Soundcard: Creative Soundblaster Audigy Platinum (1 year old)
Driver Version: 5.12.1.253
Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 5.1
MoBo: Asus A7V-266E
Proc: AMD 1800+
Video: ATI 8500 DV 64
512 RAM
Windows XP
Symptoms:
Unrecognizable playback of sound, intermittent blips of audio between gaps of silence, interspersed with loud popping or clicking sounds. Problem is evident in all applications. Extremely muted bass seems to be present most of the time, the occasional blips of sound that do come through are very short sporadic bursts of the higher frequencies. No prior history of problems with this card.
Checked all external connections, tested speakers on another system, re-seated soundcard into MoBo, checked all internal connections, properties dialogue indicates that the card is working properly.
The system was fine one minute and the next, the problem was present. No reboot or system changes had been made prior to onset of audio problem.
I had never realized how utterly useless my system is to me without sound. One of those things you dont think about until a problem arises.
Uninstall all the sound drivers first, then reboot and re-install. (Sometimes a version upgrade will leave this or that DLL alone, and if one of them is corrupt, you’re sunk)
If it’s still acting up, then try testing the card in another PC.
Yes on the drivers, I’ve installed the newest version (same problem). I then reinstalled the original driver that came with my card, after that didnt work I installed the new beta release of some drivers that are officially releasing in August. No luck there either.
Assuming that it is a hardware problem, where does one take a soundcard for a diagnostic test? I checked the Creative website, but as far as I can tell, they only do warranty repairs. My card is 13 months old so the warranty is out of force. I realize that I can get a new card for $162 but I paid about 400 for this one so I would be willing to spend upwards of 100 on a repair.
(thanks gotpasswords, I will try the card in another machine as a last resort)
Sadly, almost no one will do component-level troubleshooting on most computer equipment. If the manufacturer won’t do it, you can bet no one else will either.
Are you using the digital out on the soundcard? I see you have 5.1 speakers so I assume so. Try disabling the Digital Out, set the speaker type to “Stereo” and using a normal set of speakers (or headphones).