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Problem with sound card on laptop

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by blackj3015

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I've recently had problems with my Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook card. It's been working fine in the past but now when I listen to music or play games etc. the sound goes on the fritz randomly and everything sounds like it's underwater or something like that. I've removed the card's drivers software etc and re-installed it but i still get the same thing and I thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any ideas.
Thanks in advance.

Edit: I've run the diagnostics tool and the only error that comes up is regarding the master volume which I don't think is the thing that's giving me trouble.

Note: If it means anything, I've had to swap that pcmcia card with an ethernet card quite a bit at some point last month cause my motherboard ethernet wasn't always working. Maybe all the card swapping might have something to do with this but I have no clue.

9 replies

by older mycroft

I've seen instances where it 'wakes up', becoming active again, thereby causing a resource conflict and causing audible distortion.

It could be a reaction to a recent Windows Update.

by blackj3015

If it's because of a recent update then yeah, it makes sense cause I've never had this problem before and even while I was changing the cards this never occured. You think I should try disabling the onboard card?

by older mycroft

These will refer to the mobo onboard sound. If anything is active (that shouldn't be) just disable it.

Another thing: I've recently had problems similar to yours except I've not got an external sound card attached to my laptop. So maybe it's not really similar at all! :)

Anyway, I've had sound corrupting, like it was crackling and muffled. It turned out to be a bad driver for OpenGL (which makes system calls on OpenAL for sound). Dunno if this would apply to a laptop X-Fi card but would be worth checking anyway.

Good luck.

by blackj3015

I've disabled anything that has nothing to do with my sound card in the device manager under sound, video and game controllers but I still get the same thing. If there's any possibility of it being an OpenGL issue like yours how should I go about fixing it?

by older mycroft

The re-boot helps to re-set everything .

Another possible route to examine:

I am not familiar with the X-Fi laptop card but assume it to be similar to an internal PCI-E card.

Check your AC mains cabling: is there anything connected to your laptop, speakers, etc setup that DOES NOT share the same AC outlet? I ask due to 'ring mains distortion' which can and does cause all manner of dubious noises with audio equipment, not just those attached to computers.

Audio distortion in domestic audio equipment can occur when different components draw their power from different AC outlets.

by blackj3015

Yes, I've re-booted the system. And I dont know about AC mains having problems or anything to do with this. My setup hasn't changed in a long while and I don't really think this is what's causing it. I've even tried using headphones intead of the speaker system I usually use and the gargling sound still comes up every few minutes. I'm unplugging any devices I dont need right now off the laptop to see if this has any effect.

by dadspad

I got a new MB last Christmas, the sound workd fine then. Although I do not use my pc for sound a lot, when I want it, I expect it to be consistant.

Suddenly, the sound was very distorted. After trying the usual fixes, windows sound, all drivers were loaded, etc., I noticed that the onboard sound card had a program to control it (I had either never noticed it or it was part of some upgrade, of which I had done a few). With this program you could change the sounds to preprogramed functions and mine had been set automatically to something like Alien 3, which came out similar to metal string though a tin can with a cat inside. Setting the sound to normal cured the problem.

Hope yours is as simple. :D

by older mycroft

Quite what it was designed for is still a mystery (probably something for kids to muck around with).

My particular control is called 'SoundMAX' and messes with the onboard sound. A bit like an extended equaliser.

THAT might just be the answer!

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