HardwarePost any questions related to hardware here.
Mission Statement
WindowsBBS is an online community dedicated to easily accessible technical support for those using Microsoft operating systems and other Windows software.
Our goal is to become the leading resource for computer users that require assistance with their day-to-day computer usage, including full support for networking PC's, virus & malware removal, system upgrades and general support questions.
I have been experiencing difficulties with audio on my Dell Dimension 8300.
I hear a constant static like crackling that has been going on for months. More importantly while using applications that produce sound (CD audio, web stream audio,video games) sometimes the PC produces a staccato popping sound interspersed with scratching and distortion noises. In some cases the program in use will freeze while the noises are occurring and then resume when the distortion/popping ceases.
In the case of some applications like the PC games the program will function except for the sound but for some like video web streams the video will stop functioning only to come back anywhere from several seconds to several minutes later.
Tried different speakers and updated the sound card driver, video card driver, removed reseated the sound card and cleaned dust from interior of PC case/jacks.
Sound card is Soundblaster Audigy 2 and I have applied updated drivers still to no avail. System is a Dell 8300 P4 2.6ghz, 512mb ram, running WinXP svc pk 2.
Don't know if it's a hardware or software issue
Last edited by mmarkert; 19th March 2009 at 16:28.
Reason: typo
Didn't find the information you thought to find? Check out these Similar Threads
System is a Dell 8300 P4 2.6ghz, 512mb ram, running WinXP svc pk 2.
Assuming you keep your system free of malware, I think your problem is a lack of RAM. You say you have a graphics card but the information I find on the 8300 2.6GHz shows it has on-board graphics and it is snagging 64Mb of system RAM for graphics. This means your that 2.6GHz CPU and XP has only 448MB of RAM to play with - barely enough for XP to run in, let alone all your security programs needed to keep the badguys at bay. With only 448Mb of RAM, XP must constantly spool out frequently needed data to the sloooowwwww hard drive's Page File. That is a HUGE (or tiny, depending how you look at it - ) bottleneck that is causing the system to stutter.
I generally recommend 1Gb of RAM for XP with single core CPUs, and 2Gb for multi-core systems, and 2Gb for all Vista systems. The good thing about adding RAM (when starting from a small amount) is it provides the most bang for your money in terms of improving overall performance. Your system supports up to 2Gb.
Installing a graphics card and disabling the on-board graphics is next, unless you did upgrade to a card. Even entry-level PCI graphics cards provide noticeable improvement over on-board graphics. These cards generally have better GPUs and have dedicate RAM on the card for the GPU's use, thus freeing up the previously snagged system RAM. So in effect, by adding a card, you get a little RAM boost too - which only means the system has to hit the sloooowwww hard drive even less.
If your drive is getting crowded, I recommend purging the hard drive of clutter with Windows Disk Cleanup, ATF Cleaner or CCleaner. If using CCleaner, uncheck option to install Yahoo toolbar during installation. Before first use, go to Options > Settings > Advanced and ensure Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 48 hours is unchecked.
Note: Know your site credentials (user name and password) for sites you frequent before cleaning; you may have to login again at next visit.
Before you installed the PCI sound card, did you uninstall any software for the onboard soundcard? In fact, before installing another audio controller, I would not only uninstall the software, but uninstall any drivers in Device Manager, go into the BIOS and disable the onboard audio controller there (that will stop Windows from trying to install drivers for it)...then install the new audio controller, it's drivers and software (which some manufacturers call the "Audio Manager").
Thanks guys for all responses.
My Dell system came with a Soundblaster Audigy2 soundcard installed/configured by Dell. So no on board audio issue should be the cause as it's never been in use if it does exist on the motherboard.
I was thinking that the problem might be memory/swapfile/excessive HD activity so I went out and got 2GB of RAM so now the system has 2.25GB installed.
Crossed my fingers hoping that would solve the issue but unfortunately still hearing the crackling sound and when I had iTunes in use playing some music the sound dropped out entirely though I could see the song continuing to progress. It came back in after a few minutes.
Also tried to run a game (one of the Tom Clancy Rainbow 6 1st person shooter games) which had given me trouble as well. Program launched got pas the first few menus but then froze. It also locked up the PC entirely which it had not done before. Previously it would allow game play although some (not all) of the audio information would drop out and then resume sometime later.
So I'm back to thinking it could be the sound card. Is it possible that the card could be causing this intermittent partially disfuntional behavior.
I expect you have more than one PCI slot, so try moving the soundcard to a different one. Just a rule I use is to put the soundcard in a slot furthest from the CPU (near the edge of the motherboard).
Matt/Bill,
The sound card is currently installed in the slot on the far edge which is furthest from the graphics card. I appreciate the ideas though.
The strange thing about all of this is that all of these sound producing apps used to work fine with the essentially the current configuration. No new components have been installed on the interior of the box except additional memory. Exterior hardware added since I purchased the PC would be USB Western Digital storage drive, USB HP dual layer disc burner, and a mouse/keyboard switcher. Of course additional software apps have been added to the mix but it is difficult to pinpoint a specific app which may have started the problems.
Well, kidding aside, you may want to move it over one slot anyway. This will scrape clean the contacts, and often it forces Windows to actually reload drivers, instead of reusing corrupt settings.
I hope everyone understands that furthest from the CPU and furthest from the graphics card is the same thing.
) bottleneck that is causing the system to stutter. 
Sound problems
