Sound problems

[oskacat]

I am running an MSI K7T Pro 2 mobo with on board sound. Whenever I go on-line I lose all sound from any games I am playing, or music CD I am listening to. This makes it very hard to play CM online! I guess there is some conflict between the modem and the mobo. Sometimes the sound will disappear within seconds, while at other times it can take up to 5 minutes. The sound is replaced by a high-pitched tone from the speakers. Can anyone help shed some light on this problem.

Thanks

No good trying to fight a first class enemy unless the soldiers are absolutely on their toes......They must have the light of battle in their eyes......They must be full of 'binge'.

Montgomery, "The Making of a General"

[ 10-12-2001: Message edited by: oskacat ]

[Mal Elder]

you're probably rite about a conflict...probably the easiest way to see if its an IRQ conflict is to go into System Properties (from Control Panel), goto Device Manager, and double click the Computer icon at the top of the list (i'm assuming win9x). One of the tabs should be an IRQ listing, you'll be able to see if anything is sharing an IRQ (modem and sound card in this case)...some hardware can share, but some can't (: If this is the problem, you can usually change the IRQ setting on either item, by finding it in the device list, hitting properties, and then going to the Resource tab. You'll have to uncheck the box to "Use Automatic Settings", then move the IRQ to one that isn't in use (the main list under Computer will help you again there). Other resources can conflict, which makes it a tiny bit trickier to track down, but basically you'd be doing the same thing with memory range, I/O range, etc. Win2k works pretty much the same way, except you can't get the nifty IRQ list as easily (the msinfo32 program can help you there if thats the case). Good luck (:

[oskacat]

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that I am running ME. I looked as you suggested, but the only audio listing I could see (VIA AR'97 audio controller) has # 10 beside it while the modem has # 12.

[Mal Elder]

hmm...is the modem also onboard or is it a seperate card? Although I never have much luck with it, you can goto Start, Run, and type msinfo32...under the hardware section in that program it has a section that will list Conflicting Devices...that may give you some information.

Out of curiousity, is your Device Manager all clean? no red X's or yellow !'s (or pink *'s, purple U's, yellow Diamonds?) (;

I've seen combo sound/modem cards that can't handle doing all their jobs at once (they have their own processor's that die when you try to use both functions (techies may remember the Dolphin DSP, or MWave Modem of Packard Bell/Aptiva fame). If both pieces are onboard, it's possible you could be running into an issue like that...hopefully we won't reach that point tho (:

Is it safe to assume that if the sound card is listed as VIA, that that mobo has a VIA chipset? if so, have you gotten the nifty VIA 4in1 patch for their stuff? It solves all sorts of bizarre problems with their hardware and windows (:

[ 10-12-2001: Message edited by: Mal Elder ]

[oskacat]

I tride the 4n1 driver pack and the audio driver from Via but I've still got the same problem (although it did last longer before falling over this time). I checked the device manager again and the only thing I can see repeated more than once is -

"ACPI IRQ holder for PCI IRQ steering". This is in both #10 with the via audio controller and #12 with the modem. I think that this may have appeared as a result of implementing the driver pack I mentioned above.

[Schrullenhaft]

The 'ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI Steering' is normal, otherwise it would be 'IRQ Holder for PCI Steering'. You will get one matched to each PCI device you have. ACPI is configuration and power management protocol which is probably enabled in your CMOS/BIOS setup.

Your on-board audio is some sort of AC-97 codec used in conjunction with the VIA chipset. Many motherboards have something similiar implemented to offer inexpensive audio capabilities. The latest audio driver (which apparently you've downloaded) can be downloaded from MSI:

http://www.msi.com.tw/support/driver/onboard_sound_driver.htm

What modem do you have installed ? Do you know what driver and/or firmware version you are using ? I'm guessing that the modem isn't a bus-master (I'm not sure which models are for that matter) and when you're online it will probably interfere with any other PCI devices, of which your sound is most noticeably affected. A possible software and/or firmware update may help a little in this regard, but most likely it will not be a complete solution. Otherwise you may need to purchase either another modem or sound card (another modem being the best bet).

I assume that you're using either a serial or a USB mouse, is that correct ? If so which type ? IRQ 12 is usually reserved for the PS/2 mouse, but many people today are opting for USB.