Popping/Stuttering Audio

V

Vio

Member
First, yes, I have read Digital/Analog Audio The NeoSmart Files

Vista and everything else is all up to date.

I followed the instructions for Audigy 4 cards, but am stuck at step 6: "Open audio options in the Control Panel and enable/disable digital audio in the "Other" tab." I'm not seeing an 'Audio Options' choice anywhere, nor have I found any other place to enable/disable digital audio.

Where am I going wrong?
 
Mak 2.0

Mak 2.0

Mod...WAFFLES!?!?
Staff member
Okay have you turned dow you system sounds? Maybe the volume is up to high on your speakers and your system which is causing this. Turning down either your system sounds or your speakers could resolve this.
 
V

Vio

Member
Makaveli213 said:
Okay have you turned dow you system sounds? Maybe the volume is up to high on your speakers and your system which is causing this. Turning down either your system sounds or your speakers could resolve this.
Click to expand...

It's not a speaker quality issue.

Things like Winamp MP3 music playback and in-game ambiance and voices result in random popping, or stuttering (as in, playback will be normal for a few seconds, then jump ahead a second or two, as if it were lagging).

And no, my system is in no way lacking processing power or memory, nor is it related to internet connection.
 
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Mak 2.0

Mak 2.0

Mod...WAFFLES!?!?
Staff member
I didnt ask about your speakers. Nor did i make any reference to your CPU power or anything like that. I asked about your system sound setup. In the Control Panel under sound. What is the Volume that it is set at for things like MP3 and Midi? If it is all the way at the top try reducing that down and see if that stops the studdering or popping.

What could be happening is that the level for the sounds are so high that after they get boosted going thru your speaker setup it is getting boosted to a level that is making it do this. Reducing the system sound could help prevent this.

If the sounds are already at the midway point and this is happening that i dont believe that to be the issue. But i think that the system is giving the sounds a gain along with your speakers which is causing the sound to get distorted.
 
V

Vio

Member
Makaveli213 said:
I didnt ask about your speakers. Nor did i make any reference to your CPU power or anything like that. I asked about your system sound setup.
Click to expand...
I'm trying eliminate possibilities from the "Is it plugged in?" checklist.
In the Control Panel under sound. What is the Volume that it is set at for things like MP3 and Midi? If it is all the way at the top try reducing that down and see if that stops the studdering or popping.

What could be happening is that the level for the sounds are so high that after they get boosted going thru your speaker setup it is getting boosted to a level that is making it do this. Reducing the system sound could help prevent this.

If the sounds are already at the midway point and this is happening that i dont believe that to be the issue. But i think that the system is giving the sounds a gain along with your speakers which is causing the sound to get distorted.
Click to expand...
Volume sliders are set around 50-70%. It's not a 'distortion' problem, but a 'playback' problem. To further elaborate on the stuttering description, it's like every fifth word or syllable is being cut out. Alternatively, I'd try to install the drivers for the motherboard's built-in Realtek sound, but Vista refuses to allow me to install unsigned drivers, even after constantly choosing 'install anyway' at it's prompts.
 
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Mak 2.0

Mak 2.0

Mod...WAFFLES!?!?
Staff member
Oksy so now my question is this. Did you turn off your onboard sound? If you have a Audigy 4 why woudl you try to install your Realtek drivers?

It could be a problem with WMP or Winamp. Have you tried to re-isntall WinAmp?

That guide you refered to is for the Vista beta's not the RTM. There are very few sound cards that dont have working audio now. So it wouldnt have anything to do with your drivers at this point.

So oyu trying to reinstall drivers could have ended up corrupting your system. It could be trying to run the sound to other devices. I would suggest removing all your sound card drivers. Then run Driver Cleaner Pro:

Driver Cleaner Professional download from Guru3D.com

Use this to clean off any reminants from your Realtek tries and yoru Creative isntalls. Then restart and try to see if Windows Update can find your driver or the ones from the Creative site work.

If that still doesn work then extract the creative executable file and try to force Vista to install the drivers by leading the Device Manager to that folder that you got from extracting the executable.

If that still doesnt work then i am at a lose. I can only think that your isntall is some how corrupted.
 
V

Vio

Member
Unistalled all Creative / Soundblaster programs.

Reset.

Ran Driver Cleaner on all Creative (and Realtek, to be sure) drivers.

Reset.

Vista detects new hardware and installs default drivers for it (without any action on my part).

Reset.

Although it 'installed' the soundcard, Vista still detects no output device / shows the device as not working. I unzip the latest Creative drivers to a folder, then direct the 'Update Driver' to that folder (as opposed to running the executable). Vista declares "The best driver software for your device is already installed" Still no sound, though.

I run the Creative executable, install the drivers and software.

Reset.

Sound is back, but there is no change from when I first started.
 
Mak 2.0

Mak 2.0

Mod...WAFFLES!?!?
Staff member
I dont think the kX Driver work with the Audigy 4 series card. They say Audigy and Audigy 2 series cards. But nothing about the series 4 cards.

I wrote up this small guide back during the beat. See if you have tried any of these steps or if they might help:

Code: 
First there is the supplemental driver install. If your DVD doenst have it available you can use Beta 1 DVD to get the supplemental driver install to start. 
2nd there is the Device Manager. With the Device manager there are a couple of options.
1. you can point it to your XP partition and see if it will install from XP
2. extract the executable with WinRar. In the extraction you should find a .inf file. In Device Manager point it to that file and see if that works.
3. point the Device Manager to your install CD and see if it can install the drivers that way.
3rd. Try to install the executable in XP compatability mode. To get there right click on the executable and go to properties. Flip thru the tabs until you come across the compatability menu. Drop it down to XP.
4. Try to manully force the driver install. Manual Driver Installation 

Manual installation of device drivers may be necessary if drivers are not successfully installed by running setup in XP Compatibility Mode. This is accomplished from Device Manager (right click Computer>Manage), by right clicking on the device>Update Driver>No, not this time>Next>Install from a specific location (Advanced)>Next>Include this location in the search>Browse – to the location containing the required drivers. It is necessary to extract the .inf, .sys and .cat driver files to a folder using a tool such as WinRar before you can manually install your drivers in this way.

These are as far as i have seen the only ways to install drivers for Vista. I just made this so hopefully if ysomeone has an issue with Driver installs they can read this and try them out and if none of these options work then ask for help.

As i said this was written during the beta cause they dont have the Supplemental Driver installer anymore. So that step is out.

If this still isnt working i dont think it is driver related. I think your install got corrupted.

Addendum:

Also this just came to me. What about codecs?

Try these and see what happens:

Free-Codecs.com : Download K-Lite Codec Pack 3.6.0 FULL, K-Lite Codec Pack 3.6.0 STANDARD, K-Lite Codec Pack 3.6.0 BASIC : K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools
http://www.cccp-project.net/
AC3Filter
 
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V

Vio

Member
Used CCCP since I built this system, uninstalled/reset/reinstalled, no dice. Been thinking for a while that I should just bite the bullet and set up a dual boot (Vista / XP). Anyone know if I'll need to format the drive before partitioning under Vista?
 
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