Left Speaker Crackling???

This ones got me currently stumped. When playing vid files and mp3's, I'm getting a harsh crackling sound out of my left speaker. This occurs in Media Center, WMP and VLC.

It's not my speakers or amp because Vista / DVD / 360 is perfectly fine.

I have tried installing audio drivers WITH and WITHOUT compatibility mode with no difference. I have installed / uninstalled Vista Codec Package with no difference. I swore at it with no difference

On my Old PC, I had no crackling problems in 7. With my new mobo I do. I have also installed the Asus mobo chipset drivers under compatability mode (wouldn't work otherwise)

So basically I've temporarily run out of ideas, however I'm leaning to a mobo chipset issue. Any ideas?

Check your speaker wires ...

Pull on them. (Gently) Are they secure. The sure way to 'crackles' is wires not connected properly. Don't just look - check.

Yep, I'd already checked the wires. One of the first things I did. All good there. As I said in my OP, it's 7 specific. It even happens through my headphones plugged directly into the card.

I've done a little further investigating and it looks like the crackling only occurs when my soundcard is set to 'speakers' (analog) in Play Back Devices. It's not actually left speaker specific. As I tried a few different sources and a few different settings I discovered that it affects my left front, left surround (wireless), and center depending on the source / setting. The right speakers did not appear to be affected.

In Play Back devices, Using the digital output, the crackling stops.

The downside to using the digital output is that I can only get stereo from 2 ch sources. I lose the ability to use Dolby Digital Live and DTS interactive, so no more upmixing 2 channel sources to 5.1 (one of the main reasons I bought this card )

At least I've stopped the crackling and eliminated a few potential causes

I've now re-adjusted my lean and am thinking it's a driver issue, but I'm sure it didn't crackle with the old PC. It certainly wasn't as prevalent as it is now

Hi TripleA welcome to forums

Unfortunately my drivers aren't available via Windows Update in either 7 or Vista (I've checked). In fact, there aren't even any MS 'default' drivers that work with it. So for the time being, I'm stuck using the digital out.

It wouldn't be so bad except the Far Cry 2 sounds no longer work and the ATI drivers are making DX10 unplayable in Vista.

Hmmm - the fact that it affects everything but right speakers (depending upon source) suggests to me that the drivers are not correctly manipulating stereo sound - IIRC, almost always the right channel is used when using mono sound, but I suppose that the OS / driver could be trying to do something to the sound to either 'emulate' stereo sound or else to try to 'enhance' it....

johngalt said:

Hmmm - the fact that it affects everything but right speakers (depending upon source) suggests to me that the drivers are not correctly manipulating stereo sound - IIRC, almost always the right channel is used when using mono sound, but I suppose that the OS / driver could be trying to do something to the sound to either 'emulate' stereo sound or else to try to 'enhance' it....

Yeah there's definitely something not playing nice. I've noticed that there is another High Definition audio device installed which I believe is the 4850 HDMI output (which I don't use and have disabled. I've tried uninstalling it, but it always re-installs upon reboot. The same device is installed and enabled in Vista and doesn't seem to make any difference)

WindowSeven said:

Hmm, may be you don't have Windows 7 ready speakers lol.
Could you tell us the product info?

lol. It's a Sony DAV-DZ850kw HT surround system, so in other words, an amp with speakers that shouldn't care what's connected to it

Yeah, I had this issue with Windows 7 when I upgraded from Windows Vista because of the Windows Vista sound drivers. It appears that the sound drivers for Win 7 are not exactly the same as Vista. I can't explain why but when I removed the sound drivers and then searched for devices the default Win7 drivers were installed for my chipset. However it may be that Win7 will not find your drivers. In this event we just need to wait for drivers. Many companies have been launching pre-release drivers for beta testing purposes to ensure they will have everything working nicely by release. Perhaps contacting your motherboard support and see if they have any drivers for that model to test with Win 7. It is very rare at this time since it was released as a Pre-beta, however I know ATI and NVIDIA do both have them already.

Anyways just wanted to ensure you, you are not alone!!