Onboard Sound Card Broken?!

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Sometimes when I turn my speakers on, there is no/very little sound from the right speaker. If I turn the volume up, the sound goes very scratchy. If I record a game with Fraps, there is only sound heard from the right speaker. Playing the recorded video show on a different computer has confused me more. Whenever there is sound from the right speaker there is sound from the left speaker but it is VERY VERY scratchy, and it cannot be identified. So has my onboard audio broke or breaking? Is it time for a new motherboard, processor and RAM? (There are no more Socket 939 Motherboards around anymore!!!!) I do so hope not. NOT going to buy a PCI Sound Card either. There is also another sound card on my computer not that I am aware of. It's called ATI Audio HD Rear Output. But this is a graphics card!!!! So will I need a new motherboard?
Sound Device: Realtek AC'97
Sound Chip: nVidia(0059)

 

[Madxgraphics]

Have you tried updating the drivers for the device...? It might be something as simple as that..You say you played the video on another computer and the sound wasn't right..? Were you suing the same speaker system..? Could iit per chance not be the speakers ..? Do you have any Audio Codecs installled sometimes they can play silly buggers..
If there is another sound device on your computer that you are not aware of, well erm then how do you know that it is there..?

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

It gets worse...

Drivers are up to date. No I played the video on my laptop.

To be sure it is not the speakers, I plugged my rubbish monitor speakers in but the sound is very quiet, weak and even more scratchy.
To complicate things even more, the computer can not longer play older Fraps videos with full sound, only sound comes out the right speaker. Copying the older video onto my Laptop, and both audio channels are fine. It can still play MP3s with full stereo sound, however the left channel becomes slightly scratchy as the volume goes up. When I use Jack Detection, it wrongly identifies the "Line Out" as "Line In" when before it said "Power Speaker". This happens with both monitor and power speakers.
If it cannot be fixed then it will mean a full computer renovation!

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

And that other sound device shows up in control panel, but the default sound device is still set to Realtek AC'97.
If I set the sound to ATI HD Audio Rear Output, I can head the speakers click off and no sound what so ever is heard.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Worse!

I'm really desperate now!
I used Windows Sound Recorder and found that the problem is not Fraps (I hope you know what it is - any enthusiatic gamer will know) it's not me speakers (Replaced them)
It's the "Stereo Mix" channel.
When using Sound Recorder, there is still only sound from one speaker, the right.
HELP?!
Jack detection now gets everything correct. Older Fraps videos play fine now.
It's a pretty crappy time for me to have a sound problem because I was just about to film 2 Crysis Sandbox 2 Editor videos for Youtube but it really sucks that there is no sound from the right speaker.
Please help or I will have to put a new Motherboard, Processor and RAM on order and junk my current parts. Or just keep them for a rainy day. What's better?
In games, sound works fine now. So there is only one small fault but I probably will totally upgrade for Christmas because my motherboard and processor and RAM are so severely outdated. Until then, please help me solve my Stereo Mix sound problem.

 

[Waynos_Face]

Definetly sounds like software, i.e. driver or actual program software than a hardware failure.

Try reinstalling the motherboard drivers, the ATI sound thingy will be to use a different cable for an opticval output for HD sound, you don't need it.

It sounds like its setup wrong. Unintall everything, put everything back to default and start again.

And stop breaking your PC, the poor thing.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

I don't think its a software problem because I've tried totally reformatting and reinstalling Windows and everything, but I still have a problem. And what do you mean by "Breaking"?

 

[Waynos_Face]

Maybe its old and at the end of its life but t sure seems to have its fair share of problems.

 

[Alf]

Since you dont want to get a PCI sound card....

How about a PCI-E card?

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

PCI-E sounds good but pointless. I've already marked this for Christmas.
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 AMD 790X (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000 3.10GHz (Socket AM2)
Asus TA-58 PC Case stays the same.
Power supply stays the same.
The three hard drives stays the same.
The floppy drive stays the same.
The DVD-RW DL and CD-ROM stays the same.
The power supply stays the same.
The graphics card stays the same, however, I might buy another ATI graphics card in future and Crossfire them.
What do you think of this upgrade? How well will it run the newer games (GTA IV, Crysis Warhead, Call of Duty - World at War)

 

[Madxgraphics]

PCI-E sounds good but pointless. I've already marked this for Christmas.

Explain please....

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Pointless because I'd only need it for January because in January sales, I'm getting the parts I posted earlier.

 

[JaLing]

The ATI HD Sound output is sound via HDMI, it is but isn't sound.... its mainly just an output via your graphics card.
Used primarily if you have it set in HD mode and play movies using the gpus decoder.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Thanks JaLing.

I don't have a HDMI cable, so I doubt that I'll ever use it.
Right before we go completely off topic, can I be 100% sure that it is the sound card that is causing the stereo mix problem?
Would a CLR_CMOS jumper help?

 

[Abarbarian]

PCI-E sounds good but pointless. I've already marked this for Christmas.
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 AMD 790X (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000 3.10GHz (Socket AM2)
Asus TA-58 PC Case stays the same.
Power supply stays the same.
The three hard drives stays the same.
The floppy drive stays the same.
The DVD-RW DL and CD-ROM stays the same.
The power supply stays the same.
The graphics card stays the same, however, I might buy another ATI graphics card in future and Crossfire them.
What do you think of this upgrade? How well will it run the newer games (GTA IV, Crysis Warhead, Call of Duty - World at War)

That board only runs at x8 when in crossfire. You would be better of with a Phenom than a 6000. Plenty of test reviews on that board on the net.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

A Phenom will bust the budget, so no.

 

[Waynos_Face]

Whats the budget???

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Max £200

 

[Waynos_Face]

The Biostar board is better, the CPU is £10 cheaper and the RAM is CAS4 so is better than the CAS5 you linked to.

Should be the basis for a semi decent system, you just to get a better graphics card, please please please don't Crossfire two of those cards, as i've said before i had 3 at one point and they are crap crappity crap, 3 didn't even beat a 3870. Luckily though i got 2 for free so it didn't cost alot.

When you upgrade, sell what you have replaced and then sell your graphics card, then you can get a 4850 and play those games.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Don't want that board because it has stupid dumb crappity crap useless On-Board VGA. Don't want on-board VGA, even if it can be disabled.