Mysterious Sound Issues

Cunty

I have tried everything outside of buying completely new components, yet my sound issues persist. The sound problems occur whether my speakers or headphones are plugged in.

It sounds a little distorted and a little staticy. The issue is intermittent and seems to get worse at times. There are two main "issues". The first is the distortion, which sounds kind of like the 57 second mark here: here (Annoying that the boards automatically embed youtube and dont respect the time signature). Anyway, the distortion is a little faster than that. The other issue is static. In either case, the distortion usually lasts about a second, and occurs with a frequency ranging between two and thiry times a minute, depending on severity. Another rarer issue is there will be slowdown in the music when these other issues occur often.

These issues are ever present and occur no matter what the source is. If I am playing music from my ipod, from a CD, from my harddrive, or from the internet, the problem persists. It doesn't matter if the headphones are plugged in the rear or in the front of the case.

I've done everything I possibly could when it comes to drivers. I installed the newest drivers for my Gigabyte mobo. I installed drivers for my soundcard. I removed my soundcard and uninstalled those drivers. I uninstalled all sound drivers and installed hi-def drivers.After uninstalling some drivers a stuttering that used to occur was diminished, but my static and distortion problems prevail. I'm simply unsure what the issue might be, and it's very difficult to troubleshoot hardware, since I can't simply "try another motherboard". Has anyone seen similar issues?

Computer parts that may or may not matter:
BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GTX
Rosewill 500W ATX12V v2.01 Power Supply
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor

I'm currently using onboard sound since the soundcard didn't do anything

I run 64bit Windows 7. I would be happy to give you any other information you might need

If anyone can help me it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks

Void Slayer

At first i would suggest using a completely digital audio source (like a USB speak or headphone) to bypass the motherboard based audio and see if the problem still exists. If it does its a software problem of some sort and you can tackle it from that side. If it doesn't solve the problem I would go with a messed up motherboard (or other hardware problem, have you checked all the connections, ALL of them?)


I am assuming you have done this from intel support

Sound is Distorted or Scratchy
Distorted or scratchy sound can be caused by several problems. Improving the sound can be as simple as rearranging your hardware components. The following suggestions may resolve the problem of scratchy sound:

* Are there any other devices around the speakers or wires for the speakers? Electro-magnetic interference can cause poor audio. Try moving your speakers and wires around and away from other devices.
* Have you recently added any new cards to your computer? Cards within the computer can also cause electro-magnetic interference. Try moving the card to another location within the computer, if possible.
* Verify that you are not encountering a hardware issue with the speakers you have by trying another pair of computer speakers.
* Poor audio quality or low volumes may occur if you are using passive (non-amplified) speakers.
* Are your speakers too close to your monitor? The speakers can pick up electrical noise from your monitor so move them farther away. Subwoofers should never be placed near the monitor because their powerful magnets can interfere with the picture. They should be on the floor to maximize low-frequency transmission.
* Are you experiencing sound problems only with particular games or programs? If you notice sound problems such as stuttering voices and static on some games or programs but not others, check with the software vendor for a software patch.

Most important would be fungshuing your internal hardware (move power cables and PCI type cards) and move your speakers away from ANY other electronic components, have you moved the entire rig to a new location?

I know I use to pick up a Mexican radio station on my really old speaker when i turned it up high with no other sounds. Not sure if that's helpful... probably not...

Cunty

I'll try moving some components around. Maybe I'll order some cables from newegg to consolidate things since that's one of the cheaper ways to try and fix it. I appreciate the feedback.