Ok I just got a Audigy 2 Problems

[mukmaster]

Ok I just got an audigy 2 from my uncle after he complained that it was making crackling noises like electricity. Yea I though I could fix this and get my slef an audigy 2 for cheap so I gave him $30 and take it home YAY. I am thinking at this point what a score. So I plug it in and then I boot into Xp and intsall drives and it pops constanly during playback and when at the desktop. So I though I might use antoher set of drivers and so I download some alternative drivers and do that crackling is still there. So I think well If Iboot into ubuntu off of a live CD then i might be able to see if this is software or hard ware. Even in ubuntu it crackles. and I have tryed the folowing things to get it to go away.

Change PCI slots
Change IRQ
Put in the PCI slot farthest from CPU
Tryed setting the max memeory in boot optins to 4096
Tryed Washing the card in soap and water and a tad bit off tooth paste for contacts (the card still works but clakling presists)
Tryed PCI latlency to 0,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256
Instead of using retail speakers use head phones
Check cables
Disabled onboard
disabled firewire
Tested speakers with my sound blaster live
Disabled parallel ports
Disabled EAX
Checked for shorts

Nothing can fix the popping and cracklining of this card

If anyone knows how I could fix this please tell me

[Modzilla]

check out this thread, same issues, same fix: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=116382

pci latency is the key, changing pci latency for the sound card and the video card is the answer. I see you experimented with different latency values for the sound card. You also need to change the latency of the other devices that are hogging the bus, i.e., video card.

Default pci latency for all devices is usually set in the motherboard bios, typically 32. When you install video card drivers, the install program often sets pci latency for the video card at 248. Reduce the latency of the video card so that it is not more than twice the sound card (in multiples of 8). My latency values are 64 for sound and 128 for video.

This has worked for me on the setup in my sig (socket 478/agp). I didn’t think that the video card had any interaction with the pci bus, but apparently it does. I was hearing the crackling when playing games, and changing the pci latency values for the sound card and video card ended the crackling with no other noticeable change in audio/video quality or performance.

Sound card latency can be changed by changing the latency value in the motherboard bios, which will affect all other devices on the bus. Video card latency can be changed by various video card apps. For my x850, I used AtiTool, which has an option to set pci latency for the video card to a specified value at startup. Another method is to use the latest version of powerstrip. Powerstrip lets you set the pci latency for all system devices separately, and can load them at startup.

[swaaye]

in that monster list of components you neglect to mention just what mobo/chipset you have.

Audigy2 has some issues with certain chipsets and BIOSes that don't set up PCI very well.

[Modzilla]

don't bolt it, artic silver thermal adhesive it. a heatsink isn't going to fix the crackling. adjusting the pci latency of the sound card and the video card and any other bus-hogging device will fix the problem.

[swaaye]

Yeah they definitely don't need cooling.

Cracking, pops, static are caused by PCI latency problems as others have said. Some other card is hogging the bus perhaps, but most likely it's the motherboard's implementation of PCI that's at fault.

What happens is the Audigy has to have the data it needs within a certain amount of time or it can't output clear sound. Its buffers run out and you get the sound issues. You need to reduce the PCI latency timeout allowed for the video card usually as it is the biggest hog of all. Usually it has a 256 tick timeout. Reducing this to 64 will usually solve problems. The timeout number is how long a card can control the bus. I'm not sure what units it is in.

The thing is, 256 isn't a problem in itself. All video cards use this. The problem is the mobo. Probably not even the chipset, but how the BIOS is setting the chipset up.

Look up PCI Latency Tool.

[RatusNatus]

Nice read :)

Solve my problem, thanks!

[mukmaster]

Dude I tryed every thing I could I just had to dump it for my SBL