Hello everyone. I have just put my hands on an old Creative Audigy 2 sound card. The problem with it is after i install the drivers there is a loud crackling sound coming from all of the channels. Interesting thing is that it doesn`t start crackling until windows enters desktop and the sound card`s driver loads. My thought first was that it has some kind of power related problem or a faulty power filtering cap, however it is very difficult to measure when it is installed on the motherboard. Please help 🙁
If you happen to have a Via motherboard chipset that is a very old problem of the Audigy card and Via motherboard chipsets/drivers fighting each other. Goes back to Audigy 1 and the Sound Blaster Live before that. I collectively spent about 2 months of my life debugging that issue a long time ago on a large number of boxes with Sound Blaster Live cards. 🙂 See post #34 here
[RESOLVED] Static crackling on Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum - Page 3
...and like the post says, the solution is to download the latest Via drivers at Via Arena:
Arena: Main News
If you don't have a Via chipset I would still suspect the motherboard chipset fighting the Audigy. If you haven't already, try downloading the latest drivers for that chipset. Also try moving the Audigy to a different slot on the bus (different shared IRQs on PCI) - that will solve it a lot of the time.
[RESOLVED] Static crackling on Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum - Page 3
...and like the post says, the solution is to download the latest Via drivers at Via Arena:
Arena: Main News
If you don't have a Via chipset I would still suspect the motherboard chipset fighting the Audigy. If you haven't already, try downloading the latest drivers for that chipset. Also try moving the Audigy to a different slot on the bus (different shared IRQs on PCI) - that will solve it a lot of the time.
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Thanks for the reply. A have an Asus motherboard with AMD 880G chipset. However I have resolved the problem. Turns out i was right. I have changed the capacitors around it`s voltage regulators and now it works like a charm. The only thing that bothers me right now is that the hiss level is a bit high for me and i wonder is this just this card or that`s a problem with all Audigy 2 cards. My Audigy SE didn`t hiss this loud
Interesting! Good that you tracked it down. I had a couple of Audigy 1's and they didn't have any hiss issues, but never did get or try an Audigy 2.
I had this issue but with old Creative stereo soundcards. Maybe some other capacitors are dead as well, after all it is a 10 year old card.
you should also rule out any latency problems. They can sound like this also. Download the freeware program DPC latency checker and see if there are extreme latency problems on your computer
Interesting. I have never thought of that. As soon as I get back from work I will check. Thanks for the advice
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Joined 2009
I never had any problems with Audigy 2 cards, I've bought a bunch of them used.
No crackling or hiss. Give these aftermarket drivers a try
Official kX Project Site -- News
No crackling or hiss. Give these aftermarket drivers a try
Official kX Project Site -- News
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