SpyMan

First of all, sorry if I wrote something wrong, english is not my primary language.

A friend of mine bought an Asus P5K-SE and since then I am suffering the consequences.

That's what happens: Every sound that is reproduced in the computer (windows sounds, music, games, etc) is transmitted through the microphone like if he has selected to record from Mixer instead of Mic.

We talk a lot through Skype, mainly to play online FPS and I can hear him (microphone) with no problems, but in background I can hear ALL the sounds that his computer is playing.

At first it sounded like a configuration problem in the onboard sound drivers, but looks like it's a bit more complicated. Here's a list of what we already tried, with no success:

- Changed every single setting in mixer (muted almost everything). Dozens of combinations.

- Uninstalled and re-installed many times many driver versions.

- Used the front panel connectors.

- Disconnected the front panel from the motherboard.

- Changed the headset.


Well, that's the beginning. Tired of all this and confident that it was an onboard sound bug, he bought an Audigy SE 7.1, and the problem persists, even in the new "offboard" sound card.

- Changed every single setting in Audigy's mixer.

- Tested more than one version of Audigy drivers.

- Disabled the onboard sound in the system BIOS.

- Formatted the system (Windows XP) and reinstalled everything from scratch.

- Formatted the system again, now with Vista 64, again everything from scratch.


Nothing, absolutely nothing solves the problem. We changed the drivers, the OS, the soundcard! And nothing changed.

I can't figure out what's the problem now, I tested everything that came to mind.

Another example: If I'm talking to him using Skype, and another person is also talking to him through Google Talk, I can hear the other person talking and I can even talk to the other person through his system.

If we are playing in opposite teams, I can hear what the opponents are saying in the other team.

The background sound isn't perfect, but is clear and loud enough that I can understand what the other person is saying.

Do you have any other idea that we should try?

Robert McClelland

Sound like you have bad Audigy card time get new one get one from audigy series 2 and up or cheap xfi music card you can do my mods better with it and get most out of them

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"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"

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SpyMan

That will not solve the problem since this happens with the onboard audio too, which has nothing to do with the audigy.

GigaWatt

then it has to be some kind of a problem with the motherboard, or the way the motherboard assigns the audio signals, or the OS and the motherboard combination can also be the case... try changing the OS, or the version of the OS... might solve the problem.

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It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

SpyMan

We already did it. Changed from XP 32bits to Vista 64bits, que problem remains.

[]s

GigaWatt

then i'm out of ideas... i guess it has to have something to do with the way the motherboard is routing (and handling) the audio stream... this would be my best guess...

have you checked on any other forums if anyone else has the same problem with that particular motherboard?

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It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

The1

Hi Spyman, first post here, so hello.
Sounds like your friends mic might be set to "sensitive" in Skype.
Move the slider towards "whisper" or "louder"??
Hope that helps.

SpyMan

I found another guy with an Asus P5E3-Deluxe-WiFi-AP with the same problem. Not the same board, but same manufacturer.

HELP! Asus P5E3-Deluxe-WiFi-AP. Sound bugged! - Hardware Canucks

SpyMan

The1, thanks for the idea, but that's not the cause of the problem. It happens in any application (Google talk, msn, etc) even if the mic is not connected.

GigaWatt

from what i read from the link you provided, it seems that the motherboard is the problem... the motherboard somehow (don't ask me how... ), is rerouting what comes out of the speakers to the microphone input, or any other input that the audio card connected to the motherboard has... maybe it's some kind of a short in some of the chips that handles the audio stream (since you mentioned that this is not only the case with the onboard card, but with your audigy card as well...).

if you have any other audio cards (just laying around unused...), you could try using them, and see if the same problem appears...

maybe a BIOS update could fix the problem... not a bad idea to try this... if it's hardware related (which by the looks of it, it is), a BIOS update (or downgrade) might be the solution to your problem... see if you can find any newer or older versions of the BIOS for your particular board, try the newer ones and see if the problem is still present. if it is, try the older ones and see if that changes anything...

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It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

SpyMan

He's using one of the latest BIOS for the board (we updated it in the first day with the MB), and since his CPU is an Intel E8400 I don't know if it's secure to downgrade de BIOS because I don't know which bios added support to this CPU.

We did another test yestesday: unplugged the headhone from the jack and kept the microphone connected. In this cenario, I could not hear any sound besides his voice recorded by the mic (correct behavior). When we connected the headphone back (we tested with speakers too) the problem started again.

I can be flying high here (I don't know if this expression exists there, hehe), but appears to me that it's like an interference that occurs when the current is flowing through some kind of track (or chip, as you said) that handles sound reprodution in the motherboard, because when a music is being reproduced in the computer, but there's no heaphone or speaker connected to close the circuit, que problem does not happen.

He has a third sound card there, a Sound Blaster 128 PCI, but he is now using Vista 64, I don't know if the XP/2000 drivers will work. We'll try it today and I'll keep you updated.

GigaWatt

it's really not a good idea to just upgrade (flash) the BIOS without testing if the CPU is readable under the old BIOS... have you saved the older version of the BIOS? if it is an Award BIOS, it usually prompts you if you want to save the older version of the BIOS before you install the new one. it saves the BIOS in a .bin file. if you still have the older version of the BIOS, maybe try downgrading the BIOS from your current version, see if the CPU is readable under that version and if it is, see if the problem with the audio card still exists.

the BIOS you have installed may have been a beta release... that is what might be causing the problem with the audio stream...

since you mentioned that the problem seems to go away when you unplug the headphones and the mic (as i understood from you description, your friend can't hear the music playing when there is a player on, but only when the headphones are unplugged), then try plugging in an amplifier in the phones output of the card, where you plugged in your headphones... amplifiers have a higher impedance than headphones (about 1000 times higher, sometimes even 2000), so the current that the amp will drain from the card will be 1000-2000 times smaller... if it really is a short in some of the chips (or buses) of the motherboard, the lowered level of the output current shouldn't make the same effect as the headphones did... not a bad idea to try...

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It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

SpyMan

You are right. With amplified speakers I can hear nothing when he plays a music, and if he unplugs the amp and plugs the headphones I start hearing the music immediately!

I found a newer BIOS at Asus website and sent to him, he will update it to see if something changes.

If that doesn't work, I believe only a new MB will solve the problem.

I'll keep you updated.

archmagus

Hi, I don't want to dig old threads up... But I will dig this one up, I guess.
SpyMan, did your friend or you found any solution to this situation? I just flashed into new BIOS on a Asus P5B - and it didn't help a bit.
I don't have to mention that I've got exactly the same situation here. I think those motherboard P5x lines are just broken like that. It's a shame actually, cause I always thought Asus was the one company to be trusted about quality.

Judas

i've used a pile of P5K-SE and P5Q-SE board with windows vista.

i download the latest Realtek HD codecs.... install them..

then go into the realtek audio manager and change the advanced settings so that the rear and front audio jacks produce different audio streams (this will eliminate confusion)

Leaving the rear jacks specially for speakers and the front for headset (or you could do it vice versa)..... you shouldn't have any form of crosstalk between them at all.

Just make sure to set in vista's sound devices, that the main speakers remain primary audio... and then make sure in other programs that they use the seconday audio device only....

Oh, and make sure to turn off mic boost, but make sure to also max out the volume sliders. MAKE SURE that "playback" for the mic is disabled as well.

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