On board sound problem

[subsang]

I assembled a PC with Intel DG33BU mobo and E6750 proc.

The on board sound was working for a while from the rear port through my monitor's speakers. Hadn't purchased a new set of speakers. For sometime used the front port and an old set of speakers.

Once I got the new speakers (stereo) I connected to the rear port and got a strange hissing sound from the Right Channel. When i move my mouse or access HDD or while booting i get the sound like a modem (though faint) and crackles and pops. There is no other sound from it like Windows' sounds or music. The Left is working fine. And also the Front port for headphone. The audio is from Realtek and is ALC888 says Intel manual.

I tried all means - reinstalling the driver, disabling in BIOS and rebooting and again enabling and reinstalling the driver from Intel CD and Realtek's site (latest driver). I checked all sound settings. No problems with them. Still no sound from the right.

Strange enough I get the hiss even if the PC is switched off but plugged into the wall socket. Only when I switch-off from the main socket that the sound goes.

Any clue?

Should I change the PSU (AC Bel - 500W)?

Should I reinstall Vista?

I trawled the web and found only one solution - discard on board sound and go for a sound card. I don't listen to music from my PC or do any gaming so wouldn't want to spend on it. I use the front port now.

Thanx in advance

Subbu

[Chewy]

Coupled with your firewire problems I would take a close look at your grounding, follow the circuit from the source, check the power supply and the mounting of the motherboard in the case, I can't write a disertation on how all this should be done in this thread. I had one computer that I basically gave up on since it was preassembled in China and ordered by a friend, I thought the motherboard was bad, he pulled it apart and found a short in the usb connections for the front of the case. Buy the best, forget the rest, it's not worth fooling with junk to save a few dollars.

[subsang]

Yes you are right.

Being an electrical engineer approving designs of grounding systems for complex SCADA and protection systems and one who has fiddled around with amps and radios that was my first doubt. Checked it up to the wall socket. It is perfect from the ground of the rear audio socket to the wall socket. Had a doubt with the wall socket itself and tried another socket too. All that is fine. I ran a separate earth from the power socket to the case and even the ground of the rear socket that is hissing. No difference.

Before boxing up my PC after assembly I checked all USB ports (8), audio ports, mouse and keyboard if they worked. Except the Firewire all were fine.

Could be some sort of bleed from the Power buses??

Many posts on the net say that on board audio develops such problems. Some have gone ahead and changed to discrete audio card and called on board audio a crap.

If such things were reported in hordes won't the manufacturers (my board is Intel original) look in to it? And would all of them make mobo with on board audio? So I am trying all means before I declare on-board audio is useless.

By the way the closest PC from HP/Dell with E6550 / E4400 proc available in Abu Dhabi cost atleast 1.6 times what I incurred on assembling one.

[Chewy]

You may just have a defective motherboard

[subsang]

Chewy please don't say that.

I dread pulling the PC apart and taking the mobo back to the dealer (it has three years warranty) and do the whole thing again. In such a case it is better to go for a sound card I think.

Maybe I'll try a reformat and install OS again . I am also thinking of getting XP and install again. Someone somewhere had written that the OBA (on board audio) worked well when he removed Vista and got XP in!!!

Vista got all sorts of problems I think. From driver compatibility to spurious errors.

I used to get a message 'windows explorer stopped working'.. 'checking for solutions'.. 'w exlr starting again' when i clicked the control panel or My computer. There were many advising a reinstall. then found that the Windows Live Messenger had a component Windows Family Security that was trying to Register and activate but was searching for a non existent LAN!!! Uninstalling it solved the issue for me. If you went to Microsoft Technet you have a thread with about 250 posts on this issue!!!!!!!!

[Chewy]

why don't you start over from scratch? If you are sure there's no grounding problem, even with the mobo mounting? Or case wiring.

If I was using vista then I would have partitioned my hard drive, install XP to a small 15 gig max partition, load all drivers and make sure everything works, then install Vista to a 30 gig partition(or larger) and leave the rest for data partition. That way you could rule out software/driver vs hardware issues.

when I am tracking down an electrical problem I remove usb and all non essential connections and test.

just use the process of elimination

[subsang]

I think I'll try that. My friend has XP with him that i could perhaps get for testing purpose. I already have partitions on my 80GB HDD (50 and 30gigs). I am having two HDDs 1 x 80GB and 1 x 500GB.

I tried removing all my USB connections too - KBoard and Webcam. In vain.

In hardware manager all ports (USB, IEEE, Audio) healthy too. The OBA too detects when I plug in my headphone to rear port.

Just now I updated my BIOS. Yet to check the result.

Thanx a lot for your replies.

[subsang]

I read in a site http://www.5starsupport.com/faq/sound.htm#1-1 that if the sound driver is not in CONFIG.SYS it can result in only the Left Channel working for the audio. How to check this and include the driver in CONFIG.SYS?

From my little knowledge the driver when installed should appear in CONFIG.SYS, shouldn't it?

[Chewy]

config.sys is a null file in xp, I can't imagine it doing anything in vista either

a lot of that advice on that web site is way out of date(w98 and earlier)

you don't have any pci cards in your computer do you?

[subsang]

Except a PCI Modem there is no other PCI card. The thing the rear port was working for sometime. Maybe I'll try and install windows again. Perhaps some updates after installation it goofed up the audio.

Windows or WindWoes???

[Chewy]

pull the modem and test

[subsang]

Nothing worked Chewy.

Pulled out the Modem, connected my other PSU with only the C drive. No DVD drive or my second HDD and even front port connector pulled out. The constant hiss remains on the Right Channel and also there is no other sound.

Now I need to only try to install Windows clean.

Else be satisfied with only the Front port.

[subsang]

I have put the problem to Intel.

I never thought it would be a pain to seek solution from them. I posted the problem on website. Then came an email asking for more details. Told the whole story to one Paul from Tech Support. Then he came on to say my problem has been sent to a wrong support unit. He rerouted my email to one Rob in the UK. Rob's email came with an attachment to be filled in. I have now sent it and waiting.

Subbu