strange comp. prob??

J

jal

New member
i am so baffled. my computer is seeming to pick up my voice and such. i dont have any mics or anything hooked up (monitors or input). the way i found out was when i was on soundforge (i get this constant -45db of level on the soundforge meters) and i accidentally bumped the computer and saw the levels jump, so i checked to see if my mic was enabled and it wasnt so....... anyways i thought maybe it was my speaker on my modem so i took it out and no change. i have a amd-k6 and a crystal pnp sound card. i can actually record the sounds of my comp. just by hitting record and have no master audio inputs enabled like mic and so forth. have any of u guys heard of such a thing or do i have a miracle on my hands?

please help,
jal
 
Your computer is VERY susceptible to interference. Every single doodad sticking up on your soundcard acts like an antenna. The design of the card is VERY important in eliminating as much noise as possible.

A cheap soundcard like you have will typically have -40db of noise. A slightly better designed card, for about the same price, will give you a noise floor at about -70db. (the Ensoniq AudioPCI retails for $30)

Things you should do:

1) Disable ALL recording and playback sources that you're not using. You should only have enabled Line In on the recording control, and Master Volume, Wave Volume, and perhaps MIDI/Synth Volume on the playback control. I've found that simply muting CD Audio can decrease noise considerably.

2) Unplug ANYTHING running into or coming out of the soundcard and check your noise level once again. Bad PC speakers can do funky things for instance.

3) Turn the monitor off and see what happens....oh that won't work because you can't see what happens :) You might have to listen...or just move the monitor around. Your monitor should be thought of as a big hunk of radio-active waste in that you should try your hardest to avoid it when recording....that is, get away from it and make sure it's not mucking with anything running into the soundcard.

Did you have anything plugged in when you were moving your computer around?

My guess with the info you've given is that when you're moving your computer, it's like moving a big clunky antenna. That's why your noise is jumping around.

You mentioned that it's picking up your voice? Is this true or are you just relating that ugly noise floor to the sounds of your room?

Slackmaster 2000
 
hey slack,
no it really does record my voice. and i went as far as to disable and remove my modem thinking that the speaker in it was acting as a mic, and it didnt do change anything. when i did all these tests nothing is plugged in nada not even my speakers. all i have to do is hit record and scream at my comp. and i can hear my voice on play back.???? what ive came up with by doing a bunch of tests with other comps. is that the comp. is acting like a big mic and all comps. do, but we dont hear or see it cause the soundcards act as a buffer of some kind. what do u think?
thanx so much,
jal
 
WOW!

I'm not sure I guess! This is really strange indeed.

I'm not an electrical whiz so I don't know how that's possible. I guess I'd envision your soundcard as being surrounded by various radio-electrical-magnetic fields, some of which are causing audible noise in your card...and your voice moves enough air to disturb these fields (perhaps by vibrating the card or its doodads) resulting in a breakup of that noise that will sound somewhat like your voice (or even very much like your voice).

This is interesting to me because I recently discovered that I can scream into my guitar pickups and hear my voice through the amp. Of course my voice is causing the strings to move very slightly within the magnetic field of the pickups...creating a very crappy but interesting microphone.

Of course your situation is different...and more annoying. You do have the first Pentium Microphone I've ever heard of :)

Another thought: do you have the option to control your PC speaker via your soundcard (e.g. the windows mixer control)?

Note that all of this noise is of the analog variety as there is no *noise* after a signal is digitized...therefore this is happening because of the soundcard's design in relation its universe...before or inside of the AD converter...you will probably only be able to remedy this problem by disabling everything on the card that you don't use, and if that doesn't work you'll have to replace the card. CS chipsets are often integrated into motherboards, is that what you've got?

Slackmaster 2000
 
i dont know what cs chipsets r. all iknow is that i have a crystal pnp, it came with the comp. i bought it used. how do i take things off the card im not using? hey i saw that u have aol im and i put u in there and its saying u cant have that line, its an invalid character so i just put wonderlad then we can talk real time. mine is jaulen.
thanx dude,
jal
 
Actually I don't have AOL...but I do use MSN Instant Messenger for which my account name is wonder_lad@hotmail.com ... I *might* have an AOL name because I was trying to get a jabber client to work (multi-platform chat thingy).

Anyway, I said CS chipset because that's what your "Crystal" soundcard uses (is). I guess I'm just wondering if that soundcard is built into the motherboard, or a real card. The reason I ask is that I usually come across crystal chipsets on integrated motherboards.

Also, I didn't mean to imply that you can take things off of the card...but you can disable them using the windows mixer. (e.g. disable CD Audio, Phone Line, TV, etc)

If you have an actual soundcard, then replacing it will be very easy...and you're best bet out of this situation. Go look for an Ensoniq AudioPCI card for about $30. Alternatively, you could spend a little bit more on an SB Live!, or start saving for that "pro" audio card.

Good luck!

Slackmaster 2000
 
Yo Jal,

Slackmaster is correct in saying that computers are like a big antennae, the problem you have is caused by all the magnetic interference in your box.

Switch it off and have a look under the hood, if your sound card is motherboard based the plugs that you connect to mic n speakers will join staight onto the motherboard. This is bad as the interferance is being picked up mainly in proximity, also allthough cheeper to make the onboard soundcards can be naughty when you try to turn them off and use a more advanced (and cleaner) PCI Card. Solution; new mother board :(

If the plugs go to a seperated card at right angles to the mother board, have a look at the way it's set up. You should have at least 3 PCI slots (the type your S/C will be plugged into) is the sound card in the top slot closest to all that magnetically noisy CPU fans and gizmos? Is your modem sandwitching it?

IMHO i would suggest moving the S/C to the furthest slot from all your other devices, give it as much room as you can, hopefully you will hear the differance jus by moving them around, of couse this is no cure for a crappy sound card, but it might make it useable while you work out what you actually need.

Good Luck

Bones
 
thanx guys, i just bought the dman s/c and the level has gone way lower (whew). yeah i do have that s/c that goes into the motherboard i knew that couldnt be good. i jusat disabled all the crystal pnp stuff and its alot better now. now the only problem is i cant hear my cds cause with this particular s/c u have to hook the cdrom to it. who knows....

well thanx again:)
jal


"now i know and knowing is half the battle"
 
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