ISA soundcards -- Are they worth it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ed collins
  • Start date Start date
E

ed collins

Hi, all

I have an ISA AWE32 SoundBlaster card and am wondering if it's the source of
my troubles.

When I play .mp3 files, I sometime I hear crackling sounds, dropouts and
sometimes a system crash. I can't decide if it's the SB driver or hardware
or Motherboard (Asus P2B, PII, 440BX chipset). The sofware used is
RealPlayer or Windows Media Player in both Windows 98 and XP (I have a dual
setup).

Has anyone had problems with their ISA soundcard? If so, please leave a
note. Any and all replies are certainly appreciated.

e.

crosspost to:

microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
 
Do you have any wireless devices ? Mouse, keyboard, etc. ?

Is this a recent problem ?

What changed between the time all was well and now ?

Post back . . .
 
It could be the source of the crash, I can't say if it is the source of
dropouts or crackling sounds as that can be issues with the source material
or the result of having the system volume control set too high and other
factors.

If you are concerned about crashes, check the Event Viewer. Open Control
Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for errors that
correspond to when the crashes occur, double click the message, the
information contained within may give a clue to the source of the issue.
 
ed collins said:
Hi, all
I have an ISA AWE32 SoundBlaster card and am wondering if it's the source of
my troubles.

When I play .mp3 files, I sometime I hear crackling sounds, dropouts and
sometimes a system crash. I can't decide if it's the SB driver or hardware
or Motherboard (Asus P2B, PII, 440BX chipset). The sofware used is
RealPlayer or Windows Media Player in both Windows 98 and XP (I have a dual
setup).

Has anyone had problems with their ISA soundcard? If so, please leave a
note. Any and all replies are certainly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Ed, if ISA slots are the slots before PCI slots, then many of us XPers
do not even have an ISA slot in our computer. & there are those of us
who have motherboards that have the sound built in - in my case it
uses well known inVidia chips plugged into recepticles in the
motherboard.

I doubt if the media player is your problem. But download and try
WinAmp. WinAmp is another free media player. It is my absolute
favorite for playing music. When setting it up, have it set to play
either all sound files, or at least specify MP3 & WAV files. Use the
equalizer on it & choose pre-saved "Max Bass & Treble" setting. Make
sure you click the little "on" thingy in the equalizer so it is turned
on permanently.

But just to plug winamp, it plays music better than the other two
major media players, it'll play video too if you want, it quite simply
looks twice as good as the others, you can choose between about 20
color schemes, you can shrink it down to a one line thick player,
which is very functional & still good looking in this state that sits
at the very top of your screen out of the way, it has the best
Internet radio display-stations filters, & it has something the others
do not - Internet TV.. Sure you could probably do an Internet search
& eventually find the addresses with other media players, but with the
I-TV it is all right there, displaying Kbps speed and everything.

D.
 
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