Random BSOD/Crackle Pop in BF2/BSOD in BF2142 on X-FI Fatality FPS Champ

Using latest drivers from Creative v2.9.7 not the June/July update through windows update because it kills the DTS and makes the sound sound all monolike. Ok so here it goes, the driver support says that the latest should've fixed the BF2 crack/snap/pop sounds but I just reinstalled the game recently and I still hear it even with the current version I use so I guess it isn't fixed. 2nd issue is when setting it audio to x-fi with Ultra High, it BSOD's after awhile or so of playing with ha20x2k.sys. Also I get random BSOD's from doing various things such as I could be watching a movie then wanted to play a game or something then a BSOD occurs thereafter with ha20x2k.sys issue again. No this doesn't happen all the time just after my computer has been used for a few days and when I have been listening to various audio's from being a movie or music. On some games it just gives BSOD as if it were random. After a quick reboot I can play the game fine so I just know it's random to the point where it can happen if maybe multiple files with audio are initiated either it being a game and/or movie. And last issue is BF242. I find it funny how it says certified for 242 and/or best heard with on X-fi and yet it gives these casual BSOD after playing for an hour or so using X-FI ultra high settings. I was wondering what can be done to fix any of the 3 possible issues already said on the topic. Yes I've reinstalled them again and still no go. I only have the drivers instealled, EAX, audio console, volume properties, DTS NEO:6, and GO launcher v5.0. Everything else I got rid of... so if anyone knows of a solution or suggestion please let me know. Thanks. P.S. Was looking around but I don't see a Fatality FPS Champion edition no more. Only Xtremegamer Fatality... discontinued? Problem related issues?

Similar Messages

Random Audio Crackling and Popping on playback in FCP and Pro Tools

Hello All,
In both Pro Tools LE through an original MBox (with latest firmware), via USB and Final Cut Pro using an Edirol USB audio interface, I get random cracks and pops in different places that aren't in the actual audio files. They are not in the waveforms, and they never happen in the same spot twice...just random. There's no telling when they will be heard, but they are very loud and sharp, and I'm afraid of damaging my powered monitors, not to mention my nerves as I'm in the middle of an intense sound design for a film.
I've tried looking up this topic, and I've seen some topics mentioning sync/clock....like it's a problem with sync being generated internally, as opposed to using an external word clock generator. I never had this problem before on my older dual 2.0 PowerMac (PPC), and I really can't spring for a word clock generator right now...anyone else experience this with their Intel Mac Pro? I've looked for new firmware updates et al, but everything on the computer is up to date. This is really driving me nuts right now.
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3) Dual 1.8
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) Dual 3.0

Interesting point about the winter/static. The only thing is that I never had those problems before with the same setup on my older dual 1.8 PPC G5 PowerMac, through several winters.
My current setup is a dual 3.0Ghz Intel Mac Pro with 3Gb of RAM. the RAM is the right kind and it has checked out as a-okay via numerous tests. The video card is the stock NVidea 7300 GT. For Final Cut Pro and general audio playback, I use an Edirol UA-1EX usb interface http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/index.html (w/ updated drivers and all) hooked up through one USB port. For Pro Tools LE 7.3.1, I use an original Mbox, also updated with the latest firmware and all (got rid of the distorted noise problem with firmware update v22), also hooked up to a USB port. I used this exact same setup on my previous Dual 1.8 PPC G5 PowerMac with no such issues for several years. Both interfaces are routed to a Mixer, and onto my monitors. I don't think it's the mixer that's doing it because it didn't ever crackle/pop with my older G5, and still doesn't, which I still use for other things, but routed through the same sound system. I can understand the use of an external clock generator and such, but for many years, I never had this problem with random crackle/pop on playback with other computers that did not use an external sync/clock device. I would think that a computer as new and 'advanced' as the Intel Mac Pro would offer even better results than previous models. Again, the noises aren't printed onto the actual sound files, they come up randomly, but most often after adding a fade/volume change/effect and playing back.
I have just installed a PCI-Express USB 2.0 card for use with both the Edirol and MBox, just in case it was an issue with the built-in MAC USB ports. I will see if that helps.
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) Dual 3.0
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.3) Dual 3.0
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) Dual 3.0
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3) Dual 1.8

1212M Crackling/Popping - New Drivers

I'm kind of cranky about this problem. Read on because I actually know exactly what the problem is (at least for most of us and only Creative/EMU can fix it).
Background
I have a 1212M with the 0404 I/O card. It's a V1 that have had for five or six years. The quality of the sound is great, the features are great and the price is great. There's just one problem. From the day I got the board all those years ago I've had the crackling/popping problem that many, many other users also have.
The problem is not my motherboard, BIOS, other hardware, Windows or other applications. Over the years this EMU board has been in many different systems, many different configurations and the evolution from WinXP, Vista and now to Win7. The crackling problem has always been exactly the same. The problem is the board itself, not the system and not the configuration and I can prove it (read on).
Another thing that frustrates me is all the time that so many users have spent trying to troubleshoot this issue that is completely wasted since, for some of us, the problem is in the EMU hardware/drivers. That's not to say that there aren't some other crackling problems that are related to the system speed, interfering hardware or interfering software. There are actually two different problems that both have the same crackling symptom which makes all this quite confusing. I'll call them "System Related" and "EMU Hardware/Driver Related". If you're having the crackling symptom you should figure out which type of problem you have before spending hours troubleshooting, reinstalling, etc, etc, etc. Here's how:
If your crackling problem:
- Doesn't happen on startup. Your audio is fine and the problem only develops after a while. On my system it's between 60 and 90 minutes and resetting the card.
- Starts with a few minor crackle/pops per second and gradually gets progressively worse over several minutes with nothing else changing in the system (ie not running new software or changing anything).
- After a while (can be a long while) the crackling can actually go away again and you have clean audio. Then the crackling returns. Once again with no changes in system load in between.
- You can make the crackling go away instantly and every time by simply resetting the clock on the card. There are several ways to do this. In Patchmix go to the System tab under Session Settings and switch the clock between internal/external (whatever you have it on, go to the other and back again). Another way is the change the ASIO Buffer Latency milliseconds in your host software's ASIO control panel.
If those four things are all true for you then you have the "EMU Hardware/Driver Related" type of crackling problem. Do not waste any time with all the well-meaning but misguided troubleshooting ideas posted on this and other forums. None of it will help.
If these four things aren't true on your system then by all means you should try all the troubleshooting steps because it's likely that you can resolve your crackling problem.
Here is what is happening with the "EMU Hardware/Driver Related" type of crackling problem. First, let me say that I know what the root of the problem is because I used to work for a company that developed high-end professional video/audio software for Windows PCs. We encountered this exact same problem when some our users started reporting it. It wasn't solely with Creative or EMU hardware because the problem can actually happen on a variety of PC audio cards where the hardware is slightly out of spec or malfunctioning and the software driver is not capable of correcting the problem.
Our most senior software engineers banged their heads against this problem for quite a while until they determined what was going wrong in our customer's PC audio hardware. The issue is that the clock on the card is drifting slightly which means it is going a little faster or slower than the current sample rate. That's why the problem only manifests after a while. It's also why the crackling goes away when you reset the clock. The fundamental issue is that the audio data coming from your PC is being written into a buffer. The data is written by the PC driver and read from the buffer by the card and then sent to the card's output. You can think of the buffer as a big circle of memory. There's a write pointer that writes one value of data and then increments one step and "180 degrees" opposite in the circle of memory is a read pointer that reads one value of data and then increments one step.
These two pointers never move at exactly the same speed. They are constantly slowing down or speeding up a little bit but over time on average they end up advancing at about the same rate. The problem is that when the clock on the card is drifting, the read pointer and write pointer will eventually cross over. That's why the this kind of crackling problem manifests only after a while because, depending on the drifting, it takes a while for the pointers to cross. It's also why the crackling is subtle at first and then gets progressively worse over time. Right when the pointers are overlapping the timing is still close. As one pointer starts to "lap" the other point more and more the crackling artifact gets progressively worse. That's also why the problem usually goes away again if you wait long enough. The pointers can actually get back in phase again for a short while! That's how I know exactly what the current problem is the 1212M board because it manifests with these precise characteristics. The old problem my former companies user's had even sounded exactly the same as the crackling my EMU 1212M has.
Once we understood the problem, in our next version we modified our software to use a larger buffer. This eliminated the problem for some of our customers whose hardware clock was only very slightly out spec. However, for other customers the problem remained, although by increasing the buffer size it made it take longer for the pointers to reach each other and the crackling to begin. This is the what I suspect EMU has done with the new Win7 beta drivers. With the new drivers my crackling takes longer to appear. In these forums we see reports from some long-time sufferers of the problem that the new driver fixed their problem and from others we hear that they are still having the problem.
Since we still had unhappy users of our video/audio application software, we kept working on the issue and eventually came up with a fix that solved the problem for all users and all audio hardware. It was hard to implement but this is what EMU/Creative needs to have their driver engineers do to actually fix the problem (short of replacing an enormous amount of hardware).
The problem can be solved in the driver (yes, my old company actually embedded our own low level generic driver in our application software). Since EMU/Creative is making their driver themselves they can just implement this fix there. The secret is for the driver to actually keep track of where the write and read pointers are and each time they get too close to each other it stretches or shrinks the next packet of data by averaging the audio samples in that packet to the exact size needed to put the pointers 180 degrees apart again. It then resets the pointers as it writes that new data. The data shrink or stretch prevents a single pop or click from happening when the pointers are reset to their correct positions. Frankly, this was hard to implement but it worked perfectly. We actually hired a consultant to figure this audio problem out who was a former Microsoft engineer who wrote the WDM kernal mode drivers.
EMU SUPPORT please let your product manager know that this is what is going on and that he should ask your contract driver engineers to implement this type of solution. Yes, it will cost more in development time (and hence $$$), but it will fix the issue once and for all and not just for this card. You can re-use the code in other drivers.
If you need specific help, I'll even connect you with the engineers that did it for a more detailed explanation (we sold our company years ago and the team has split up but I'm still in contact with most of them).

Markran,
Thank you for the information. I will make sure that it gets routed to the correct people.
Casey

Audigy SE newest update 2/16/07 made my crackling/pop issue wo

im starting to have little faith in that creative is going to be able to fix all these problems with vista and their sound cards. the new driver update that came out yesterday made the crackling/pop issue worse, guess im gonna have to install the older drivers again and just wait for the next update.. sigh

It says above 2 relevant and 1 correct answere available .............
I'm new here so could anyone direct me to these answeres?

Crackle-pop issue. Seems to be due to raid control

Hi. I have the crackle/pop issue widely mentioned. However the weird thing is that it just "started" one day. I have had my onboard (sil 34) raid5 controller running the whole time I have had my X-fi yet they haven't had any conflicts until recently. This may be because my harddri'ves are being used a lot now than before (my computer is a media server and gets read/write requests 24/7). Currently I have 3 harddri'ves installed into the raid controller, I added a 4th and I got the problem where either the X-fi would work (perfectly) and the raid5 controller wouldnt show up, or they would both show up and the X-fi wouldnt play any media at all. I have tried swapping the X-fi to different pci slots but it does not help.
Currently I have only minor crackle/pops when playing music (every -2 sec or so). If I add a 4th harddri've to my raid controller then the X-fi refuses to play or just plays a constant stream of noise.
Here are screenshots of the PCI bus of each and IRQs:
http://blood-pack.org/ao/xfi.PNG
http://blood-pack.org/ao/xfi2.PNG
http://blood-pack.org/ao/xfi3.PNG
Things I've tried:
Reinstalling motherboard/xfi drivers
Swapping pci slots
Unplugging the floppy cable to the X-fi
Different PSU
I HAVENT tried flashing the bios as the current bios I am using (702-bta) is the only one that will allow my ballistix ram to run @ 250mhz (stock for my set).
Systems specs:
4800+ X2, 2xGB Ballistix z503 (250 mhz), X900 XTX, DFI NF4 SLi, 3 harddri'ves in raid5 on the silicon image raid controller, 3 harddri'ves on the nvidia sata controller (no raid)
Hope you can help, thanks.

Follow up: If I stop all read/writes to the raid5 array then I do not get the pop/cracle issue. However this is not practical for me, any ideas?

Itunes crackling, popping sounds...

Hi all,
I have been having annoying clacking/popping sounds in iTunes 8.02.20.
Please do not direct me to the link intitled "iTunes and QuickTime: Audio does not play or plays incorrectly" since I checked and tried everything there.
The problem affects only songs played in iTunes (not Media player or sounds in games or streaming online). Not all songs are affected but I am not going to systematically go through my library to figure out which ones are not working. Interestingly, I noticed this problem for songs downloaded from the iTunes store and more often then not its classical music.

I installed iTunes for the first time this weekend on my XP Pro machine and was having the same problem. After much trial and error I discovered what was causing the crackling/popping sounds with all my songs in iTunes and in my case Quicktime also. Quicktime's default audio size was set to 8-bit and the rate to 32kHz. Both were the lowest settings available. I changed the audio size to 24-bit and the rate to 192kHz, then applied my settings and closed out of Quicktime. This completely resolved my issue. No more crackling/popping sounds in iTunes or Quicktime.
The Quicktime settings in question can be accessed via the file menu in Quicktime per the below...
Edit->Preferences->Quicktime Preferences->Audio->Sound Out->
Good luck! I hope this simple change in Quicktime settings resolves the issue for you as it has for me. In my case I was installing these applications for the first time and was only doing so in order to use iTunes as I'll be purchasing my first iPod in the next month or so. As such, I didn't think to check the settings in Quicktime right away as I was initially troubleshooting this problem.

Audio Crackles & Pops in disk burned by iDVD

I videotape using my Sony HDV camera (1080i), and import directly into iMovie06 HD. From what I've read on these forums, that is the best way to keep the full quality HD video. I edit my movie and close iMovie. Then I open iDVD, choose a theme, and drag that movie in. I don't add any other transitions, etc. Then I choose "Best Quality," and burn the DVD. When I play it in my Panasonic Blue Ray DVD player the audio crackles and pops--it's terrible. What happened? What can I do to fix this so that the audio quality is as good as it sounds on the HD videotape or on the Mac.

Hmmm. Crashing isn't good, but no harm to try again with Pro.
iDVD's Preview isn't always accurate, but do you hear anything there?
Burning errors wouldn't typically present themselves as crackles/pops, but high quality discs are recommended (Verbatim DVD-R discs are often suggested; I like Sony as well) as well as breaking down the burning process into two steps:
1) from iDVD, create a virtual DVD by using Save As Disc Image. Test this by mounting the disc image and using Apple's normal DVD Player to play it on your Mac (try just double-clicking the image file).
2) If it plays correctly, Copy the disc image to an actual DVD using Roxio Toast or Apple's Disk Utility.
It's good to have a substantial amount of hard disc space available (10-25 gigs) and I typically quit from other applications so iDVD can have max resources available.
All the audio work in iDVD is behind the scenes and there aren't any special audio controls.
John

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...

Speaker crackle/pop at shutdown

Have New Pavilion M9510F connected to new W2338H with HDMI cable. Sound & video work fine but when shutting down, receive a sharp crackle/pop through monitor speakers. No problem when connected with VGA & Audio cable. HP techs say this is result of computer shutting off power to speakers. Just want to be sure this is correct & I don't damage speakers. Anyone else have this issue?
RAD

I have the same problem with the crackling sound at shutdown. I have logitech speakers hooked up and don't use the speakers on the monitor. Hp technical support has tried to trouble shoot the problem but wasn't really to "fix" the porblem. At the end of the day, they said the sound was common. The recommendation was to just turn the monitor volume down to 0. Now I don't hear the popping sound. I still don't feel that comfortable with the fix as it is just a band-aid.

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.

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.

Constant crackling/pop + inability to install standard drivers + audio loss

Oh Lord, what a disaster Creative is. I have a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatalty Pro that worked fine under Windows XP for four straight years. Then on the fifth year when I upgraded to the Windows 7 x64 Beta it ceased to function. It never continued to work with the Release Candidate, RTM or Retail versions so I just gave up until a few days ago when I thought maybe Creative or the community fixed some of my issues...
Hah, fat chance. Anyways it all began with severe audio distortions, pops and crackling that would sometimes end in a flat-line tone or eternal static. No matter how many times I reinstalled my drivers, used older drivers or used user remedies nothing worked. So I just gave up, took out my sound card and sucked it up with my Realtek integrated motherboard audio (eugh).
Well I can't stand it anymore. I'm too much of an audiophile to settle for anything less so I tried my sound card out again. I still had the same problems only now I can barely install any Creative drivers as the installation will constantly ask about a file called layout.bin.[url="http://consumerdocs.installshield.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=Q0892&sliceId=" rel="nofollow"> I followed this solution[/url] but it does not work at all and there are no other responses on the issue.
But that's OK because I can still install the base X-Fi drivers. Unfortunately it never resolved my issue. Older drivers do not work. There's nothing other than crackling and popping and then an utter loss of audio. Then I heard about Daniel_K and used his drivers (X-Fi Prelude Beta and X-Fi Support Pack 2.0). I was elated when everything installed without a single issue and the audio was perfect... until after maybe an hour when the crackling came back. Then it started getting progressi'vely worse until you can't even decipher what's being heard. I tried a couple reinstalls which would fix the issue for a short spell but then it'd degrade exponentially from there.
On top of that I couldn't use any of the Creative software with either Creative's drivers or Daniel_K's. It would never detect my sound card even though Windows had no problem seeing it. So I spent literally 5 hours of my day prowling these forums, Google and my own experiments with no luck.
So rather than looking for a solution I'm just gonna ask for one. I have an EVGA 680i motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3GHz, ATI Radeon HD 5850, 6GB RAM, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatalty Pro and .5TB HDD space.
I know Creative stated that nForce motherboards might have an issue with the X-Fi but I've never had that problem with XP and I heard it's found in many other boards from different manufacturers. Creative also stated problems with more than 4GB of RAM but I've disabled all but 3.5GB of RAM with no success. I know Creative states that this is a PCI issue and that I should mess around with my BIOS settings. Updating my BIOS, disabling unneeded BIOS features, changing PCI slots and getting rid of my overclocks did nothing.
I [b][u]KNOW[/u][/b] that it's [color="#ff0000"]not a defecti've card. Everything works 00% with Ubuntu 9.0. Thanks for your time. I'm probably just wishing for gold to pour from the heavens and wasting my time. =(

ORe: Constant crackling/pop + inability to install standard drivers + audio loss? Alright, don't ask me how but I managed to mostly fix my crackling and popping issue. I fixed it with a combination of rearranging all of my hardware to different slots and reinstalling my drivers for the th time, only this time mashing Daniel_K's drivers with Creative's.
Now getting the drivers to work is another thing. I have sound and it's superb (the only reason why I'm willing to sacrifice so much of my time to get this to work) but I cannot get any other function out of my X-Fi. I can't open up the console, switch modes, enable effects, etc. Also, if I ATTEMPT to screw around with any audio settings my computer will start crackling like the devil and all of my hard work will be undone, prompting another reinstall requiring the utter removal of anything Creative on my PC to work.
Now I think the reason for this is because whenever I try to install any Creative software from Creative themselves (except the driver) it won't install. It will ask about a layout.bin, I would point the installation to where layout.bin is but then it'd give me an error (Error I-00). According to my install.log I'm missing something called CTShared. I try installing it but it doesn't seem to fix my problem.
Also, installing ALchemy will tell me that it couldn't create a shortcut after installation and will not work. Sometimes the installation will say that there is a newer version of a product and that it won't install even though there is no trace of anything Creative on my computer.
Now Daniel_K's drivers and software install fine, but the software WILL NOT detect my sound card. It will constantly tell me that the audio device wasn't found or that it's not installed. Windows sees it fine, though, and I get perfect audio. So I mashed Daniel_K's drivers with Creative (long process) and everything installs fine, everything looks to run fine but for some reason nothing will start up. So so much for my own modding attempts. >_<
Any solutions?

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.

10.4.10 - Speakers crackling & popping

After installing the 10.4.10 update my external speakers crackle and pop before and after my computer makes any sounds.
I've noticed a lot of other people complaining of these same problems lately. I recommend everyone give a listen to your speakers after installing the update. Make a post here on this forum so we can keep track. I suggest the "Snap, Crackle Pop" thread. That one is popular for this problem
Anyway so far I've tried installing the combo update over top of the current one, and it didn't do any good at all.
Still crackling, popping, and driving me crazy.

That people aren't hearing the pops doesn't mean the problem isn't affecting them. Maybe these people still haven't plugged in external speakers. Maybe their speakers filter out the bursts, either actively or simply due to poor frequency response. Maybe they don't have subwoofers attached. Maybe their volume settings aren't set appropriately to aggravate the problem.
It's quite obvious, especially from the people that have watched the behavior of the optical output, that the audio circuitry is shutting off after several seconds of inactivity. It's also obvious in the initial delay before sound starts playing, as the circuity powers on. This is present even with internal speakers, although it may not be possible to hear the pops that you would hear with a subwoofer.
There are two equally-likely possibilities:
1. The circuitry always wants to shut down, but previously, Apple was (intentionally or otherwise) keeping the channel active, preventing the sleep, or
2. Apple broke the AC detection that prevented the circuitry from going to sleep unless the computer was battery-powered.
You can't chalk this problem up to "variations in components". Variations affect things like frequency response. Shutting off and on is a binary operation, and it's controlled by sending the chipset a specific opcode. Either you need to send an opcode to keep the chipset alive when it wants to shut down, or you send an opcode when you want it to sleep. Either the right opcode is not being sent, or it is being sent at the wrong time. This is a software problem. It's a driver problem. And I got my audio drivers from Apple. They broke this.

Random BSOD/Crackle Pop in BF2/BSOD in BF2142 on X-FI Fatality FPS Champ

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