Sound Card still not working right?!!

[whr2206]

ok this has been going on ever since i got the car in July/August. Heres the problem: Everytime I play mp3 files on my computer it almost always seems to skip and stutter. It doesnt matter what I use to play them with every program they stutter with. The problem started when I got the card. I used to have a cheap IBM sound card and it NEVER stuttered. Then once I payed 100 dollars for a good sound card, it doesnt work the way its supposed to. The more programs I have running the more it acts up. But im only running like Internet Explorer, AIM, and say Winamp and it sounds terrible. That cheap 10 dollar sound card worked better than this one. Some people have said that the hard drive cant like do too many things at once... but before I had this card the music rarly started to stutter like it does now. I just cant seem to fix the problem. Here are my system specs:

Asus a7v-e Motherboard
AMD 900@1 ghz on artic silver II with a global win fopp 38
256mb pc133 RAM
30 gig 7200 rpm MAxtor Drive
32x12x40 Lite On Cd Burner
16x DVD Pioneer Drive
Floppy
Hercules Gaming Theater Sound Card - the one that doesnt work right it seems)
Linksys Ethernet Card
ATI 7500 64mb DDR video card
generic case with 300w Sparkle PSU

thats my system and I cant even play basic mp3's without it sounding like crap. Even when im not doing anything but say chatting online. Any help and suggestions would be appreciated!! thanks a lot!

[PMich]

I'll give it a WAG and suggest that you may have some IRQ conflicts. Your ethernet card and sound card may be trying share the same IRQ. You may want to move your sound card or ethernet card to a different slot and see if it helps.

[whr2206]

oh crap.... I just looked at them.. I wonder how they got like this because I know all this crap shouldnt be on one IRQ. Shouldnt the video card and sound card be on separate IRQ's? Back when i ahd windows 98 se they were on different ones... And I havent fooled with anything so why now are they on the same IRQ? Installing windows xp wouldnt have changed IRQ's right? look at all this thats on IRQ 9.. and how do I move some of this crap off of it?

-Microsoft ACPI Compliant System
-Radeon 7500 ( i thought this WASNT on icq 9 )
-Via Rev 5 or late USB Universal Host Controller (i dont even have USB on my computer why is this on? How can I get it off? ) thats on there 2 times on irq 9
- Linksys Ethernet Card Adapter
- Supra MAx 56i
- Hercules Gaming theater

ok I could have sworn that the video card AND the sound card where on different IRQ's... they couldnt have changed without my doing correct? ok so should I just move it to another pci slot then? Also, how can I get the video card off IRQ 9? thanks a lot!

[RenegadeKing]

Move your PCI cards around. That should change the IRQs they are on. You can also probably change IRQs for each PCI slot in the BIOS. Check your mobo manual for more information on that.

[HarisK]

Yea im having the same problem! hmmm any help would be nice...

[Alfie]

Disable com 1 and 2 in bios,that will free up 2 irqs,assign the slot the sound card is in to irq 5,see if you can't get the agp reassigned to irq 11,usually XP handles memory addresses fairly well,but having sound and video on the same irq may be problematic.
Have you installed the l;atest drivers for the sound card and are they certified?

[glc]

Folks - if ACPI is running the show, you can't force IRQ's. You might need to update the motherboard bios.

To get rid of the USB, you have to disable it in the bios.

Next steps are declock the cpu to stock and throw more ram in.

[minsonngo]

The AGP Slot and the first PCI slot share the same IRQ. The fourth and fifth PCI Slot also share the same IRQ.

[Alfie]

I have acpi enabled and was able to reassign pci irqs.

IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 11 PowerVR KYRO II 32MB/64MB OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 7 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 5 VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM) OK
IRQ 3 Lucent Win Modem OK
IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK

Why it's copying things out of order is something I don't know!
I had assigned the irqs in bios,the onboard sound was also assigned in bios,I did shift cards around and as the printer is usb had disabled irq 7.
The original configuration was as described,everything bunched up on 1 irq,although this is meant to be okay,coming from dos based Windows,didn't feel comfortable with it,so changed things around,until I had everything arranged as I like it.
It is in my humble opinion it can be done,as I did it.

[whr2206]

Originally posted by glc Folks - if ACPI is running the show, you can't force IRQ's. You might need to update the motherboard bios. To get rid of the USB, you have to disable it in the bios. Next steps are declock the cpu to stock and throw more ram in.

I disabled the bios just now... ANd I put it back too 900mhz the original settings..... Im not going to put more ram in because im saving up for an Asus p4e, intel p4 2.4ghz I think, and some ddr ram to upgrade this machine... so I guess if getting rid of teh USB doesnt work Ill just wait until I get the money to upgrade to something better.