Spotnik

My wife's computer has had an Audigy 4 in perfect operating condition for the past six months until this past weekend, when, we were trying to set up Nero 7 to record TV off the ATI Rage Theater WDMs, which it recognized and is supposed to be able to do. Somwhere during the setup process it it messed up our audio configuration to the point where even if you clicked the audio icon we got some error message -- we didn't write it down, but basically NO Audigy icon worked. By this time we were still getting sound, but we couldn't adjust the volume or anything.

So, we uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers. Now we get NO sound, well, maybe some faint sound. But after a second attempt at uninstall/reinstall. Nothing. The weird thing is that the device manager says everything is all hunky dory. What's weird, though, is that about this time we started getting those Windows messages saying that we were installing unsigned drivers, and did we want to continue. Usually this isn't a problem, but it's weird that Creative divers would get this runaround.

I tried an old soundblaster live card. No sound, no errors in device manager.

So, I went ahead with the uninstall/purge in safe mode w/driver cleaner and regcleaner and reboot process. No change. Device manager says everything is functioning properly.

The only other thing I can think of is that we had a power supply go bad the day before. I replaced it with a 400W antec, which should be plenty (even though the cheapie that went bad was a 420). Thing is, the card worked fine for a day after that and didn't start flaking until this Nero thing, but I got to thinking maybe it somehow got underpowered. That still doesn't make sense.

So, before we blow away the C:\ partition and reinstall XP, does anyone have any insights as to what could have gone wrong with this thing all of a sudden? Thanks in advance.

jiiteepee

Check, if the Audio service is running (start run... services.msc /s).

Aslo,
- could there be some conflict w/ Audigy and some other(s) (IRQ/resource) -> system information -> under Hardware Resources?
- some has fixed 'muted audio' problems w/ PCI Latency Tool (increase the latency for soundcard (to 64-128), decrease for graphic card and ATI decoder/encoder (to 64-128)
- check, if there are some driver problems using DPC Latency Checker -> if there are find/fix the issue by following instructions given on their site


jiitee

Spotnik

Thanks! Here's what I found:

--Windows audio service is running
--IRQ settings are not reporting any conflicts, however the soundcard is sharing IRQ 16 with the AIW 9600 card and the ethernet adapter. I do not know which IRQ it was on when all this started, however I have changed PCI slots. I think the original PCI slot--where it started mucking up--had it set at 18.

--Tried PCI Latency Tool. Now, Audigy was at 32, so I set it at 64. I didn't notice anything at first, so I rebooted (without "Apply on Startup" checked at first). Started running Creative diagnostics--now I'm starting to get SOME sound, but it's very faint. However, I noticed the PCI LT was again reading the bios default 32, so I reset it at 128 and checked apply on startup. Rebooted. Latency is reset at 32. However I'm still getting SOME sound, but it is very low volume. I cannot tell whether the latency tool had any effect because the latency keeps getting reset to it's original number without affecting its current state.

--Latency checker says everything is A-Okay and that I should be streaming audio and video with no problems.

--You don't think the change of power supply had any effect do you? If not, the timing is sure suspicious.

A couple of other observations--we have the Logitec 2300 THX speakers. They should be booming at mid volume by now, but they're not. However, at startup and shutdown we still get the familiar shutdown "pop" from the bass speaker--THAT sounds normal. But the other volume is just too faint. And it distorts if I turn up the mixer volumes to max. It's as though there were some other Master Volume Control or mute button buried somewhere on the system.

So--there's partial progress, but something still ain't right.

jiiteepee

What if you disable the ethernet card temporarily from Device Manager?

Also, by switching the soundcard into another PCI slot may give it (and for graphics card) an unique IRQ.

You can test the PSU by disconnecting say CD/DVD drive and Floppy Drive (if floppy is set to be scanned while booting, you may need to change this setting from BIOS to get faster booting up).
Also, if you have onboard devices/controllers (onboard audio/game/midi, modem, serial port, parallel port, etc.) that you don't need, you can disable those (from BIOS or Device Manager) -> this would free some more IRQs for other devices (less sharings).

Did you lower the PCI latency for graphics card & TV encoder/decoder (or are they same device).

Also, have you checked from NERO and ATI supports/forums, if there are similiar issues reported?


jiitee

dj_stick

it sounds like your hardware acceleration for the soundcard is not at full

__________________

Spotnik

No change.
Finally did that after following Creative's "clean boot/uninstall/reinstall] procedures, but the result was unchanged.
Actually, the only seriousl sharing or IRQs going one was the pile-up on 16 with the ethernet, AIW and audigy. That's gone now. 21 is shared by USB ports, which is the same on my othe system and seems standard.
They're the same, so it only shows up that one time. Again, the weird thing with the latency tool is that, even though I apply and save new values for startup, after I reboot it always reports the defaults. So, I can't tell whether this is having any effect or not. I haven't had a chance to go back to the site to read up on it more to see if I've done anything wrong.

Apropos of your next quote, I've gone to Creative, found similar, but not exaxctly identical reports, and filed an online report with them, describing pretty much what I've told y'all here. I have yet to find any forums for Nero. I can't imagine what Nero could have done to muck everything up like this since all it's doing is using someone else's drivers--it doesn't have any of its own that I know of .

Spotnik

Well, under Control Panel/Sounds and Devices in the Audio tab it's set to full. Both bars. Is there another place to check acceleration? You've got the right idea, though--it just sounds like something's not set to full. But all the volume bars are set to reasonable levels.

Robert McClelland

How old is your card can you get replacement on it?

__________________
"XTREME AUDIO IS CRAP!" "There no support for it. It's crapist card on face of the earth it should be throw into the sun"
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1949536385.png

Spotnik

As luck would have it, the card is 11 months and three weeks old!

Now, following our response from Creative's Tech Support, I plugged the card into a different computer and it worked just fine. Urrghh! So, I think this rules out the card itself as the cause. Hence no basis for a warranty return. Dang. I was hoping the thing would start smoking! The problem has to be either:

--a software problem not directly related to the drivers but something that no longer tolerates the SB drivers for some reason. The problem at hand is the consequence of flakiness that began when trying to set up Nero 7 to do video capture, and that started out with CL's audio software no longer functioning. Nero was uninstalled, but there doesn't appear to be any purging procedure involved with Nero, and in any event doesn't have any drivers of its own that i know of.

--or--

--all of my PCI slots went bad at once (except for the one with the ethernet card.) This doesn't seem plausible. The system is stable and reports everything as functioning just fine. The card is recognized in all slots and is reported as "functioning correctly." This same machine once gave us a rash of BSODs until a bios update came out, so I KNOW when this machine is unstable, and it's been rock solid for over two years of constant use.

--or--

--SOMETHING happened when the old power supply died and had to be replaced. By "died" I mean the fan quit functioning and it started giving off a smell. But, it was still functioning and there were no system problems. I went ahead and just pulled it out (yes, I unplugged everything first!) and installed a new PSU -- the day before all of this started, however all was functioning and behaving normally for almost a day afterwards. And, why wouldn't the video adapter, an ATI AIW 9600 pro be giving me problems since that's more of a power hog anyway. The old PSU was a 420W OEM no-name; the new one is a 400W antec. Yes it's a step down, but I've already removed drives to free up the load, and this has had no effect.

--or--

Something only a Microsoft or Creative labs engineer might think of--unfortunately, I am neither.

Tomorrow I think we're just going to blow away the C:\ drive and start from scratch. Seems like a waste, but at this behavior defies explanation and isn't responding to the usual troubleshooting checklists.

jiiteepee

Some PSUs just don't give out what is been promised.

Did you try by unplugging some power needing devices like floppy or CD/DVD (plug-out the power and data cable) ?

jiitee

Spotnik

Yes, I think I mentioned that somewhere earlier, but I've had it to where there were no CD drives or floppy drawing power. This is a ridiculous extreme to go to if it is the PSU, espcially since all of the above named devices are working just fine when plugged in. And, just how much power does a PCI soundcard pull, anyway? It's not something that get's plugged into the supply anyway. The devices that do are adequately powered when plugged in, so unless there's a problem with the supply to the motherboard (in which case I should think the MB would be doing even weirder things than this.) Not that I'm an expert on PSUs--I just can't see how a soundcard is going to tip the scales on a 400W PSU which, when this machine was originally built, was considered a mid to high end unit and 300W was a typical factory PSU (at least, that's what originally came with this machine until we decided to get a second hard drive--that's when we put in the larger PSU.)

Thanks anyway--I'll try anything that might get a result.

Spotnik

Jitee--you are vindicated! Sort of...

After a full restore of a one year old image, reinstall of drives and STILL low volume from the sound card, I had to cave in and conclude that it had to be the PSU, whether it made sense or not. However, I tried one more thing before buying a bigger unit and taking this thing back. Actually it was two things--in violation of the troubleshooters code of "never change more than one variable!--and one of them worked.

First, I powered down, and I unplugged and replugged the plug to the MB. Now, you'd think that either it's getting power, or it isn't. But at least I tried it.

Secondly--I plugged the computer to a different socket on the power strip. The reason I think this was what may have fixed it is because this machine powered down once spontaneously, oh so many months ago, and wouldn't power back up again until I plugged it into a different socket. I may have used the bad socket this time. At any rate, I plugged into a completely different, previously unused socket, and when I booted up the Windows Welcome fanfare nearly blew my eardrums off! I took that as a good sign.

I guess it's anyone's guess what was the actual solution. At this point. I'm just glad it's done. Maybe it's time for a new power strip! At any rate, after all of this mess I think we can safely conclude that drivers had nothing at all to do with it. And, yes, your power source can have an effect on just one little part of your comp's configuration, even while all else seems normal. Whew!!

Robert McClelland

well Rosewell Psu are very good I got mine aout 2 years ago it's 450watts I paid about 33 bucks at newegg for it

__________________
"XTREME AUDIO IS CRAP!" "There no support for it. It's crapist card on face of the earth it should be throw into the sun"
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1949536385.png