constant whining, 'fluttering etc.

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Tue May 21, 2002 5:45 am

I hate to keep pushing this thread to the top of the heap but I wanted to add more commentary.

1 - found source of ground loop humm in my system. That's been cured but crackling noise remains from Pulsar analog outputs.

2. Set up dual boot system with 2 versions of Win ME (one for recording, one for general purpose). Works great but didn't cure noise problem. Win ME (recording) setup with absolutely minimum driver set for recording purposes.

One thing I keep coming back to is the graphics adapter. The thing is, the crackling will disappear at certain points where there is a Windows menu on screen waiting for input (various places). When I move my mouse cursor around, I can hear a little noise. When I move an icon or menu around on the desktop, I can hear a lot of noise. Yet, the noise disappears entirely at some points where Windows seems to be waiting for input of some kind. That leads me to believe it's a Win config issue. The same noise appears on both WinME partitions. Same noise appears with two different types of monitor (one CRT type, one LCD type).

I spent all day yesterday trying various combinations of PCI slots, IRQ settings, graphics adapter settings (no buss mastering among other things). Nothing had an effect. So before I give up entirely, I thought I'd run this up the flag pole one more time and see how it waves. Nothing connected to PC except mouse, monitor, keyboard and cables from analog out to mixer. Nothing else connected to mixer. Everything on one AC outlet.

to recap:

Win ME
ASUS PT4-E mobo
512MB RDRAM
two 60GB Seagate hard drives (IDE)
Enermax Whisper 400W power supply
Pulsar 2
XTC
Matrox Millenium G450 AGP card (32MB)
TDK Velocity 24X burner
Ethernet card (disabled in recording config)

Any more ideas welcome and thanks!

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue May 21, 2002 7:46 am

Did you disable bus mastering on your matrox? I've noticed it's only matrox users who ever report this type of problem...

SKYWORX · Post by **SKYWORX** » Tue May 21, 2002 9:36 am

Well, here's something...
I've just replaced the standard Intel cpu cooler I used with a -pretty expensive- Suncore cooler, wich made an impressive difference!!! I now have to put up 16 faders to their max with the master to the max, to hear anything. The remaining noise almost dissapears in the noise of the console. Well, that solved my problem, hope it does for you....

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Tue May 21, 2002 9:59 am

Thanks guys. I tried disconnecting the CPU fan briefly and it had no effect on the noise so doubtful it's related to the fan.

Bus mastering was disabled on Matrox card but maybe it's time to try a different card. I've run out of ideas and I don't see any other magic bullets appearing here. Clearly, the noise is related to OS at the point where it boots up (no noise from the outputs prior to the appearance of the Win desktop). At one point I tried disabling the mouse, thinking it was related to my optical Intellimouse. No change.

Well, I'll keep poking at the problem as time and money permit. Thanks again!

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue May 21, 2002 11:46 am

If people are so worried about getting a virus they should burn a spanned image to CDs. I don't ever have to worry about getting a virus or a trojan horse etc and I don't have to constantly update my virus definitions, plus if your system gets screwed you can recover it in 20 minutes while you watch bad tv.

"NORTON *IS* THE VIRUS"...

Braincell

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Wed May 22, 2002 8:28 am

<i>"NORTON *IS* THE VIRUS"... </i>

I mostly agree. I like Ghost and SpeedDisk though but disable/dont install everything else. Even then Norton is now such bloatware that unless you really know what you're doing, I'd say avoid it.

And never run a virus program on a DAW in the background... asking for trouble.

Next time you reinstall, check the size of your registery before, and after a default install of Norton.

bastian · Post by **bastian** » Tue Jul 30, 2002 9:19 pm

Guess what, my Pulsarcard has been silent as a mouse the last 6 months after previous struggeling with the bubbling noice issue, but now its back.

I finally decided to move on to XP after using WIN98SE for several years, and after installing the noice was back.

I haven`t changed any hardware nor changed anything in bios and i´m not a Matrox user (TNT riva) so it has be a config issue.

Six months back, the noice totally vanished when i disabled acpi in bios (using APM instead) and reinstalled 98SE.
Now in XP i installed as Standard PC, but the freaking noice is back.

Any ideas???

/bastian

DS. I don´t think this has anything to do with bad cables or ground loops.

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Wed Jul 31, 2002 8:40 pm

"I don´t think this has anything to do with bad cables or ground loops."

OK - here's something to consider....

I have been beating my head against the wall on the exact same problem for months. I finally couldn't take it anymore and bought a brand new Pulsar (with the Z-Link I/O plate) and a new motherboard. Here's what I found....

I connected the Z-Link cables to my A16 Ultra and the noise almost disappeared (almost, not quite). That tells me it is a ground loop problem since the Z-Link cables use system ground. Even the mouse cursor noise went way down. If it's not a ground loop issue, then what? A new mobo did not cure the problem (and I tried too many other things to go into here). So now I have two Pulsar boards with the exact same problem although Z-Link cables cured the problem (more or less). It must be a haunting

bastian · Post by **bastian** » Thu Aug 01, 2002 5:45 am

Yes, but it´s really weird in my case. In XP the noice is there, when i ghost back to WIN98se it´s gone. Nothing to do with cables or ground loops here.

/bastian

flashvalley · Post by **flashvalley** » Wed Sep 18, 2002 6:43 pm

Hey, I've got the same problem.
But I've noticed that the noise changes when I switch ULLI settings.. Lower ULLI Settings result in higher interference noise. And when I close the SFP software, part of the noise disappears.. there still remains a lower crackling-type noise.. but when I push the minimize-button of a window and hold it, there is no noise at all.. Don't know if this is any help to anyone... but I thought it would be useful to share the info..

Best regards,

Valley

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Thu Sep 19, 2002 5:04 am

One last thing I wanted to ask about Partition Magic: can you create a dual-boot system with a single license of Win ME? Or do you need a second license?

No second license necessary. Even Microsoft couldn't argue with this one as when you are booting into one windows partition, you can't see, let alone use the other. It is very much like having two computers. Have one drive as your dual boot with os and apps. Have a second drive for your audio data and project files. This way no matter which windows partition you boot into, you'll still be able to see your data files on the second drive. Good Luck!

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Thu Sep 19, 2002 5:17 am

Clearly, the noise is related to OS at the point where it boots up (no noise from the outputs prior to the appearance of the Win desktop).

One question, It's not the monitor (screen) causing you grief is it? Bad monitors can cause all sorts of rf problems.

I have friends at a studio that have a monitor which causes noise in their Mackie 824 and you can hear the noise change as the display changes during the boot up process! Bad grounding and bad rf emissions could be something to look at.

Good luck!

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Thu Sep 19, 2002 6:45 am

Heh - we're back to this guy again

I spent months and literally thousands of dollars to attack the noise problems in my studio. Here's a brief summary of what I did and how I cured my problems:

1) built a brand new PC using the best components available (didn't really cure the noise problems but I have a better PC now)

2) Bought a 17" LCD monitor (this eliminated the monitor hum completely).

3) Had my studio rewired by qualified electricians (didn't help the noise problems)

4) Tried a Furman balanced AC source (didn't help so I returned it)

5) Changed from Pulsar Classic/A16 to Pulsar Z-Link/A16 (had a big effect - static noise reduced to almost nothing but some ground loop hum remained). ZLink just plain sounds better than ADAT!

6) Installed Ebtech hum eliminators on the analog input and output connections to Pulsar (hum eliminated - system very quiet now).

I tried lifting AC grounds, ungrounding cables, dressing cables away from AC sources and such but nothing seemed to cure the problems completely. Tweaked OS and BIOS to the point of insanity. Nothing there made a difference. Don't know what to tell you. Fixing noise problems really requires some guerilla troubleshooting sometimes. Good luck!

Post by **garyb** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 8:06 pm

when all else fails,there's always a transformer.(ebtech. hosa makes one too.)not as good as everything right w/o them,but transformers are definitely much better than noise.i'm happy you got it fixed.

Post by **garyb** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 8:22 pm

making some sense now........

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 8:12 am

The Ebtech hum eliminators work beautifully and don't hurt the sound quality. Can't recommend them enough if you have a hum problem that won't go away with normal troubleshooting.