Audiophile Clicks and Pops while old game card doesn't. Please Help!

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quattro_xxph

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Hello. I just installed an Audiophile 2496 on my PC:

P3 500Mhz
System Drive: 10G 5400 rpm Seagate
Audio Drive: 20G 7200 rpm Seagate
Windows 98SE
192MB SD RAM
Cakewalk HS2002

Before I was using a Diamond MX400 card and everything was fairly stable. I have tweaked the system.ini, virtual memory usage, and no other programs aside from Explorer, DSSAgent and SysTray are running in the background. DMA on all drives are ON, and all Auto Insert Notifications are OFF. When I installed the Audiophile I used the latest drivers from their website instead of the ones in the cd. It installed fine but now Im getting clicks and pops when I record. I record at 16-44.1khz and I record one track at a time (no plug-ins, DXi, nothing!). I experimented with an old project which already had 7 tracks. When I recorded the 8th track (a lead guitar solo) I had some very irritating clicks and pops. I adjusted the Audiophile's levels such that it wont clip, I adjusted my mixer levels so it barely touches red so Im sure its not clipping. I checked the IRQ no and it was at 12. It said that there was another device at that assignment which is called something like "IRQ Holder for PCI Steering" and I dont know if theres anything I could do to adjust that. When I look at my drivers in HS2002, I still see the drivers of my old card, so I disabled that card itself from the hardware profile and ran the CW wave profiler. Still clicking and popping!

I adjusted the buffers and latency settings on Cakewalk HS2002 to the safest and put that buffer thingy at 16 which is the maximum. I then went to "Advanced" on the Audio options of CWHS2002 and put the level in I/O Buffer settings to as high level of 1056 and even tried to raise it as much as the software will accept. Still clicking. I then tweaked the Audiophile latency buffer to its maximum level since I dont use input monitoring anyway, I can care less if the latency is ten years! Still clicking!

I uninstalled the MX400 and reinstalled the Audiophile on its PCI slot and this time I installed the drivers in the CD. Still Clicking!

No syncing problems whatsoever with the Audiophile, and sound quality is clearly better than my old card. HOWEVER, there are random clicks and pops and its driving me nuts!

Right now I plan to:

-Add more RAM
-Try installing it again on another PCI slot (my last one)

What else can I possibly do? PLEASE SAVE ME!!
 
RAM could be an issue, but probably not that big of an issue. Your problems may lie elsewhere.

I was using an Audiophile on a PII-400 with 512Mb RAM and running XP and HS2002 - no problems whatsoever while recording.

You do realize that every time you change buffer settings or move the latency slider, you have to re-run Wave Profiler, right?
 
Are you using PCI videocard by any chance? If yes, that is most likely a reason for your problem. Switch to AGP.
 
Thanks for the replies

Brzilian: Yes, I do run the wave profiler whenever I change the latency settings. So 192 RAM is OK?

Also, many have said that this could be a driver issue. I used the new driver (the one in the disc is the same with the newest version on the site), I guess it wouldn't hurt to try older drivers?

Webstop: Actually, I dont have a video card, its one of those onboard thingies. Now, I know that this is supposed to be a disadvantage right then and there because it sucks power from the processor, but I never had the clicks and pops before (not at this magnitude anyway). If I lower the slider on the video acceleration (I think there is one), will that possibly help?
 
quattro_xxph said:
Also, many have said that this could be a driver issue. I used the new driver (the one in the disc is the same with the newest version on the site), I guess it wouldn't hurt to try older drivers?
Click to expand...

I had the crackling problem too till I "upgraded" to an older driver.... I am running a Win98SE as well....
 
quattro,

Are you having any luck? I am having a very similar problem installing a Delta 44. Never had a problem before.

What is the wave profiler?

I have a Dell. What type of computer are you using? I also have onboard video and used a PCI card for a second monitor. Last night I removed the PCI graphics card and still had the problem. When I quit last night I was getting some type of message that my system was dangerously low on resources! Never saw that one before. Computer was so slow I just turned it off and went to bed.

I have a P III 667
Win 98
256k mem
INTEL 810e chipset
PCI Modem
PCI Video card (currently installed on the floor, near the garbage!)
Driver from M-audio disk (same as on the web)
 
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quattro_xxph and J Wah,
Do you have an AGP slot on the mobo?
If yes, I would still suggest to borrow AGP card somwhere and test run it with onboard video completely disabled in BIOS. If you have nowhere to borrow the card, maybe you can buy one in a local comp store and then keep it if it solves the problem or return it a week after...
Onboard video still communicates with the rest of computer via one of existing buses. Therefore, theoretically, even not sitting in a slot it may still be running on a PCI bus, or something like that...
I had this happen. My Seasound Solo card worked fine with PCI videocard, but Delta 1010 was making clicks and pops. Just like you I tried everything: IRQs, buffers, memory settings, acceleration. Certain things helped but the problem was still there until I changed videocard.
It may not help in your particular cases, but I think its worth a try.
 
webstop: I'll give it a try with the AGP slot (honestly, Im not sure I have one. Is that the black slot near the PCI ports? I saw that I have one of those).

I spent parts of the weekend tweaking stuff on the card, on cakewalk and putting in old drivers... etc. Still no luck. But I want to say that the clicks and pops are really not that much, its that they're ALWAYS there SOMEWHERE, and that you can always expect them to be there. I tried recording a longer rhythm track and a short lead track. Its always there, but for the longer track it was noticeable that the loud crackles are at the beginning. After that very few if any really noticeable clicks are observed, however, that one click will ruin the whole thing.

Im thinking of a more drastic solution: What if I upped my processor power from 500mHz to something higher? Will that SURELY eliminate the clicks and pops? Or is this about something else other than processing power and RAM.
 
It's something other than processing power and RAM, most likely. It sounds like a classical PCI chipset/driver issue, possibly due to conflicting IRQ's or some goofy hardware (like on board video). I think these guys have you on the right track for diagnosing the problem.
 
"webstop: I'll give it a try with the AGP slot (honestly, Im not sure I have one. Is that the black slot near the PCI ports? I saw that I have one of those)."
An AGP slot is slightly shorter than a Pci slot. But more important is what version is your AGP slot. Not all AGP cards are created equal. Check your MB manual.
Also you want your sound card on a slot that is not being shared. Check your MB manual to see what slots that are shared. If you dont have a MB manual either on CD or hard copy you need to get one. Makes life easier!
The intel 810 chipset is pretty good so I wouldnt think its that.
:cool:
 
Ok, based on the replies here, it seems my problem has nothing to do with processing power (whew, a new processor is quite expensive) but with something else.

The common denominator I see has to do with the motherboard and AGP video (which I dont have, because my video is onboard). Now, I dont have a manual for my PC (I bought it used a year ago when I was really not intending to dedicate it to this).

Now, I got it all tweaked up, and as said before, it worked great with the consumer card. The clicks started with the installation of the Audiophile 2496. Could there be an issue between these two components(the MOBO and the Card) because if there is, then one of them has to go (and since the Audiophile is more expensive, that means...). And if it comes to this... will the acquisition of a new motherboard and AGP card FINALLY and CERTAINLY get rid of the clicks and pops?

I know I sound like a desperately clueless noob... but then again thats what I am =)

Anyway, thanks for all your help thus far
 
If you get your manual someone may be able to help you further. Just go here and register (its free) and you will be able to ID your MB and get a manual.
A very important question that has not been brought up. Are you using any USB devices?
http://www.motherboards.org/mobocop.html
:cool:
 
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I really suspect that the onboard video is causing trafic interference on the PCI bus, just as others have suggested.

Not much you can do about that if you don't have an AGP slot to try. I would suggest installing the card in the final PCI slot just to eleminate that possible solution. Also, if you have other PCI cards installed, try moving them all around.

That's cleared up crackling for me dozens of times in the past.
 
What's the motherboard chipset?
There have been problems with M-audio soundcard in combination with some VIA chipsets. At least for Athlon cpus. I'm not sure though sure if the same goes for intel cpus on via based motherboards.
 
He has an Intel chipset. Shouldnt be a problem. (My mistake. I read the wrong post) What is the Chipset?
An AGP card might be better but you can also use a Pci and as long as its not shared d you should not have any problems.
Usb can be a problem with these cards. If you are using Usb I may have the solution but no sense in crossing that bridge till you get to it.
ID that MB and get the manual! Not just for this but other problems down the road.
:cool:
 
I got mine (Delta 44) working, at least for playback with no skips. Haven't tried recording yet.

I have the onboard video, second pci video, modem and new sound card. I removed all pci card and got the computer working best it could with nothing but the on board video. Even removed video drivers for the pci video card. I then install the Delta card in each pci slot and tried to see how it worked. I found a pci slot/IRQ that worked and left it there. I then installed the pci video for my second monitor and the drivers for it. Made sure it worked and IRQ were different. Finally installed modem.

I have buffers set high.

Also what Delta drivers are you using? I am using ASIO. I tried the MME drivers just to see what would happen and I got all sorts of skips. If you are using ASIO the buffers are set in the M-Audio mixer, not the recording software (at least for n-tracks).

Good luck
 
some success

Thanks for the replies:

I still haven't gotten the chance to use an AGP video card. I'm still looking for other solutions so I'll leave that as a last resort for now.

Mr. Duck: No, I have no USB devices. When I was using it with my old soundcard I noticed some IRQ sharing, so I disabled it and all my problems were gone (at that time).

Im still going to try to confirm those chipset details due to my lack of a manual. I use the Belarc system advisor, but I cant get it to display my chipset model. Are there any other ways?

Mr. J Wah: No, I actually have never had problems playing back. Everything is actually just at it was, except for the clicks and pops on newly recorded tracks. As for drivers, I only use MME (and I tried all the MME drivers on the M-Audio site) on Windows 98SE. I tried to access the WDM drivers on the CD, but my computer doesn't seem to recognize it.

SOME SUCCESS!
I was tweaking it last night and I adjusted some things on the MSDOS.SYS and SYSTEM.INI. Not much, but I did notice something very consistent... I DONT GET CLICKS and POPS WHEN MY PROJECT HAS ONLY ONE TRACK. I tried it again on a blank project, no clicks. I tried recording a fairly long track... no problems. I tried this around three times... no clicks.

So I went back to my old projects. I started recording on track 9... clicking like hell! Again, no plug-ins, automation, nothing. I tried it again, and the result was the same.

So can anybody explain why it does this consistently? It seems that I experience this problem when I have lots of tracks, but when I record on a blank project, I get good results (well 3 straight times anyway).

Any ideas?
Thanks!
 
"So I went back to my old projects. I started recording on track 9... clicking like hell! Again, no plug-ins, automation, nothing. I tried it again, and the result was the same."
Just to be sure did you mute all tracks except track 9 and still get clicks?


Im still going to try to confirm those chipset details due to my lack of a manual. I use the Belarc system advisor, but I cant get it to display my chipset model. Are there any other ways?
Click to expand...

Use ctbios13. If you have a Phoenix bios it wont do any good as far as IDing the MB.
Post it or email it.
You need to Id the motherboard though.
You will have to unzip this file.
 

Attachments

Mr. Duck

Just downloaded it (its only 3:00 PM) here so I haven't had a chance to use it at home yet. I'll post the findings immediately. Thanks a million!

Yes, I do mute the other 8 tracks when listening to the newly recorded wav. I even tried soloing it and then recording while all other tracks are muted. Same result. Notably, there are absolutely no disruptions in the audio playback of all the other tracks as I am recording. I thought that maybe it was just a playback problem, but I checked again and again... the clicks were always at the same place, therefore I concluded that its a recording problem. Oh, and I also tested if the clicks were exclusive to Cakewalk... I recorded some wavs via SoundForge and Musicmatch... the results were worse!
 
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