Soundcard distortion

OK. Ya'll know that I love distortion. But not this kind. We started noticing that our computer's audio started distorting about two weeks ago. No problems before that. It happens no matter what type of audio file we play or stream. It even comes through on the headphone output, so that's what leads me to think it's the soundcard.

Our tower is a re-built Gateway, and we've had it for almost a year. In that time, we have had ZERO problems....that is, until this started happening.

If I'm doing my digging right, it appears that we have an IDT High Definition Audio CODEC, but I'm not certain if this is the make of our soundcard, or merely the drivers. I tried to uninstall and reinstall the software with no improvement. The Windows diagnostic tool was no help, as it always says that everything is working normally. No it's not!

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? We're really missing being able to play and stream audio clearly! HELP!!!

Does sound like your soundcard.

Reinstalling the software wont work because your soundcard is hardware.

Pop the side cover (with the computer shut down) and locate the card. Try disconecting and reconecting it (it may not be seated properly).

The info you gave ... blah blah ... CODEC is the type, not the brand. If its fried, this is the replacement type you want to look for because I believe its "plug and play" hardware, meaning to me ... this type of soundcard regardless of brand should work with the driver that's there already.

... and get a second opinion ... because im a computer gradeschooler.

Thanks MadMike. We pulled the covers and checked all of the connections. Everything is solid. We also blew out the dust with some compressed air. Still, the same results. We're beginning to think that maybe the soundcard is fried, but we want to hear more opinions before we plunk down for a new card.

The big mystery is that it just seemed to happen out of nowhere. The tower hasn't been moved at all, and the computer has never given us any reason to think that something bizarre has occurred. Everything else is working perfectly fine.

Stupid computers!

Stupid computers!

Did you recently have a windows update?? Sometimes those do unpredictable things - one made the LCD display on my laptop stop displaying...

If so you could try a system restore point before the date of the update (or of the audio problem)...

Good luck...

You know Sly, those blasted updates from Microsoft come so often that it's hard to keep track of when they happen. It's entirely likely that we had an update just prior to the audio going wonky.

I'm not the most computer-literate person, so can you give me a simple step-by-step as to how to roll back our system?

Actually Sly, don't worry about detailing the process. I just spent time on the phone with my drummer Doug who is an absolute computer whiz, and after trying several different things, it's pretty clear that the soundcard is fried. Our computer is a Gateway with an Intel motherboard, and the soundcard is integrated into the motherboard. Fortunately, Doug has a soundcard that he's willing to give us, so we'll bring our tower to next practice, and he will install the new soundcard into our machine.

This reminds me of what you were saying about electronics companies, and their lax attitude towards quality and longevity. This motherboard is an Intel product, and the soundcard should have more life in it than this! Well....OK....we did buy this tower used from a local shop that refurbs computers, albeit, they have a sparkling reputation, so I can't fault them at all. But I still expect more from the components makers.

Oh well.

I always have a spare soundcard laying around

It's good to have computer whiz friends! ;-) (mechanics, plumbers and lawyers aren't a bad idea either...)

Happy to see your problem solved at little expense.

I agree with eric. No so much about the component life expectancy ... except for hard drives, but the technology life stinks......

My last job we had to keep rehabing computers to run win 95; the machines we ran off it weren't xp compatable ... prolonging the life of dinosaurs. Most of the time it was mirroring and replacing hard drives and whatever unit it was, it was never" together" like a tower ... parts here, wires there.

Amy and I just got a handmedown pc. Its good because its fast. Last dual- quad model running xp. We got it with spyware and i've already replaced a memory card, video driver and usb ports. Another year and we'll need a new one. We use this because our 5yo memory expanded, third hard drive labtop takes 20 minutes to boot up and struggles with large high resolution photoshop files ... what we need it for.

We would like to think that we will go spend$ 1k some day and that computer will last us 8 to 10 years, but that's just not true ... so its not worth it to spend more than$ 600 on a new one that will only be decent for 4 or 5 years.

oh now wait a minute a grand?

compusa always sends me emails ( since I buy stuff from them all the time ) and they have quad-core gaming machines for under 500 now with graphics cards with dualcore 1gig memory on board the cards, 1033mhz motherboards 4gigs of ram blah, blah, blah.. perfect for anyone.

the cheapest is still 300 and with 300, you can get one awsome machine

i run photoshop, illustrator and corel ... memory hogs all.

yes, we could go buy a cheap machine but it would only last us 2 - 3 years rather than 7.

our labtop is 8 yo and it was $1200 ... money well spent ... time for a new one.

this computer was used (and free) ... we will probably only get 2 years out of it.

computers are just getting disposable anymore. not ridiculously expensive but you just gotta go out and get a new one every once in a while ... like a car. if you need a new one ... why buy a kia when you can afford a honda and it meets your needs better???

and kia's are much nicer cars these days ... but you get my drift.