Trouble Playing CDs on computer

Lately, I have been unable to play CDs on my computer. They play with a slight warbling in the background. I have the same problem with both my CD-ROM and burner. These CDs play fine on my home CD/DVD player. I am able to burn CDs on this computer that play well on my CD/DVD player, but give me the warbling when played on my computer. It sounds like everything is working fine on the inside. It is just the playback that is a problem. I can play music stored on my computer without the warbling. It is onlly heard when I use CDs. The only changes I am aware of making, since I last played these CDs without problem, is that I downloaded an Adobe Acrobat update and several WIN XP updates (including security issues and updated Windows Media 9.0.0.2980). I tried to restore my computer to before the updates, but it tells me nothing was changed. It lists these updates for that day: KB810243, KB817778, KB820291, KB822603, KB829558, KB826942 and Adobe Studio Update. Any suggestions as to the source of this problem or how to fix it?

 

Barry,

If you haven't cleaned the CD-Rom lately, now may be the time to do that. That is where I would start.

Mike

 

First of all, both my CD-ROM and my burner showed this symptom at the same time, so it seems to me to be more likely to be software than hardware, but I did spray out both drives with canned air, to no avail.
Secondly, if the problem is dirt, would I be able to copy these CDs to my hard drive, then play back a clean sound over my computer? I can do that, along with burning additional CDs off these ones.
If I need to clean the drives more thoroughly, please share some suggestions.
Thank you,
Barry

 

Hi Barry,

have you tried going back to a previous version of Media Player? Alternatively, use something totally different - Winamp frinst. - see what happens...

As regards cleaning lenses, I've used the proprietory CD cleaners with little brushes set into the CD - and (rather amazingly) they do indeed work. But it's not a very kind way to treat the device

liquid cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and something along the lines of a small (previously unused) artist's paintbrush is gentler and more thorough. Similar tools provide the very best way of cleaning styli for vinyl replay. But keep a brush for CD lenses separate - so you can keep it ultimately clean. Can get abrasive dirt onto the brush from cleaning styli etc. this is to be avoided.

best wishes, HJ.

 

Hugh,
Thanks for the suggestion to use WinAmp. I tried it and found that the problem exists on WinAmp also. If the drives are dirty, how could I copy the CD onto my hard drive and have it come out clear. Is there a different location for the read and play functions? If so, where is this play function located, and how do I access it for cleaning. A link to a site with pictures describing this cleaning would be appreciated. I still find it strange that this problem occurred following a Windows update and impacted both my CD-ROM and burner at the same time. By the way, how does one go back to a previous version of Windows Media Player?

 

Barry
as the problem occurs on Winamp I don't think it's worth putting much energy into returning to a previous version of Media Player.

not in terms of the CD's optics. However there can be a significant difference in terms of how the signal is converted to audio.

Most CD drives provide an audio feed independently of data transfer. They are capable of doing the Digital to Analogue conversion inside the drive, this is how you are able to plug headphones into a socket (3.5mm stereo jack socket) on the front panel of the drive. (as opposed to plugging headphones into a socket on your sound card)

This method is used to play "true" audio CDs.

Do you have a pair of headphones you could plug in to check this output - it would be useful to know whether the same garbling occurs on the headphone output. A shop-bought audio CD - the older the better! (pre-DVD era if possible) would be the best to try this...

Also, try raising "Volume Control" (or its XP equivalent - pardon my lack of experience with XP) so that you can see separate sliders for "Wave" and "CD ".

If you are playing a "true" audio CD it will be controlled by "CD" and you will get a headphone output directly from the drive.

If the volume is controlled by the "Wave" slider the conversion to audio is happening on the sound card - and there will be no direct headphone output. A "digital" CD with mp3, wav, wma, (for example) audio files will come through the "Wave" slider.

Sorry for going on a bit! - but it's crucial to determine which of these methods is in use with your particular CDs - very different fault scenarios.

bear with me I'll see what I can come up with. But I don't think it can be the cause of your immedate hassles as the problem occurs on both devices.

This is down to software I feel...

more later.

best wishes, HJ.

 

Hi again

here's a think to check - I'm writing this for W98 but surely there's a fairly direct XP equivalent...

on your playback mixer check all the channels you aren't using - even the ones which are invisible. Ensure that unused channels are muted...

when you upgraded the various software it might have affected these settings...

My playback mixer (Volume Control) looks like this usually but if I turn on all the possibilities (Options>Properties) I see this

when I first install the audio drivers, the default settings it comes with have all the channels unmuted and the sliders halfway up. Perhaps the interference to the sound is originating from one of the invisible channels, or from a channel you don't normally use, which has become unmuted when doing the software upgrade? This kind of setting would probably not have been reversed when you did the restore...

The "classic" channel for this is (oddly) CD, because the direct audio feed from a CD drive to the sound card picks up interference from the rest of the electronics in the PC. Lots of interference. Often it sounds like a "chattering" in the background.

I'm working on the assumption that you are actually wanting to listen to what's playing through the Wave slider as you say that you can copy these files to HDD and they work from there OK...

Not 100% certain by any means but an easy thing for you to try and potentially easy to miss.

best wishes, HJ

 

Hugh,
I couldn't find a CD that would play through the jack on the front of the drives. I turned everything but the WAVE & main control off, but the problem still continues. I tried switching to using the Creative rather than the Realtek program, but still no change. This isn't a major distortion & many people wouldn't be able to hear it, but the lack of clarity is annoying to me.

 

Barry

thanks for narrowing it down to the wave channel.

As the problem hit both CD drives simultaneously, and as the timing correlates with your software changes, I'd still suggest leaving out a lens cleaning attempt for the moment. Whichever way you do it there's a slight but non-zero possibility of damage, let's exhaust other possibilities as far as possible first?

Another few quick and easy checks you could try:

please try pausing the CD as it's playing - see if the sound problem pauses with the CD, or continues...

also pls., with master volume set normally and CD playing so as to exhibit fault symptom:
1) reduce volume on Wave slider to zero, does fault reduce proportionally?
1b) check function of mute box on wave channel

then, assuming that you can get rid of the interfering sound with 1 and/or 1b - and with CD still playing:

2) unmute and fade up another channel to see if that introduces any interference - try this with (2a) the Synth(MIDI) channel, also with (2b) the Microphone channel (expect a bit of hiss with the Mic., is normal... but is there any of the interfering sound?)

(could try all the other channels if you want! but 2a and/or 2b are best bet)

if you could pls. post model number of sound card also - thanks.

The only other "quick fix" possibility I can think of at the moment is to check on Multimedia Advanced Properties (at least that's where they would be for W98) for hardware acceleration sliders or the like. If you can find ones which you think are relevant, try setting them off a notch, Apply; set back to original and Apply again.

best wishes, HJ.

 

I've run into similar "kinda" problems. Have numerous players, each have there own "equalizer ". You might want to take a tour through all your players and turn off "there special equalizer ". You would start with the one that is associated with playing CD files. If you find a conflict, it might just require a different settng to have it behave itself. Keep in mind, any player(S) loaded, whether active to the song being played can influence the sound via its equalizer.

 

Dennis

I think you may well have hit it.

I've been reading the "warbling sound in the background" as if it's a separate sound getting added in from another source...

but there are a whole load of settings for "effects" like reverb, bathroom, concert hall (I've got this pesky "spatial" effect which keeps on turning itself on every boot...)

...which are perfectly capable of mangling sound - badly.

hard to describe a sound in words!

does the "warbling" continue on silent intervals in the music?

best wishes, HJ.

 

Hugh,
OK, that took awhile, but I did all the tests. Here are the results:
1) The sound stops when I put it on pause.
2) The fault reduces proportionately when I reduce the volume.
3) The mute button works and stops the sound.
4) No other channel adds any distortion of any kind.
5) I disabled my sound card and use the Realtek AC'97 on the MSI mobo. Its driver version is 5.10.0.5420, dated 12/19/03.
6) Hardware acceleration doesn't change the problem.
7) I don't have any other players. When I tried WinAmp, I installed it to test then deleted it afterwards. I have exe files for several players, in case I need them, but don't keep them installed when I don't need them. The only other player I can think of that is installed, but not running, is KaZaA Lite.
8) I hear no noise during silent portions. It's as if it is some kind of echo feedback.

I'm still stumped. This is a real mind bender. Thanks for working with me on this. I appreciate the help.
Barry

 

Barry

thanks for the results...

from what you report I think this has to be along the lines of what Dennis suggested -

the "gremlin" is some treatment - effect, "enhancement "(!) or the like.

Usually to be found in a sound apps. "equalizer" but Windows itself has one or two lurking in the multimedia settings

Any "Advanced" button on volume control deserves checking out - note that these buttons may not be revealed unless you set Volume Control to show them (Options Menu>Advanced Controls)

Even when these settings are hidden they can still mess up the sound!

Choosing the Advanced properties is how I find the button to disable my wretched "Spatial" effect - anything you find like this has to be worth a thorough checkover.

Another place to check is Advanced Multimedia settings because all the speaker setups sound different...

(...hard to generalise because the appearance of Volume Control etc. changes depending upon the precise hardware you have installed - fit a sound card wihth extra fuinctions and your computer "grows" more options on these windows...)

gotta go - got plumbing problems will check back later.

best wishes, HJ.

 

also check any "enhancements" you can find for CD channels - even though it's playing through the wave channel - legacy reasons - it's most likely to be on a CD-specific setting somewhere as you can play the same files off the HDD OK.
Awhile back audio CDs played through their own specific input to the sound card because computers couldn't keep up with the required throughput. Doing the Digital > Analogue in the CD drive unloaded all that number crunching and transfer over the IDE ribbon.
Now things have speeded up this can be done digitally - but the computer might be "clever" enough to think: "it's coming from a CD so must apply manglings as set up for CD replay. "
best wishes, HJ (paddling)

 

Hugh,
Sorry to hear about your plumbing problems. Maybe I could help there, as I designed and built my own home. If you run into a problem, just let me know.
Now back to my problem. I checked all the advanced options I could find. I never saw that spatial button. The only equalizer I could find was in my AC97 software. I tried all options available, but see no change. These are the options I had to choose from:
1)disable equalizer
2)environment (I have it set to none)
3) Karaoke (I have voice cancellation unclicked)
4) Auto Gain control is unclicked
5) S/PDIF out: There is 48KHz and 44.1KHz, then I can click no output, output digital only or output digital and analog. I tried them all.
6)General Information shows:
Audio Driver Version: 5.10.0.5420
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0b
Audio Controller: VIA (3059)
AC97 Codec: ALC650
7) No enhancements are clicked on Windows Media
8) I couldn't find anything that seemed related in Windows multimedia settings
9) I don't know how to locate any CD channel enhancements.
That's where it stands for now. Drain your basement, then we can talk again. Thanks for the help,
Barry

 

You don't have a microphone on the computer and have it's volume turned up just loud enough to produce feedback, do you?

 

I don't have my microphone turned on, unless I am actually using it, and that isn't the type of feedback sound I am getting. It's more of a dull motorboating background sound.

 

Also look in "DSP/effect" settings. Generally found in preferences / plugins in most players. Move the choice to "none ". This will disable any influence from within the player.

 

I couldn't find "DSP/effect" settings in Windows Media 9.0b. The only plugins I have are visualizations.

 

Barry

it's beginning to look like reinstalling your sound card drivers might be the way to go

not unknown to need a driver reinstall after WindowsUpdate!

your previous answer
>8) I hear no noise during silent portions

rules out a lot of things...

when you tried the restore to a point prior to the updates, it wouldn't necessarily have returned the settings for "enhancements" like bathroom, concert hall, spatial -

and I suspect the reason why you can't find the button / checkbox to disable whatever "bonus extra" is troubling the sound is that you cannot see it - ie it's staying invisible. Perhaps it never shows with your particular driver / sound card pairing. Some sound cards grow extra functionality (more effect buttons etc) when you use them with a different driver.

Like the sliders which don't show on volume control - but even when you cannot see them interference can get in through those channels... and invisible options have to be the hardest to debug.

best wishes, HJ.