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ATI Radeon causing crackles in USB audio

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  • 11-11-2006 9:40pm
    #1
    Zapho
    Registered Users Posts: 1,268 ✭✭✭


    I've posted something about this in the windows forum already but I wasn't sure
    what was causing the crackles. Now that I've realised that its the graphics card
    I'm kinda hoping someone has had a similar problem and can help.
    Its an ATI Radeon Mobility x1400 and the audio card is the creative Xmod (USB X-Fi).
    The problem isn't with the soundcard, tried it in another PC and it works fine.
    Also tried a different USB soundcard and it also suffers from the same problem.

    The machine its in is a Dell Inspiron 6400. Everytime I've any media player
    running and I open a broswer or need scroll down or anything I get a jump or
    crackle in the audio output. Turning off graphics acceleration fixes the problem
    but thats not really a solution is it? I've installed the latest catalyst drivers too,
    to no avail. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!


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    #2
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    Well normally when someone say crackling Creative may be the culprit here but as you say it worked on another machine just fine so perhaps not.

    You could try filing a bug on ATI's site via the Catalyst Crew Feedback they may or may not get back to you.

    From what I have read the Xmod uses USB audio so no driver is provided as such only the built in one in the OS is that correct ?

    For the hell of it try the Omega ATI drivers and see if anything changes.

    Another experiment is try removing the ATI control panel only leaving the driver present.

    One other item is the on-board sound enabled or disabled in the device manager have you tried it either way with the Xmod still as the default audio device in the control panel.

    Last but not least run dxdiag from the run box and go to the sound tab try lowering the hardware sound acceleration to see if anything changes.


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    #3
    Zapho
    Registered Users Posts: 1,268 ✭✭✭Zapho


    You're right, the Xmod uses usbaudio.sys as its driver, which is built into XP
    so there's no hope of Creative writing a driver for it.

    I have already tried lowering the hardware sound acceleration in dxdiag, but no luck.

    Cool I'll give your suggestions a shot and see if they change anything.


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    #4
    Zapho
    Registered Users Posts: 1,268 ✭✭✭Zapho


    Ok I removed the ATI control panel: no luck, crackles still there
    I installed the Omgea ATI drivers: I'm getting better performance with these drivers but still didn't solve my crackling issue.
    I tried disabling the onboard soundcard:no good, still crackling.

    8T8, thanks for the help so far mate. Would you have any other suggestions?


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    #5
    ^whitey^
    Registered Users Posts: 843 ✭✭✭^whitey^


    Have noticed this with my Logitech 350 USB headset ... thought it was just because I was using USB 1.1 port on my G15 instead of USB 2.0. I only notice it while gaming though.


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    #6
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    Fresh out of good ideas only clutching at straws left.

    I would imagine it is not possible to change the IRQ this unit is using but check anyway.

    Try plugging the Xmod into a USB hub or another port.

    Try updating the bios of the notebook.

    Other than those I cannot think of anything else, oh yeah bump your post on Creatives forums someone will hopefully/eventually pay attention to you (but they may say ATI are the problem).


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    #7
    Zapho
    Registered Users Posts: 1,268 ✭✭✭Zapho


    Well, I have found that the ATI card and the wireless card are sharing the same IRQ. Is this bad? There isn't a report of conflicting devices though.
    (They're both PCI(16) and there's a couple of other things like the pci express port sharing it too.)

    The soundcard is sharing its IRQ with a usb port. This seems normal enough though.

    The bios is up to date. Apparently in the latest release, Dell upgraded the firmware of the ATI card. Didn't seem to make a difference though.

    I'll try the USB hub.

    Yeah I tried posting this on the Creative forums and I've found that many people are having trouble with the PCI X-Fi and very powerful nVidea or ATI cards. So I assume this is a similar problem. I created a thread anyway though.


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    #8
    Zapho
    Registered Users Posts: 1,268 ✭✭✭Zapho


    Hey again. Ok I've made a few observations since my last post on this problem.

    The major one being that when I set the POWERPLAY settings down from
    optimal performance to optimal battery (evening when running on AC) the
    crackles disappear completely, and the problem is solved, even though visually
    there's not much of a difference except that games will obviously run more
    slowly.

    Also this problem doesn't occur at all when playing power hungry games either
    it only occurs when using Windows (browsing the net, looking at files opening
    or closing other windows etc)

    Does that ring a bell with anyone?


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