Soundcard problems.

[Mobius1]

Hey guys.

I've just finished upgrading my PC (also upgraded OS from Vista 32-bit to Win7 Ultimate 64-bit) thanks to Scan's awesome prices

Ever since the upgrade I've notice many 'clicks' and 'pops' in the audio when playing music or games via headphones.

It occurs if I use either the mobo soundcard or the seperate PCI-Express card (Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-E).

Also, when using the PCI-E card, I've noticed that a lot of sound is missing from games. I thought this may be a problem with the surround sound but it's set to headphones.

All drivers are up to date.

Any ideas?

[sadbuttrue]

While overclocking I discovered that having the PCI Express Clock Drive at anything other than the default 700mV caused 'clicks' and 'pops', via both onboard sound and a PCI-Express sound card. This is somewhat at odds with the majority of overclockers who insist on running 900mV for 'stability'. Personally I found no stability issues running at the stock 700mV for all overclocked profiles tested (p55 motherboard, system in profile).

[Mobius1]

Okay, so I removed the PCI-E soundcard completely and the audio problems were still present. Disabling either audio device does not work either.

I haven't overclocked the system (yet).


EDIT: erm... it seems to have fixed itself.

[Mobius1]

After turning of my PC last night and turning on this morning, the glitches are back!

This is really annoting now!

I got rid of them last time by disabling the on-board sound card, re-booting and then re-enabling it. Alas, that didn't work this time

Help

[DDY]

Something to do with DPC spikes maybe? Use this to find out.

[Mobius1]

Success!!

After having no luck when disabling devices in Manager I finally found the solution. I just happened to be looking at the taskmanager and noticed a program called 'GUI.exe'. I disabled it because I didn't recognise it and low and behold the spikes disappeard!

With 'GUI.exe' running:


Without 'GUI.exe' running:


Turns out that 'GUI.exe' is the front-end for EasyTuner6 that came with the mobo. Suffice it to say, it won't be making a return

Thanks for recommending the DPC Latency Checker to me