Audio is unclear distorted, quiet and scratchy

[Thewierd1]

Hi, I was just on my computer today and randomly out of the blue my sound just started to not work. I rebooted and they were very quiet and scratchy and distorted, I then reinstalled windows: NO LUCK. Ive also got all the latest drivers and nothing works! Im so mad right now because I only got this computer 4 months ago.

Thanks for the help; Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello mate just what do you mean by weird and scratchy what external system do you have hooked up and from where a sound card or just the motherboard socket?

 

[Thewierd1]

Well I have speakers, they work fine and have tested it. Headphones as well.
Sorry I forgot to mention because I was so flustered, but its an integrated sound chip, no pci sound card.
It baffles me. I may try to update the BIOS to see what that does. Thats really all I can think of.
And I really appreciate the time you took to reply
Thanks,
- Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok well we need to know what the motherboard is as in the specs it is listed as an Asus but what???? Find that and then we can find the sound device, and then the driver. I like personally to download from the manufacturers site rather then through Windows.

Plus can you run this and let us know what the temps are in the machine CPU, GPU etc etc

Speccy - Download < from piriform it should also tell you the motherboard model number too.

 

[Thewierd1]

Oops, shouldve done that the first time. And I'm a bit baffled, I always thought I had an asus mobo in a seanix case. The cpu cooler fan is asus so thats what I thought it was but anyways the specs are:

Windows Windows 7 Ultimate Edition (64-bit) (Build 7600)
Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421
Memory (RAM) 4027 MB
CPU Info Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
CPU Speed 2986.7 MHz
Sound Card Speakers (Realtek High Definiti |

Display Adapters NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver | RDP Reflector Display Driver
Monitors 2x; Generic PnP Monitor | Generic PnP Monitor |
Screen Resolution 1920 X 1080 - 32 bit
Network Network Present
Network Adapters Intel(R) 82566DM-2 Gigabit Network Connection
CD / DVD Drives 1x (D: | ) D: ATAPI DVD A DH20A1S
Ports COM1 LPT Port NOT Present.
Mouse 3 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks C: 465.7GB
Hard Disks - Free C: 440.8GB
USB Controllers 8 host controllers.
Firewire (1394) 1 host controllers.
Manufacturer * Intel Corp.
Product Make *
AC Power Status OnLine
BIOS Info AT/AT COMPATIBLE | 04/23/08 | HPQOEM - 372
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Battery Status No Battery
Motherboard * Intel Corporation DQ35JO
SM BIOS JOQ3510J.86A.0882.2008.0423.1925

And the specific sound section:
Sound card Speakers (Realtek High Definiti
Mixer Devices 2
Version 72.224
Speakers Present
Volume Left: 65535 Right: 65535


Now the realtek drivers came from intel. But I hate them really and they dont seem to help. I really baffled by this.
Once again thanks
-Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Good stuff TW for starters this is the user manualjust for the record it might say Asus or Gigabyte or MSI or whatever board mate but the chipset is usually made by another company in your case Intel as you can see from that listing for Motherboard you sent me. It is the heart of the motherboard and is simply put what controls the workings of the board. You can see that from the diagram in that manual if you want to see what I mean.

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15038/eng/DQ35JO_TechProdSpec.pdf

and this is where the drivers are. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Desktop+Boards&ProductLine=Intel%c2%ae+3+Series+Chipset+Boards&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+Desktop+Board+DQ35JO

this the sound codecs http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2783&DwnldID=19472&ProductFamily=Desktop+Boards&ProductLine=Intel%c2%ae+3+Series+Chipset+Boards&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+Desktop+Board+DQ35JO&lang=eng

Now it is worth a try to download the sound codecs but first you might just run these if you haven't already just out of curiosity sake.


http://www.superantispyware.com/

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

AdwCleaner Download


download ADW from bleeping computer but run the first two first up.


Now if the on board sound device is not going to work then it might mean getting a dedicated sound card in there - they are not expensive and saves a lot of grief. I use add ons but that is just me I like the extra control. But lets just see what comes out of this first it could be malware (not likely but possible) and it might be the sound device is shot and it might just mean we have to work through the drivers. .

 

[Thewierd1]

Well I downloaded that driver - for the third time - thanks for trying though
I did run the scanners though, just cookies came up on the first one then nothing on the others. So my hunch like you said, the internal sound chip must be gone. I can hear audio but it sounds like the original description.
Any other things you can think of?
Thanks I really do appreciate your help
- Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok my friend well I reckon the best way out of this is a sound card. I have Asus Xonar DG cards in all my machines - great GUI for mixing and effects easy to install and best of all not expensive - I paid $35 each for them out here where you are I reckon they would be cheaper.


Plus no more grief as it cuts out the on board chip when you install .

ASUS - Xonar DG

 

[Thewierd1]

Thanks for all your help. I appreciate the suggestion but i dont have a PCI slot like that available, but I have another question, my computer has a front panel with a mic and headphone jack so can i get a card that I can plug that front panel in?
Thanks again
- Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Actually you will find or should that the front panel is plugged into a header on the motherboard see pics and let me know what is in that slot where the arrow is pointing.

This is the manual http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15038/eng/DQ35JO_TechProdSpec.pdf

 

[Thewierd1]

Nothing is in that slot but that card would fit there? If I look at the card closely it looks too big, And my question would be though, would the panel still work with the sound card then? Because I thought it wouldnt work because it depends on the Integrated audio.

-Thewierd1

 

[Thewierd1]

double checked and the front panel pins you circled are for the usb, there is another - letter "a" in the picture - set of pins for the audio, so the jacks would not work then

 

[ICIT2LOL]

double checked and the front panel pins you circled are for the usb, there is another - letter "a" in the picture - set of pins for the audio, so the jacks would not work then

Oops yes mate you are right the one I circled are the power switch HDD LED etc etc - sorry for that the A is the right one - good spotting!!

Now it is just down to finding out if that card will fit that slot and looking at the pin arrangement on the Asus site for that card isn't looking good.

I'll keep checking.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Well TW it isn't going to work mate in that slot if you look at the slot config in this Wikipedia card ref in the pic you can see not only do the slot notches line up wrong but are also different supply voltages.

Well this is back to square one and meaning another try at the drivers. Now I really feel sorry for you seeing you only got this machine a short time ago - just where did you get it from? Whoever sold or gave it to you must have known this has had a fair bit of use as it has DDR2 RAM in it and that has been superseded for some time.

Not that that in itself is no good because I have a machine running 7 on DDR1 but I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have been playing up before you got it.

Is there any chance of contacting the vendor ?

 

[Thewierd1]

Im not really mad about it seeing it is a off-lease computer, And not really that big of a deal. Even though it is a bit older with my Nvidia 550 GT TI graphics it makes a decent gamer!
As well as ive done some research on PCI slots and Ive got a sound card lined up that would work.
The thing I am going to miss though is my front audio jacks, But hey everything wears over time so we deal with what we got dealt!
Unless there is some way for the front panel to work.....

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Actually TW my cards do not affect the front jacks mate they only cut out the rear pane ones so I think you will be ok

Anyway if there is a problem then you could always knock up an extension lead.

My Logitec Z506 system (runs up to 5:1 system) has a phone jack in the main (small) control speaker. It is a really good system for what I want at 25 watts plenty of grunt and again not that expensive.

But please let me / us know how you get on with that card as it could help out others with a similar issue.

John

 

[Thewierd1]

Will do I should be getting the card late this week or early of the next. Thanks again for all your help its always appreciated.
+ 1 Rep
- Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Will do I should be getting the card late this week or early of the next. Thanks again for all your help its always appreciated.
+ 1 Rep
- Thewierd1

Thanks for the rep TW I didn't do that much and I would have liked to have been of more help. Keep us updated eh?

John

 

[Thewierd1]

Hi John!
Well my card finally came in today and its a nice startech 4 channel low pro. PCI card. It does what I need and well to! Install was easy (PCI's arent that hard lol) and my computer took it nice, now just my luck the front panel needs an hd audio plug, where as the card has an ac97 plug. Well adapter time! Not a big deal anyway, plus the card was only 20$ (Can.)
So thanks again for the help!
- Thewierd1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hi John!
Well my card finally came in today and its a nice startech 4 channel low pro. PCI card. It does what I need and well to! Install was easy (PCI's arent that hard lol) and my computer took it nice, now just my luck the front panel needs an hd audio plug, where as the card has an ac97 plug. Well adapter time! Not a big deal anyway, plus the card was only 20$ (Can.)
So thanks again for the help!
- Thewierd1

Nor a prob mate so glad you got it fixed after the grief. Happy listening