Choppy audio with CD and DVD playback

When I play an audio CD or a DVD I get choppy sound. It's like a weird electronic distortion every second for just a fraction of a second. MP3's and all other audio plays just fine. I was getting the choppy playback on my CD-ROM and then I installed a DVD-ROM and it does the same thing, so that tells me it's mabye something related to my drivers or something. I'm stumped.

 

I checked the cable running from the CD-ROM to the motherboard and it seems to be fine, as does the connections. And I am playing MP3's from my hard drive.

 

i downloaded the BIOS upgrade (from A10 to A12) and that didn't help. Then I got the chipset upgrade and that may have helped a little. Or mabye its just my imagination. Anyway, its still gettin choppy playback. I noticed something else today, if, while playing a CD, I mute "CD Audio" in the windows volume control panel it does nothing. But muting "Wav/MP3" mutes the sound. Dont know if that means anything. Would it help if I posted on the web somewhere a small clip of how it sounds??

 

Open the case and look at the back of the drive, is there a thin "audio cable" running from the drive to the motherboard/soundcard. If so, disconnect it, Win XP does not need a CD audio cable, only previous versions.

Let us know if there is any change.

Matt
EDIT: It could be because you are running low on "available" RAM and the data is running from page file on the harddrive. Check if there is a lot of harddrive LED activity during the "gaps ".

 

There is no audio cable, and there is very little to no harddrive activity while playing a CD. Another thing, the CD-ROM is pretty loud when its playing, like its spinning really fast. Dont know if that means much.

 

Could this be a DMA issue? My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager>+IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers

Check Properties>Advanced settings on the Primary and Secondary channel and see if your DMA is active. SHould be something like:

Device Type: Auto Detect
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA (1-5)

This should be active for both channels that your HD and CD/DVD player is on (primary/secondary - device 0 or 1, etc.).

 

The DMA was one of the first things I checked. They are active. I tired changing them to "PIO Only" but that only made it worse, so I changed it back.

 

Try updating Windows Media Player to version 10 (or update the player you use, if you do not use WMP), that should update your Audio Codex. Update DirectX to version 9.0c.

Just noticed:

You do not mention the audio drivers, they will be separate from those (see PeteC's suggestion).

Matt

 

I have WMP10, DX9.0c, and have tried to update my audio drivers automatically through windows, and still no change. I would love to hear more suggestions. Thanks guys, for all your help so far. I'm kind of at a dead end here.

 

I updated my audio codec from the motherboard's manufacturer's site and still no change. If you think it will help, you can download an example of how it sounds with iTunes, and WMP10 (they sound a little different). The "stuttering" is very consistent and the same with burned and non-burned CD's.

 

what sound card and type? and, if slotted, where is it?

i've seen many issues w/ soundblasters cards where the card needed to be moved to the 'last' pci slot away from the powersupply. it's a shot in the dark as this is an older problem from my perspective but ... what the heck

my system came w/ the SB card slotted in the top slot and i have same sorta issues. the SB site mentioned to 'uninstall' the software, then the HW in devicemanger, then power off and remove the card. power back up normally and then power off again. then insert the card to 'lowest' pci slot and reinstall normally. fixed it.

believe that the problem was 'automatic' IRQ/IO assignment which can be a pain to manually overide in xp unless u'r really lucky ... so ... moving the card forces a change.

 

I have a Sound Blaster Live! card and its slotted in the "last" pci slot.

I changed my IDE cables and nothing changed.

I am getting ready to uninstall and remove the card, reboot, and then reinstall everything. Anyone know about IRQ/IO assignment??

 

Yes, uninstall anything listed for audio/Sound Blaster/Creative under "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" in Device Manager before you shutdown.
Edit: Also look in Add/Remove programs for software relating to the soundcard (or maybe a previous soundcard if you have upgraded).

The card is in the last slot (near the edge of the motherboard), so move it to the next slot. The IRQ/IO assignment will be automatically reassigned when you change the slot location.

When you restart, have the drivers CD ready. If you have any trouble making Windows find the drivers on the CD, click Cancel, then run the drivers installation program when you are in Windows, reboot. If there seems to be any further problem with installing the drivers, let us know.

Matt