Strange problem with sound and video

[bnwhuxley]

I have been experiencing sound and video problems for the last 3 weeks, after a BIOS flash to prepare for a processor upgrade.

When I play sound on Media Player, if I switch Media Player to the background and something else to the foreground, I hear a loud buzzing noise that swamps the music.

When I play any video on Media Player, Real Player or Quicktime, I also hear the same buzzing noise. In addition, the video slows down considerably and becomes jerky. This happens whether or not the video is in the foreground or background (not that I ever need it in the background..)

I have tried (1) flashing the bios back to the old one, (2) replacing the sound card, (3) removing everything except my sound card and video card and keeping them as far as possible, to no avail.

Here are the specs to my machine, which doesn't have many modern components, but works well for sound/video/statistical work:
Duron 1.2gb on Asus A7V with bios 1.08 (had same problems with earlier processor, which was a 700mhz Athlon Tbird o/c to 850mhz)
Old TNT2 AGP 2X Card from Diamond Multimedia
Old Creative PCI128 Sound card (also tried a Creative Ensoniq card)
PCTel Internal Modem
Acton network card

[Whyzman]

Hello bnwhuxley,

Welcome to Forums!

After flashing the BIOS did you enter the BIOS, save and exit (usually F10)?


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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
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Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[ranchdog]

Just a thought... Do you have on-board sound disabled
in BIOS?

Makes me wonder if Windoz hasn't assigned the same IRQ
to these items, to include the Modem.


Luck.

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....How long is a minute... depends on which side of the Bathroom door you're on. ......
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[bnwhuxley]

Thanks fellas,
After my first flash (from rev 1008 to 1010)the PC didn't boot up, so I had to physically clear the CMOS (remove battery, short two connections on the m/b) before the PC booted - did save and exit afterwards. When I experienced my sound/video problems, I flashed back to rev 1008 without any problems.

My A7V doesn't have onboard sound, but I have set the BIOS to disable onboard sound anyway.

Some information that I missed out:
1. I'm running XP Pro
2. When I disable the sound card in Device Manager, video is no longer slowed down or jerky.

[mjc]

Sounds like a conflict of resources, if after disabling the sound card video is smooth....

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[hacker]

Hi bnwhuxley,

These older sound and videocards can have jumpers to set IRQ's and DMA's and later ones had to set jumpers to Plug & Pray(really the case then).

I'm sure you checked that, but just tring to get the easy things out of the way.

Good Luck!






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I was called "hacker" before there was a HeathKit.

[bnwhuxley]

Thanks everyone,
I have got the following devices on IRQ9
1. Creative SB PCI128
2. TNT/TNT2
3. HSP56 Micromodem
4. WinXP Promise Ultra 100 controller
5. SMC 10/100 Network card

I have tried disabling everything except the SB PCI128, but that doesn't solve the problem.

I have also tried removing the modem and network card, but that doesn't work either.

I can't find a way to switch IRQs because WinXP doesn't allow it. But then three weeks ago I didn't even have this sound/video problem with the same configuration. I'm not sure, but I don't think its a problem with IRQ, no?

[Whyzman]

What slots do you have your devices currently plugged into?

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
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Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[bnwhuxley]

Whyzman,
I have:
Sound Card in Slot 5
Modem in Slot 4
Network Card in Slot 3
TNT2 in AGP

I have also tried just Sound Card in Slot 5 and TNT2 in AGP.

[Whyzman]

I'm downloading the A7V manual right now to take a look. In the meantime, do you have a page: Interrupt Request Table for This Motherboard?

If your board is similar to my ASUS A7V133 there's some "Hardware Sharing" going on that might be resulting in conflicts. There are some assigned IRQs to slots, but along with this there are "hardwired" hardware sharing slots.

Okay, just checked and you're IRQ Table is the same as mine. If you are not using the Promise Controller, then you could possibly use Slot 2. 3 Shares with the AMR which I assume you're not using. This is the best slot for anything that might have a definite conflict. Slots 4 & 5 hardware share, and also share with the USB controller...This could possibly be the source of a conflict with your NIC and Modem.

In all candor, my recommendation would be to bite the bullet and make a call to ASUS Tech-Support and ask them where they suggest you place your devices. I would also make sure that my 4in1 are the latest along with any other of the MB updates.

I was networking two of my computers and decided to pull the NIC...my problems went away immediately. Your sound card may also be demaning a reserved IRQ...ASUS could instruct in that regard also.

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
----------------------
Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[This message has been edited by Whyzman (edited 04-05-2002).]

[bnwhuxley]

Thanks everyone who tried to help me out.

I have isolated the problem after some further searching on the web.
The interference comes from the "NB Cool Bit" option in VCool. When the option is on, I will get the sound/video problems. There are two ways out of it - either remove VCool (which is a pity since it works really well to cool down the Duron CPU) or enable the PCI Master Read Cache option.