I do not know when this problem started, but here are the specifics:
My computer came pre-installed with Windows 98 and a Sound Blaster Audio PCI 64D. In January I installed Windows ME.
Lately I’ve been playing games on Shockwave. I’ve noticed that while on Shockwave I cannot hear computer noises, i.e., incoming mail or ICQ messages/notifications. I have noticed this annoyance while running other programs; while I can’t recreate it right now, it had something to do with either Real Audio or WinAmp (guessing Real Audio cos it ALWAYS wants to take over my machine).
I’ve stared at the settings in Control Panel for a while. I’ve tried to re-download the driver from the website, as well, but Sound Blaster doesn’t have a d/l for WinME, just Win 98/95.
Is there a patch I don’t know about it, or am I going to have to deal with this minor annoyance til I buy a new soundcard?
Are you sure you could hear both a things at the same time before? I am not sure if I am understanding correctly but if it is the way I understand it, that is not a bug, that is a feature. When I am playing say, an audio file, or a video clip, I cannot hear windows sounds for the simple reason that the card is already playing something else. The card can only play one WAV at a time.
You sure? 'Cuz I’ve played Mp3’s, midi, and heard AIM noises all simultaneously. Granted, this was on a SBLive card… the problem may simply be a lower-quality sound card…
I should mention that I ran into the same problem as the OP when we had an SB-16 card… you can play music, or hear AIM, but not both.
In my card the MIDI synthesizer indeed functions as a separate input so you could hear MID & WAV at the same time. But you can only hear one WAV at a time. The WAV input is used by wav files (including MP3, etc,) as well as any streaming input. In other words any PCM input will occupy this input and prevent its use by anything else. I suppose there may be sound cards with more than one PCM input but mine is not one of them.
Me guesses it’s a lower quality sound card. I’ve got a nice digital sound card and can (if I want to that is) listen to mp3’s on both Real Player and Winamp at the sametime. I can also watch videos and listen to music at the same time. It also plays AOL noises whenever I’m listening to mp3’s. Try not freakin’ out when you’ve got a 15" speaker hooked up to your computer listening to mp3’s then all of a sudden a cow bell noise loud enough to wake the dead shoots out of it. I darn near jumped outta my boots.
It’s really dependent on the soundcard hardware. (mine is OEM SB live card and win98SE) Win 98 and ME can easily play multiple wav streams at the same time if the hardware allows it. I can play a shockwave file and listen to an mp3 or wav file at the same time with no difficulty. It’s not an OS issue. As a side note it is also possible your card will never have an ME upgrade released for it as it is getting somewhat long in the tooth.
Having said this I am not familar with the 64PCI card and do not know if it can do multiple wav streams at the same time re the hardware addressing options of the card. Just for kicks you may want to delete the SB drivers and software and put the card into another PCI slot and re-install the latest drivers for the unit from the ME CD (not the creative drivers) and see if this opens up another I/O channel that may have been blocked by a resource conflict.
default 64 pci hardware settings
I’m not playing video games - just the crossword and the jigsaw. And the only noise the jigsaw makes is when two pieces fit together; it’s not ‘all noise all the time’.
The part that really irks me is that the problem persists after I close the programs that cause this … but not all the time. (Don’t you just love those intermittent programs?)
Judging from the responses I’ve recieved, though, it sounds like I’ll either have to deal or get a new card.
It could ba a specific program or sound file is “crashing” the sound card and it is only restored by rebooting. Sometimes new drivers will correct this.
I have a video clip which does this. After I play it I have to reboot the computer to get the sound back. Still worth it though
