Audigy SE: Snap, crackle, pop / hardware not fo

You think you have problems... take a look at mine... all CL relavent... I have a problem that Dell says they can't isolate, and sware they will make Creative's problem if our next course of action doesn't resolve the snap, crackles and pops in games (like Flight simulator 9 and 0, and WoW). Yes,?integrated MB?Sigmatel drivers (merge between CL and another company) and PCI SB cards have the same problems... Snap-crackle-pop and the continual "SCHHHHHH..." sounds. My system is a Dell, which of course, gives me a little support, but not much. Please read... With tech support through Dell from India and Canada, my system, w/o CL cards installed creates snap, crackles and popping sounds in any 3D engine game (like FS 9 and 0, and WoW). Dell has no idea how to solve this problem, after installing drivers for DX, doing and IDE config, reinstalling my onboard Sigmatel drivers, changing the hardware acceleration and sample rates, simply unplugging and plugging back in the input jack leading to the speakers, trying a CL's sound card, like the Audigy SE (with its own problems much like what my onboard integrated Sigmatel drivers do)...etc. Now, to all of you experiencing CL's problems, I have already tried updated drivers, moving the card from one PCI slot to another (through all PCI slots), adjusting volume levels, tried playing a DVD (couldn't hear anything well from the DVD beacuse the volume, though maxed out, wasn't loud enough), tried a SB 5. Dell Digital (same problems), and the list goes on. My system:?OS: Windows Media Center 2005Dell E50 3ghz P4 w/ ATI PCI hypermemory 256 video card(2) free PCI slots available after vidoe and TV out cardSigmatel integrated sound (not a 3D sound engine...they admitted that)2.5 gb DDR2 SDRAM, 400mhz?This isn't top of the line, but the next course of action from Dell is to wipe my system clean of WMC 2005 and install Windows XP Pro, at their cost, not mine (thank God for tech support extended warranty). At least then I will have CL driver's. After reading this post, however, and many on this forum, I find that CL's has not addressed the fundamental "problem". So, I wonder, after all is said and done, CL's hasn't really isolated the problem? What gives? It would appear the OS doesn't matter, so maybe the Chipset does? or is it the 3D sound engine? i am not a tech, and Dell tech support can't figure it out, either. So, any suggestions?

... and by the way, the cards won't even install with CL's software from the CD on to the system. The only way to get any of the cards to work, if at all, was to force the driver to work (going in and saying "I want THIS driver installed"). The software on the CD won't run (multiple cards...dell digital, Audigy SE, li've 5., etc) nor will the downloaded drivers EXE file run. When I forced the driver to work I got the "SCHHHH" sound, instead of the advertised "PERFECT UPGRADE FROM THE BASIC MOTHERBOARD AUDIO TO OUTSTANDING MUSIC, MOVIE AND GAME SOUND". In my case, the sound was no-more superior than a fart in space.

Similar Messages

Snap, Crackle, & Pop! Not the cereal but rather, Audio problems.

My 12 minute short has developed annoying audio Snaps, Crackles, and Pops. I saw a work around from a 2005 archived discussion that involves applying a blank title which works but now there is a pop at the end of each sequence that I insert.
Is there anything a bit more current as in, did Apple fix this audio glitch yet (not for me ...on imovie6). If not, is there an effect that I can set to last for 12 minutes so I can sync our voices to the footage of the animated characters and not have this distraction? Also, sometimes when I play the movie thru, the sound that is there gets out of sync with the video. I stop the movie and start up again and it corrects itself.
I have a maintainance program to repair permissions, dump cache, ect and have done that. Also re-installed the OSX software from a clean hard drive wipe and then upgraded to Tiger 10.8 (which the movie was created in). Any ideas?
G4 Mirror Door Mac OS X (10.4.8) imovie6 - Available HD 50.3 GB

My 12 minute short has developed annoying audio
Snaps, Crackles, and Pops. I saw a work around from a
2005 archived discussion that involves applying a
blank title which works but now there is a pop at the
end of each sequence that I insert.
Is there anything a bit more current as in, did Apple
fix this audio glitch yet (not for me ...on
imovie6). If not, is there an effect that I can set
to last for 12 minutes so I can sync our voices to
the footage of the animated characters and not have
this distraction? Also, sometimes when I play the
movie thru, the sound that is there gets out of sync
with the video. I stop the movie and start up again
and it corrects itself.
I have a maintainance program to repair permissions,
dump cache, ect and have done that. Also re-installed
the OSX software from a clean hard drive wipe and
then upgraded to Tiger 10.8 (which the movie was
created in). Any ideas?
G4 Mirror Door Mac OS X (10.4.8)
imovie6 - Available HD 50.3 GB
Hi, Can you apply a very quick fade in and or fade out on the audio clips that are generating the noise. This works with Avid Express Pro, not sure if this will work with iMovie but you can give it a try. Are you monitoring the audio from the internal speaker, headphone jack, or are you running it through a mixer / amp / monitors, you could just be "clipping" audio (signal too hot) or the problem may be from within your external audio gear set up ( a bad patch cable, etc ) Hope this helps.
Mac OS X (10.3.9)
Mac OS X (10.3.9)
Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Snap, Crackle & Pop :( Audidgy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - Plz H

Hi all,Im having some serious issue's with my Audidgy 2 ZS Platinum Pro...For the past week my sound card has?been SNAP, CRACKLE & POP with terrible noises thru my KRK?Rokits RP6SE studio monitors. I have tried a full uninstall of the drivers and software then a reboot and then a full re-install of everything that comes on the Audidgy disc and nothing i have tried has fixed the problem, i have not installed anything else on my pc before or after this has happened and no new hardware has been added either.Now i've had this problem many times in the last 2 years since i purchased this crap card but the problem has always gone away within a couple of days and has never been as bad as what it is now. I remember seeing a couple of years back on here about this same issue and it was at least 9 pages long with everyone saying the same thing about this?S/Card?and that Creative were working on this issue,?and i was hoping someone on here could point me in the right direction to rectifying this problem i have as all music production work is now at a stop as the noise im getting is to much to work with... This is the spec of the PC thats running the Audidgy....amd athlon 64bit 3800+ 2.4ghz processor?x maxtor maxline 2 - 300gb HDD x maxtor Diamond 0 - 250gb HDDGigabyte N-force 3 motherboard ( K8 Triton )Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs platinum pro - model SB03602 x pioneer 09 dvd/cdrw X 500watt ATX power supplyIm desparate to get this sorted as there are tracks i need to get finished asap....Any help would be more than apprieciated... ThanksRob Dj Benson...

Mate so far i have tried my soundcard on every slot in my machine, i have 5 slots and the only slot that will actaully recognise the card is the slot it normally uses, i've uninstalled and reinstalled, i've updated the drivers which was a waste of time, i've even cleaned the card and also where my PC is situated it is in a nice cool place, the room temp is actually cold, my pc is running at 33oC so theres no problem there with 5 fans inside it running it nice and cool. Temparature is not the issue, its these crap drivers that creative have made, my pc health is in very good condition and im running out of idea's on what to try next... i know its not an irq problem as i've checked that aswell so i dont think there is much more to check...
A reply from Catherine or Dale wouldnt go a miss seeing as they seem to be the know all and end all of creative products, sorry if im sounding like im having a dig here, im just fed up with all the crap that creative are coming out with over this issue and not attending to the real problem and that is a solution to fixing these cards instead of blaming N-Videa all the time.
This is the first week off work i have had in 5 months and so far i have achieved nothing in terms of studio production, i have spent the last 5 days trying to fix this bloody card and im not a happy bunny... I even signed that petition last night as a result of creatives lack of technical support, and im sure the other 8500+ people who have signed it feel exactly the same way...

I fixed my soundcard snap crackle pop is

hello, good news i hope for all. ever since i upgraded my system to a 939 chip i experienced the dreaded snap crackle pop. i use to do the restart thing, then the problem would go away. untill recently i formated my ide hardri've in to 2 80gb dri'ves for xp, the other to x64. my free comcast mcafee antivirus would not work for x64 so i deleted x64. i still have the the option in my bios for which os i want to select xp pro or x64. but who cares. i can hit my sleep button or hibernate button and i don't have to restart. no snap crackle pop. my specs are (a8v) motherboard, (x2 4400+ dual core) cpu-oc'd to 2.45, (crucial ballistix tracer) memory 5:3 3-3-3-8 @246 , audigy 2sz platinum. i hope this work for all. i am sure you can resize your hardri've to give you more gb back. i am afraid to mess with it right now. i would like to know if this works for others.

/ Im on an X58 build too, except I run Crossfire, my XtremeGamer XFI PCI shares an IRQ with 2 pci express roots, and 5, and 2 microsoft UAA bus drivers(my cards have HDMI audio controllers) I get the worst crackling in BF242 during orbital strikes...... have you tried to update to INF 9..0.04?Message Edited by Radnsmash on 04-8-2009 2:00 PM

Crackling/popping - constant, not just when watching videos

;Crackling/popping - constant, not just when watching videos' My setup is a Dell Dimension 8400 with Media Center (WinXP), Intel Pentium 4, 3.4GHz, 3070Mb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 video card, and an Audigy 2 ZS sound card.
After never having any audio problems, almost 3 months ago I updated the Audigy 2 ZS driver (5.2.4.96) to the most recent available (2.8.00), and immediately crackling and popping began coming from the speakers.
Although nothing has solved the problem, here are some things I've tried:
1) updating to the beta driver (2.8.00)
2) installing the old driver (2.09.006) offered at the Creative site
3) installing an old driver (5.2.4.445) found online
4) reinstalling from the original CD that came with my computer
Because I've spent so many frustrating hours since the disastrous update trying many different fixes, I can't recall exactly what happened during the update, and didn't keep good notes. However, my contemporaneous notes from that day mention (without context, unfortunately) some files that may provide a clue to more knowledgeable techies as to what has gone wrong:
ctac32k.sys
haP72K.sys
ctdnlstr.dat
ctoss2k.sys
This problem has consumed a great deal of my time, and interfered with my profession (musician). At this point I'm very frustrated, and would greatly appreciate the help of this forum.
P.S. I've created this new thread (message) rather than add a post to the "Static noise from soundcards encountered with Nvidia dual SLI" thread, because: ) I don't *think* that my GeForce 6800 is a "dual SLI" and 2) my symptoms are different, i.e., crackling and popping not just when watching video files or playing mp3's, but constantly, from first starting the computer.

Hi @Clairceg
Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forums and Welcome.Thank you for the detailed information very very helpful. I have looked into your issue about your HP Pavilion 15-n297sa Notebook and the popping sound or crackling noises. Here is a document on troubleshooting sound for the user profile that is experiencing the crackling.
Does this happen in the profile when they are listening to a CD?
What browser are you using? I would check to make sure the browser is up to date.
Hope this helps you.
Thanks.
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom to say “Thanks” for helping!

10.4.10 Snap, Crackle, Pop - a workaround

If you're suffering from the Snap, Crackle, Pop problem, here's a little workaround if you don't mind sacrificing some CPU cycles and know how to open the command line.
The basic strategy is to use mpg123 to play a silent mp3 file continuously in the background. By doing this, the audio subsystem doesn't have a chance to go to sleep, and therefore the pops disappear.
Open up a Terminal window
cd ~
mkdir nopop
cd nopop
wget http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/old/4second.mp3
wget http://www.mpg123.de/download/mpg123-0.66.tar.bz2
bunzip2 mpg123-0.66.tar.bz2
tar xvf mpg123-0.66.tar
cd mpg123-0.66
./configure
make
sudo make install
obviously you can change the locations to your heart's content.
The command below will play a 4 second silent mp3 file continuously until you log out. This means that the audio subsystem never goes to sleep, and therefore you won't get the Pops.
mpg123 -Z -q ~/nopop/4second.mp3
Perhaps one of you Cocoa programmers could package this up nicely for everyone else?
On my macbook, it'll cost you about 2% of your CPU, but at least you won't get the pops.
Any suggestions, improvements, feedback very welcome!
cheers,
Tony.

sure:
cd ~
# change the working directory to your home directory
mkdir nopop
# make a new directory called 'nopop' in your home directory
cd nopop
# make that directory your current directory
wget http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/old/4second.mp3
# download a 4 second silent mp3 file
wget http://www.mpg123.de/download/mpg123-0.66.tar.bz2
# download the compressed source code archive for mpg123
bunzip2 mpg123-0.66.tar.bz2
# decompress the archive
tar xvf mpg123-0.66.tar
# extract the files from the archive (creates a new directory, 'mpg123-0.66')
cd mpg123-0.66
# make the new directory current
./configure
# configure the source code so that it can be compiled on your mac
make
# compile the source code, ready for installation
sudo make install
# running as administrator, install the mpg123 utility (into /usr/local/bin)
If this is too complicated, I can make the mpg123 program and sound file available as part of a zip file - let me know.

Disable 24-bit crystalizer... and where did the snap/crackle/pop

For the longest time, I thought the crackling and popping was because of the CMSS3D Headphone option being enabled, but just for kicks, I tried disabling the 24-bit crystalizer, and poof! Where did the snap/crackle/pop go? It seems to be gone! I can li've without the crystalizer, after all there is really no way to make something sound better than the source. This gives me hope that it is a driver issue after all. I have a Rev A fatalty.

It is still there... you cant just hear it as good anymore.. i never have crystalizer on, i still got my rice crispies. So good if you dont hear it anymore.. but i know this wont fix it for many of us. I can agree that if i have cmss3d enabled but have MacroFX and Elevation Filter off, the pops& crackles are lower in volume.

Whenever I call my home phone, I hear a lot of snap crackle pop sounds with 3G active.

whenever I call my home phone, I hear a lot of snap crackle pop sounds with 3G active. If I turn off 3G, this stops. How do I fix this?

there is no fix. It's a GSM 3G thing. I used to be able to go to the movies and put my phone next to a movie theatre speaker and it do the same thing....
i just figured the newest 3G technologies did away with it

Snap crackle pop noices from iMac 27

Brand new 27" making intermittent snap crackle pop sounds around the speaker area.
Is it faulty electronics? I am planning on taking back to store for an exchange.
Does anyone else expereince this with a late 12/13 iMac?

Hello dawg,
im experiencing this one too.. bought my brand new 27 inch imac and then 3 days later i hear this crackle pop noise around the speaker area. it gets less when im on the imac for about half an hour and disappears pretty much from there on.i've wondered if this is caused by the imac's external case heating up? bu the applecare employees say this can't be the case. so if somebody could tell hifidawg and me if this problem is just because we have the first ones with baby sickness or what? really leaning t,.wards asking for a new one later on... now just wait and cee if more people get this problem..
let me hear from u plz,
srry for the english im dutch
grtz obi-k

Audigy 2 ZS Snap, Crackle, Pop and a c

I just got a new Audigy 2 ZS. My system is as follows:
Athlon XP 2800+
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro
Nvidia 5900
.5GB DDR
Altec Lansing 4. speakers
I have all the latest drivers and bios for everything. I've switched PCI slots and I've tried all the knowledge base action items. The speaker config is for 4/4. speakers.
I get crackling, popping and an occasional chirp with most applications:
Musicmatch Jukebox 0
Adobe Audition .5
Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 2005
Windows sounds
Half Life 2
I don't get the sound problems with some applications:
Creative MediaSource Player
Sid Meier's Pirates
Rome: Total War
Riddick Escape From Butcher's Bay
Half Life 2
I listed Half Life 2 because it is the clue! After installing the card, I got horrible sound from HL2. I opened the audio properties and the game was configured for 2 speakers. I changed the config to 4 speakers and the sound is perfect and amazing.
I went back through the applications, and the ones that work are driving 4 speakers, and the ones that don't are only driving 2. This looks like a straight up driver issue. If the application asks for 2 speakers only, then the card produces distortion.
If anyone can confirm this observation, then perhaps it will point toward a fix.

Thanks for the tip. I tried it and unfortunately it didn't work.
Since the card will produce clear sound when driving all 4 speakers, the card and speakers should be ok. I'm still getting the problem when any application is only driving 2 speakers. This one's a real head scratcher.

Audio issues, snap crackle POP - Leopard on MBP.

Just upgraded from Tiger to Leopard on the weekend. I'm noticing some audio pops from time to time when I use external speakers, either using "normal" external speakers or digitally through the optical out port. It's this loud, low frequency pop, simliar to:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4764288#4764288
Is anyone else experiencing this, or have any solutions?
Cheers,
Sameer

Same here. Late 2006 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac. Since installing Leopard I get an audible crackle/pop in my external speakers. It seems to occur every few seconds when there is no other sound playing from another app. When I'm listening to audio (iTunes, AOL Radio, videos, etc.) I don't notice the pop, but it might just be too faint to hear.

Snap crackle pop issue....fixed - audigy 2 plat/

My first post, Hope the title doesn't mislead/anger anyone, but i truly believe these solutions
are uni'versal and can be applied with just about everyone.
My card is almost 5 years old now or so... I've seen the frustration on this board about this
nasty issue.... i felt SO bad for some of you guys that i just had to sign up and share my
knowledge (or lack of!) for the multiple, possible 'fixes' to this. its not entirely CREATIVE's
fault and there is ways to fix it, you just need a bit of Patience and the willingness to learn
a bit more about your hardware if you arent too savy with tweaking it. this might of all been
said before, but i really hope this helps some of you.
Lets get the blahblahblah's outta the way just to be safe, shall we? Obviously, make sure your
card isn't sharing an IRQ with a cd/dvd device, or any kind of hardware that transfers a lot of
data constantly or uses a lot of power like a hard-dri've, maybe even certain gpu's. In my case,
my bottom PCI-slot (3/3) only shares an irq with a USB port and as corny as it sounds it did
improve the issue (i disabled that USB, but that isn't necessary its overkill/fail-safe
precaution, probably doesn't even help at all, paranoia setting). download Si-Software Sandra to
see exactly what belongs to where and what irq is being shared with what. Also before i forget,
clean out your dri'ves with bleach/acid/napalm with a program such as Drivercleaner, just to be
safe, right?
If you have anything on your Motherboard that's VIA/raid related, its imperati've you upgrade the
drivers for it, it could very well be your single solution, for example the latest via_hyperion
pro_v5a.zip did it for me and my particular setup just recently after a small hardware upgrade.
this fixed the MAJORITY of the pops in several different machines with these motherboards as well
i might add. Also make sure the Cable is newer than 2 years old, dirty worn cables can
cripple/weird out any piece of hardware, that goes for HD's, CD roms, ...anything that uses
IDE/serial cables etc. lots of people toss their dvd/cd roms out thinking they've used its
life-span, when a brand new ide cable is all it really needed. but... this VIA/raid driver
problem seems to be a pretty common fix in my experiences.
Gamers who suffer from "sudden" or "random" pops here and there while gaming......... with time
will notice this occurs usually when the HD is seeking a lot of info and is under a decent amount
of stress, OBLIVION is a good example of the HD being as important as ram/cpu/gpu IMO. that's
why....... "it seems to do it more (pops/cracks) with certain games than others". ACOUSTIC
MANAGEMENT is Often to blame for this in My opinion, and some maxtor dri'ves come with this
enabled from the factory (why, why why?!! ...die die die!!!). Imagine setting the In-game HD
cache setting Tweak for obilivion enabled to , + Acoustic managementenabled....it turns
preformance into a bloody mess, and will (possibly, most likely?) crack annoyingly often whenever
a new area is being loaded and sufficient data is being called, not to mention make a less
experienced gamer think his machine is completely screwed for no reason. Acousitc Mangemtn
enabled on a hard-dri've can be suicidal for certain games and will almost guarantee preformance
issues, cracks, burns, bruises, broken bones, stab wounds.....and most likely the lovely POPS...
the nasty loud firecracker ones...it can be so bad to the point where many of us will not even
play anymore out of frustration, especially for you audiophiles... leaving us angry and desperate
for a fix. Acoustic management CRIPPLES performance and destroys seek-time, that i AM sure of,
so fix it anyway for your own good, unless you don't care for performance. Please, get rid of
this nasty, possibly/commonly built in feature that turns a 7200rpm dri've into a 5400rpm (ouch),
make SURE this is disabled for you maxtor/seagate HD owners who play games or just want better
performance period. You'll have to google those instructions, I wouldnt dare say more.
On a separate machine, "tad in" and "cd audio" had to be muted to stop a lot of it, as well as EAX
effects (i know you love eax, but its worth the sacrifice) slider turned DOWN to 0% even when disabled.
this may not be necessary for everyone, but a lot of us suffer from those soft "echoey crackles"
and its a quick fix. im sure you've all read this "solution" 5 billion times, but it doesnt hurt
to put it out there. that, or dxdiag or control panel audio properties the slider to Standard acceleration, better to lose eax IMO.
there is no support or guarantee with this patch, and it supposedly doesn't support/work properly
with XP Servicepack 2, however this worked on my dads machine and a friends' as well. GOOGLE
"down vlatency", (not "download" vlatency) and click on the "georgebreese.com" link and try his
vlatency_v020_beta2.exe. this simply overrides some BIOS settings that many of us cant access
easily or at all, and boosts IDE latency and on a lot of different PC setups and gives more
juice to the PCI bus by editing how much the CPU will control the pci bus for, or something like
that. point is, its a redbull for your PC's pci related bandwidth/juice management and it cant
hurt to try (lets hope not j/k).
i don't recommend messing with IRQ assignments in bios or pci latency utilities unless you really
know what you're doing and consider yourself a power user, just a personal opinion, 32 is fine
and a lot of people end up regretting messing with these settings.
there is also the "turbo off" setting (think there's a "patch" for that registry setting too),
but i seriously doubt it will resolve a users problem who suffers Heavily from this syndrome, but
i guess you could try it.
Last but not least, another "ghetto" fix that could improve your issue is killing your CMSS
feature. i have no idea why that setting always acts up (at least for my machine it does) and
causes rice crispies to go off.
Its 2am on a Friday, I've been writing for a while, and i really don't know if i was clear enough
with what i said, but no way im going back to read/correct cause ill be here forever. if you've all tried this before with no luck, sorry. i'm just trying to help if
i can, and if 2 single words out of this post can even spark an idea to help fix somebodies rig, its worth it, right?
Remember to never trust anyone with anything (especially advice) or put your hopes and dreams
into a randomer's advice (such as mine!), keep in mind I'm just an average guy with no
qualifications or credentials that could be wrong about EVERY single thing i just said, i could
be completely out of my mind for all we know, listening to me could very well make your PC
explode and set your house on fire....be warned!! haha that's my surgeon generals warning for ya. GOOD NIGHT and good luck!

Here's the link to the download:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/audioupdate2007001.html
Mac Pro 3.0 Mac OS X (10.4.10) 4GB RAM

Audigy 2 ZS - snap, crackle, pop

I know Creative cards are NOT the ones you want to use for professional audio, but I'm a gamer, too, so I bought this card primarily for gaming purposes.
I've used multiple Creative drivers and ASIO4ALL with no change in my problem. Samplerates from 512/96000kHz to 1536/48000kHz. Whenever I play a VST, I frequently get crackles in the audio. This work with all output ports, tried with different speakers and headphones. As you can see, I've tried everything basically... The crackles become more frequent and severe when I have multiple VSTs loaded at once. Samples crackle the same as synthesis. I've also used multiple VST hosts with no difference. Nothing seems to help.
This soundcard has become the biggest headache of my life. Does anyone experience this problem and know how to deal with it, other than simply buying a professional audio card from M-Audio or some other company?
Edit: I forgot to mention the problem has nothing to do with my other hardware. I have an Athlon 2500@3200 and 1gb pc3200.
Message Edited by farren on 06-10-2005 11:10 PM
Message Edited by farren on 06-11-2005 02:47 AM

When I used Asio4all many moons ago on my SBLive, that's what I remember seeing; stereo in - stereo out. That's why I remained unimpressed with it. I found the kx drivers more to my liking because of the routing options and flexibility it offered.
Recently, I experimented with WDM on my 1820 to find out exactly how many ins and outs I would get out of WDM. Of course, stereo in only, but I was surprised to find that it now offered 8 outs! Since Asio4all is merely a WDM wrapper, the same would appear in your routing options. As a sidenote, I don't use WDM since I also have Cubase SL so pure ASIO is the way to go for me; I never once considered WDM or Asio4all. As someone recording multiple sources, having 2 inputs is severely limiting and since I mix in stereo, I don't really need multiple outs.
I guess it's my bad for not checking the present version of Asio4all; but then again, I don't need it 'coz the 1.8 drivers for my 1820m have finally been released! Now let's see what this baby can REALLY do!
My apologies for the confusion.
Message Edited by KitC on 06-15-2005 09:01 AM

Audigy 2 Value - Crackling/Popping/

Quite a few people have had a crackling issue in their sound, but nothing I've searched turned up a solution for my situation. I'll explain a few things that have happened to me since I've had this problem.
First of all, when listening to music or playing games with software rendering sound, there is no crackling or popping. This only occurs when I play games using hardware/EAX rendering sound. The popping noises usually occur on louder sounds like explosions and such.
I've had this problem for awhile, and now it's starting to bug me as nothing I do can see to fix it, however I don't know that the card itself is broken.
I had bought a new power supply because the existing one I had was old and cheap, and the crackling problem mysteriously went away. So I shrugged it off, and was happy. I recently went out and bought a Radeon X700 Pro to replace my Radeon 9600se, and it seems the crackling has returned. It's almost like it is caused by some sort of interference, but how can I fix it then? Because of this, I have a surround sound system that is rendered useless for gaming.
Current Specs
=============
Motherboard: Asus P4C800 Deluxe
Processor: Pentium 4 3.2ghz Prescott
Power Supply: 600w Ultra
Video Card: Radeon X700 Pro 256mb
Sound Card: Audigy 2 Value
Speakers: Altec Lansing 5.
If you see anything here that can cause this problem, please let me know. There has to be a way to fix this.
EDIT: Couple things to add. I've done the obvious things like moving the card to a different slot, or updating drivers to the latest.Message Edited by RatoN on -0-2005 0:35 AM

Well, I think the game with the most noticable problem is Half-Life 2 for me. Explosions sometimes come off louder than it should be with a terrible popping noise. It's just terrible.
The first time I had a crackling issue, I believe all games with hardware sound including Battlefield 2 and UT2004 were affected with the problem (The ones I remember off the top of my head anyway). This time around I tried Battlefield 2, Far Cry and UT2004, and it didn't have a noticable crackle. Only Half-Life 2 seems to suffer the exact same.
I'm not sure what you meant by the MIDI device and why it affects the sound, but switching that doesn't do anything for me.
EDIT: Okay, I just tested Half-Life 2 on the lowest settings and it appeared to help the crackle situation. HL2 did run at a more weaker frame rate than those other games I mentioned, but the frame rate was still playable anyway. I hate to think I have to reduce my graphic settings just to play with better sound.Message Edited by RatoN on -0-2005 :26 AM

MacPro Audio Snap-Crackle-Pop (macpro 6-core 3,33GHz)

Hi Everyone,
3 weeks ago i received my brand new 4500$ machine, after working for about 40 minutes there was this really loud POP/Crack trough the speakers, didn't think much of it at first but then after a while same thing happened. It really loud and scared the living daylights out of me...at first i thought it was a problem with my cables or amplifier so i started checking everything, changing cables, unplugging etc. even went this far that i went out and bought new cables but that didn't do me any good. started up my old computer and no Popping sound or weird cracks what so ever, so i took the computer to a friends house and plugged it on this his audio installation (Audio-line out) the same problem occurred after 20min. so without a doubt was it a MacPro issue.
to finally check i even unplugged "every" external device (amplifier,mixer..) and used the internal build in speaker just to check if it had the same issues, and yup same thing with the internal speakers there's this loud Pop also.
Caled Apple explained everything and the offered to ship me a new machine since this one obviously isn't working as it should.
i have received my replacement Mac Pro 2 days ago and guess what, EXACTLY the same problem with this one. One would think that since this one has the same issues its not the Mac Pro but I'm absolutely without a doubt 100% sure it is a the Computer, why because even when nothing is plugged in and i use the internal speakers it still pops, also when i take it (again) at a friends prof. recording studio and test it there ...POP same story.
you can best describe the loud pop i hear with an audio cable that you plug-in or out of a powered amplifier, it gives this loud crack.
The sound studio guy said that he thinks it has to do with the sound chipset waking from sleep or something in that direction
question is are there people here whom know how to fix this (if its even possible to fix) or people whom experienced the same problems?
What do i do now, call Apple again and ask again for a new machine? i mean we are not talking ipods here, its a really expensive machine and it should just work without me getting the living daylights scared out of me 3 times in one hour. I want a computer that works point blank.
Hate to call Apple again, i lost loads of time already and they probably going to suggest the same thing all over again...try installing OSX again, do hardware check...etc. been there and didn't do me any good.
what should i do and does anyone know how to fix this extremely anoying problem
hope to get some reply's as i would really appreciate it

Mac Pro (6-core) 3.33GHz here too, running OS X 10.6.4. Same issue. However mine happens ever so randomly. Sometimes it doesn't happen for a whole 3hours then suddenly, for a split second there's that pop/crackle sound. I used to have the same speakers plugged in a mid-2009 15" MacBook Pro and it never had that problem. To think that i spent over £3000 on a high-end desktop workstation makes me wonder why the **** are they even priced ever so ridiculously?? I mean if it has such a pathetic problem such as this. Quality control isn't what it used to be for Apple it would seem. Glad that I'm not the only person with this problem, and I'm sorry to hear that this has happened to many of u who caved in nearly 2 months salary (I may be on scholarship, but still, money is money) to buy a high-end workstation like this.
My specs are in my sig at the bottom. Did all the necessary updates, except for iTunes (running on 9.2.1) but I dont think iTunes 10 addresses problems like these. Definitely not an iTunes problem because even if there's nothing playing there's still that pop sound. Thing is, mine doesn't happen so frequently, but it does happen on occasion, but for a +£3000 machine, IT'S UNACCEPTABLE!! Get it together Apple! Plus this is not my only Mac Pro issue, got a Kernel Panic the other day because I was tethering my iPhone 3GS 32GB (iOS4.0) via USB to my Mac Pro for internet and the kernel panic grey screen came up. Lesson learned, i wont be USB tethering my iPhone EVER AGAIN, but I'm not going to refrain from using my audio on my Mac Pro, am I right? Anyway, this rant is rather annoying, I sure as **** hope that it's just a software issue and that an update SOON will help resolve this!
Have any of u guys reported this issue to Apple? Because if enough of us who spent copious amount of money on this report the issue, they are FORCED to find a fix. Because I dont wan to have to ring Apple and be on hold for hours before I have someone tell me "ye...just send it back to us". Because: a) I'm not going to post it to them, takes too much **** time. b) Even if i were given a new desktop, I dont want to have to start from scratch, unless they're willing to migrate all my data on to the new desktop and everything will be as my last desktop was. AND c) I know i said this enough, but this is an expensive desktop and issues like this shouldn't even be roaming around...
Please note, my Mac Pro is ONLY 3days old.
I hope again that this is SOFTWARE/FIRMWARE related. and an update should fix this!
Message was edited by: progressia

Audigy SE: Snap, crackle, pop / hardware not fo

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