soundblaster 128 pci + Epox 8kha+ = choppy soundplayback

[kilg0r3]

hi and sorry for the long post, but i am trying to be as exact as possible.

THE ERROR
crackling sound with epox8kha+ and soundblaster 128 pci during and after ide aktivity (more details below)


WHEN DOES IT OCCUR?
when there is traffic on one of the ide channels, especially when writing on the hd on ide1. writing on the hd seems to be far more problematic thatn reading (like playing an uncompressed avi)

WHAT'S THE SYMPTOM?
first impression is a crackle when playing (any kind of) soundfile (with any player). at closer attention it seems as if the sound is being chopped into parts, and the play back is repeatedly suspended for some milliseconds; as if the sundcard has to wait for something. this impression is confirmed by the fact that, in extreme cases, the player tries to synchronise the sound with the timestamps by slight accelration of the play back.
the error is _NEW_ but my configuration is not. i did not modify my hardware setup in the last few weeks.

WHEN DOES IT NOT HAPPEN?
when i use the (awful) onboard sound, the error never happens.



WHAT HARDWARE?
cpu: athlon 700 (cpu load is not the prob)
mainboard: epox 8kha+ (via266a) latest bios and others
vga: matrox g400 dh -- slot 0 (agp), irq 11
networkcard: level one (realtek) slot 2, irq 10
soundcard: soundblaster pci 128 -- slot 3, irq 7
isdn: avm fritz pci -- slot 5, irq 5

WHAT SOFTWARE
os: win xp pro
players: wmp, winamp, cooledit

wHAT I TRIED?
latest drivers for chipset, soundcard and vga
latest and older bios
fresh install of windows xp, with native windows drivers, then with via and others
different pci slot for soundcard
some weird pci settings in the bios
... other things i don't remeber


thank you very much to all who have reached the end of this post. i owuld really appreciate any attempt to help me.

[omol]

Originally posted by kilg0r3
hi and sorry for the long post, but i am trying to be as exact as possible.

THE ERROR
crackling sound with epox8kha+ and soundblaster 128 pci during and after ide aktivity (more details below)


The famous creative+via crackling sound problem. 2 suggestions, either get any non creative brand sound card (I use Turtle Beach Santa Cruz) or try the pci latency patch here (http://www.networking.tzo.com/net/software/). As some said it also happens on Intel chipset board, so switching to Sis or nForce board may not help at all. It seems the problem is on creative and via chipset only aggravate it.

regards,
omol

[kilg0r3]

two things i don't understand:

1. how can it be that the problem arrises two or more month after a system has been put together ?

2. why is it that i seem to have fixed the problem by increasing the pci latency to 64 ???

[omol]

Originally posted by kilg0r3
two things i don't understand:

1. how can it be that the problem arrises two or more month after a system has been put together ?

You happen to have flashed the bios to different version? Or you did some slots juggling? They both will make the problem surface.

regards,
omol

[droolian01]

Hi there.

I have recently built a system based on an asus a7v333 raid mobo and got rubbish performance from my capture card etc until using the latency patch from george breeze

http://www.networking.tzo.com/net/software/ (http://)

It is a well known issue (only recently by me though!) with via chipsets. There is a patch on the via site but it is specific to certain raid/scsi devices and georges patch is a generic fix.

Hope this helps.

[kilg0r3]

i know about this patch but, for me, it worsened the problem.

[omol]

Athlon 700@850, 256DDR, Matrox G400, Win XP

Just curious. You obviosly have an unlocked TBird, why you stick with 100mhz fsb?

regards,
omol

[kilg0r3]

hehe, i don't

i am currently at 933 mhz

[nikthebak]

This sounds all too familiar. However, the situation can be improved so that the crackling isn't too annoying. You can try these things, in this order, if hint number n doesn't help, try n+1.

1) Make sure that SB128 doesn't share IRQ with any other device! You have to consult your motherboard's manual to see which PCI slot doesn't share IRQ's. Usually it's the third slot.

This part is extremely vital and I can't stress this enough. You can see whether the card shares IRQ's or not through System Information program in Windows.

Just random PCI slot change doesn't necessarily do any good, you have to make sure you use a non-shared PCI slot. If the non-shared PCI slot is occupied, switch the cards.

2) Use the most recent 4-in-1 drivers available.

3) Use the PCI latency patch.

4) Purchase a non-VIA and non-Creative system.

I had the similar problem with KT133 and SB PCI128. Eventually I resolved it by getting a brand new P4 Northwood-based system with Intel 845G chipped motherboard and Terratec EWX24/96. It kicks ass, I tell you :D