Sound problem a7n8x & soundblaster

[Keith Whitfield]

My spec's
Motherboard: Asus A7n8x Delux Rev2
CPU: Amd Athlon 3000XP (333FSB)
Memory: Corsair 1Gb TwinX (333FSB) Dual Memory Configuration
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum Pro
Graphics Card: ATI All In Wonder 9800 Pro
Harddrive: Maxtor 160GB (8Meg Buffer)
DVD Writer: Lite-On Dual Layer Dvd Writer & Standard Lite-on DVD Rom
Operating System: Windows XP Pro / SP2


Problem
When im playing music everything is ok but when im typing or using the
keyboard I get a loud clicking noise now and again through the card. if i
hold a key down so it prints loads of letters accross the screen theres a
very slight delay just before it makes the click sound I also noticed if i
just hold the shift key down it does the same randomly clicking noise ontop
of the audio.
I checked the irq settings in windows device manager and the soundblaster is
assigned to IRQ17 (Creative SB Audigy ZS (WDM) It Dosn't look like thers any
other devices using this IRQ. I can run the onboard sound card at the same
time and still no conflicts. It's only when i start using the keyboard that
the problem shows up. I also tried moving the card to diffren't pci slots.
All the drivers im using are the latest out even the nvida from there
website As asus don't update them anymore for this board.
I was thinking of upgrading to the A7n8x-E as it's newer but it looks the
same as what I have just with a few extras

Thanks Keith

 

[Blaedmon]

....or it could be the keyboard. Is it USB or Serial? Ive heard of this
problem before but dunno how it was resolved. Try a different k/b first, you
might save yourself some time and money hopefully. Myabe its even the
chipset drivers? Try an update.

 

[Keith Whitfield]

Hi. it's a standard ps2 keyboard. i'll try another ps2 one see what happens

thanks
Keith

 

[Larry Gagnon]

Problem
When im playing music everything is ok but when im typing or using the
keyboard I get a loud clicking noise now and again through the card. if i
hold a key down so it prints loads of letters accross the screen theres a
very slight delay just before it makes the click sound I also noticed if i
just hold the shift key down it does the same randomly clicking noise ontop
of the audio.

It sounds like (pun intended) your keyboard is causing RFI (radio
frequency interference) and getting into your speaker system. I'd bet
it has nothing to do with your audio card, but rather your sound system
amplifier (it is probably a cheap, poorly shielded brand). You could
probably reduce or maybe eliminate this by moving your amplifier further
from your system, and also the speaker leads - keep them away from the
keyboard.

If this doesn't work you can get snap-on RFI ferrite shield cores to put
over your keyboard lead, and your amplifier/speaker leads.

Larry Gagnon, A+ certified tech.

 

[Keith Whitfield]

If i use winamp to play the music and select Allow hardware acceleration (it
says it may cause problems) It gets rid of the problem. it dosn't do it in
programes like windows media player. If i play music through the card for
sampleing or just listening to music off say a minidisc player it does it.
It will also do it when using & playing music with Wavelab. I tried many
diffrent driver and audio settings in wavelab as this is the main programe I
want to fix and nothing worked. I did also have a Dab radio hooked upto the
computer which played it's audio through it's own system sort of like a
radio tuner. The clicking noise isn't allways there it's random as im typing
and if i hold akey down even the shift key it will still do it now and
again. The sound isn't like a humming or buzzing more like a click.

sorry for my poor description it's hard to describe

thanks
Keith

 

[Keith Whitfield]

I tried another ps2 keyboard as sugested but it still has the problem.

Thanks
Keith

 

[none]

What version of DirectX are you running? I had problems like this in
Win98SE and to my surprise it was due to problems with DirectX 8 (at
the time). I suggest getting the version 9.0c runtimes and
reinstalling them, shutdown, power up and see what happens.

 

[Keith Whitfield]

Thanks for the reply. I'm all ready using 9.0c I was thinking could it be
down to me using the latest drivers from the nvida website rather then the
older ones from Asus?

Thanks
Keith

 

[none]

Did you try re-installing 9.0c?

Thanks for the reply. I'm all ready using 9.0c I was thinking could it be
down to me using the latest drivers from the nvida website rather then the
older ones from Asus?

Thanks
Keith

 

[Keith Whitfield]

I tried to re install 9.0c but because it allready on my system it just
jumps to the dialog box saying the components installed are now ready for
use. I checked direct x using the diagnostic tool and it all seems fine.