me get this straight. Are you only
hearing stuttering with 4.1 speaker settings while playing 3d shooters? But
stuttering goes away when you switch to 2ch sound. And is this stuttering
happening when lots of things are going on and framerates are dropping way
down? Does the game video get jerky as well? You may be trying to haul too
much load for your rig's motor. Try lowering the "eye candy" and setting the
screen to 640x480x16 and see what happens. You may need more CPU and/or
vidcard for the settings you're trying to use. Also, you recheck that your
card's drivers are working okay with Dx by running the sound tests in
Dxdiag.exe

best-0-luck,
ugg
 
"Steven C \(Doktersteve\)" <[email protected]> looked up from
reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good,
the signs say:
yes, after i installed dx 9.0b, i went into dxdiag and turned down the
acceleration to basically nothing. i tried everything from full to no
acceleration, and find the problem still happens, but after what i have
learned in the past few hours (through this group and through the tech guy i
spoke to), it seems i SHOULD be able to get the Live working though.
Click to expand...

Well, you have similar system specs to me, same amount of ram, same
model video card and the same sblive value.
I don't have the crackling problem, even though I do have a VIA KT133
chipset. Iwill KK-266+R.

You are probably using different drivers though, since you're using a
different OS (I see upthread you mention you run XP, I run 98SE.)

The Live it set at Basic Acceleration (1st notch)

Make DAMN sure you aren't sharing IRQs, unless you actually have more
devices than you have IRQs.

I really wish MS would stop pushing IRQ sharing as they have never got
it working properly and likely never will.
Then again I wish there was a way to disable all the PnP crap; no I
don't particularly want Windows to guess what piece of hardware it found
and cram it on one IRQ with every other piece of hardware.
Bring back the damn jumpers, then you only have to read a doc or two and
set things up _once_ and it never changes.


Oh yes, in regards to the onboard sound, my Iwill board came with the
standard 3 sockets AND another piece for the other sockets, that plugs
into the motherboard and uses up a pci slot (not the actual pci socket,
just the backplane slot).
Yours may have something similar, though it might be optional (mine was
included).

Only reason I don't use the onboard sound is the actual speaker out jack
is damaged and I didn't want to be computerless for how ever long it
would take to get another board (had to be ordered in to the local shop
as it was)

Xocyll
 
ugg said:
I'm not so sure your problem is necessarily the SBL card itself (although
you could simply have a crummy card). Let me get this straight. Are you only
hearing stuttering with 4.1 speaker settings while playing 3d shooters? But
stuttering goes away when you switch to 2ch sound. And is this stuttering
happening when lots of things are going on and framerates are dropping way
down? Does the game video get jerky as well? You may be trying to haul too
much load for your rig's motor. Try lowering the "eye candy" and setting the
screen to 640x480x16 and see what happens. You may need more CPU and/or
vidcard for the settings you're trying to use. Also, you recheck that your
card's drivers are working okay with Dx by running the sound tests in
Dxdiag.exe

best-0-luck,
ugg
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.
I am hearing the sound whether i use 4 channel, two channel, or headphones.
the stuttering happens all the time, doesnt matter if there is alot
happening or whatnot.
The game runs smoothly , but the sound stutters. i can run the games nicely
most of the time at 1024x768 (no AA obviously), so i think it is like most
people said, a via problem.
I changed over to the onboard audio for the time being, and the games are
fine, no stuttering at all. So i have proof now that it is a problem that
only manifests itself with the SBlive card.

if i cant play "impossible creatures" with 512 megs of ram a geforce 3, and
a 1.5ghz processor, i will throw out my pc completely and just become a
console gamer lol.
 
JAD said:
In the bios

PNP OS to NO
Reset config data to YES > if your bios does not have Reset config data
Click to expand...
and PNP os is already NO change to YES
nothing in PCI #1


MSI KT3 VIA? 4in1s done?
Click to expand...


Yes, its the first thing i go when i do a fresh install of my os. i obain
all the newest drivers from the vendors sites (before i bother with windows
update and have to tell it NOT to use microsoft drivers) and install them.

i will try the changes to the registry later on.
Thanks again.

Steven.
 
I recently have noticed that lots of 3d shooters I have installed have
problems with my soundcard.

I notice when playing that the games have stuttering sounds. it will
stutter, and its very annoying.
Its just 3d games though, games that use direct x heavily in particular.

I think this must be a sound problem. I have my system completely updated
(newest drivers), and am running windows xp pro with SP1. I have disabled
hardware acceleration of sound in dxdiag, still stuttering.

I have basically done all I can think of to make the problem go away, still
stuttering though.

pls give me some ideas. this is maddening.
thanks alot.
Click to expand...
I had a similar problem with a Creative card - that the sound was somehow
"bubbly" in DirectX games. Tried absolutely everything to try to fix it.
Turned out (eventually) that tinkering with the PCI Latency setting in the
BIOS sorted it right out. That was an old ISA card though. I've heard that a
lot of people have had problems with the SBLive though.
 
I had a similar problem with a Creative card - that the sound was
somehow "bubbly" in DirectX games. Tried absolutely everything to try
to fix it. Turned out (eventually) that tinkering with the PCI Latency
setting in the BIOS sorted it right out. That was an old ISA card
though. I've heard that a lot of people have had problems with the
SBLive though.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling his problem is SP1. I put SP1 on a system ans suddenly
had all sorts of problems with sound corruptions, frame rate loss, general
system slowdowns...you name it. When I formated to get rid of SP1 things
were just fine. I have kept my system free of SP1 and have had no
reoccurance of any of those complaints unlike my file server which has SP1
and shows every signle one.

Skeksis
 
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