I would like a little help tuning my system to prevent interruption of the audio signal. Every time I change windows / refresh web pages or change the display in general I get a short interruption of the audio output, like a skip or stutter. I've searched the posts but haven't seen anything exactly like this. Any suggestions / recommendations would be helpful and appreciated.

Details:
Hardware: 1.2GHz Athlon, 512MB DDR RAM @ 266MHz, 75GB ATA100 hard drive (7,200 rpm), GeForce 2 Pro video card (32MB @ 1240 x 1024; 85Hz), Chaintech M515 sound card w/optical SPDIF I/O (Cmedia 8738 audio processor chip locked into 16 bit / 44.1kHz SPDIF output; wonderful digital card for $16!), running SPDIF out to a digital audio preamp.

Software:
Application: Winamp 2.81, file types: MP3 and WAV (WAV skips slightly more), OS WinXP Pro SP1, Windows audio Hardware Manager set up for the Chaintech card as the only/default audio I/O device.

Notes:
Screen resolution seems to affect how long the interruption is (lower resolution = shorter interruptions), typical interruption is 100 to 250 ms, does not seem to be hard drive related (can run full virus scan at the same time as playing WAV files with no interruption). Is my video card memory too low to handle the resolution? Is there some type of memory buffer I need to set up to protect the audio stream? Changing Winamp process priority to "real time" in WinXP doesn't affect this - not processor related? (Typical CPU useage during playback is 2%.)

Your sound card is probably sharing a hardware interrupt (irq) with you graphics adapter. Move the sound card to another PCI slot. On Asus main boards the PCI slot closest to the AGP slot is usually sharing the same irq. The PCI slot farest from the AGP slot usually shares the same irq as USB. You can read about irq sharing in the main board manual or you can try switching the cards blindly. I prefer the first.

Also, make sure you have a good driver. I have a Winfast 6X sound card in another machine. It use the same C-Media 8738 chip. The Microsoft driver doesn't work. The driver from Winfast sucked a lot earlier. But the most recent driver from C-Media's website works fine.

There is a last possiblity. Are you using a long digital cable (coax not optical) to connect the pc with the stero? If yes, can you emulate the interruptions by turning on and off the lights or other electric appliances? If you are using a wrong cable type, interruptions can occur. I am thinking audio cable mixed up with the monitor cables.

Thanks Annuka,
I'll check the interrupt (irq) settings to see if the interrupts are interrupting and then see if I have a problem I can fix I've got an AMD/Via chipset combo on my mobo as an OEM board from Compaq - not sure if I still have the docs for it but definitely worth the effort to look.

I am using the MS drivers for the 8738 - but I also have very recent drivers from Chaintech and Cmedia - I'll give them a try too. Hoped that the official "signed" drivers would work, but nothing surprises me.....

I don't think the audio cable is the issue, but I'll try the light switches, etc. I'm using a 12' optical cable from the PC to the preamp. The coax from the DVD player to the preamp has been rock solid (never had any interruption issues), so I don't think this one is it.

Thanks for the recommendations - I'll try them out.

This didn't really belong in the off-topic section so I moved it. If it's about audio, and you can't find any other place to post about it, post in the general section here.

Okay Annuka,
I checked my IRQ's, and there is not a conflict. The sound card is on PCI IRQ 10 and the video card is on PCI IRQ 3. Nothing shares the sound card's IRQ. Even stranger, I tried all of the drivers I could find (latest Chaintech, latest Cmedia, latest MS (from Cmedia)) and none of them make a darn bit of difference. Tried uninstalling the card and reinstalling - no difference in any of them.

One very strange observation - audio is only interruped at the digital output - analog output is perfect. Light switches, etc. have no affect at all.

Any other ideas?

Update your winamp's output plugin! http://www.blorp.com/~peter/zips/wa2update.exe

And might be usefull to check this http://www.blorp.com/~peter/

This is a useful observation indeed.

Light switches does not have any effect, since you have connected using a optical cable. Light switches usually only inferfere with a incorrect coax cable - i.e. wrong impedance/unshielded.

Basically there are four possibilities:

- Driver is broken
- Sound card is broken
- Optical cable is broken
- Amp is broken

Try connecting the sound card to the amp using a coax cable instead of the optical. It should provide more data for further analysis.

DigitalMan, I had exactly the same problem with an external DAC (Emagic emi 2|6).

The problem was solved by an upgrade of my XP pro (SP+drivers). You can do it on the Microsoft site but don't ask me where....

Hope can help.

There's a lot of stuff out there on skipping. I apologize if I post too long, I made a txt file from a forum discussion about this subject. I forgot to reference the source however. Sorry.

Winamp Skipping

Drop down your hardware accelerations.

run dxdiag.exe and you can drop down your sound acceleration a notch or two in the sound tab.

then right click on your desktop,
go properties --> setting --> advanced --> troubleshooting

and then knock the accelration slider down one or two.

Just adjusting one or the other should do it and don't worry, it hardly alters performance at all.


Also, check your CPU usage when its skipping, if its very hjigh check DMA is enabled on the drive. If its not it could cause high CPU levels, and hence skipping.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Nullsoft WaveOut plug-in settings...

Is there any sort of guide to what this stuff means? Or could somebody post a little FAQ? I don't really know what the dials in the thing mean. I mean, there's options to play with but I don't know what they do! The possibilities!
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Posted by Sawg on 10-14-2001 07:34 PM:

Most of the settings, the sliders, are there if you have skipping problems, id you don't leave em alone. The volume stuff should be self explanatory
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Posted by Budgie on 10-15-2001 07:58 PM:

The options provided in the Advanced Settings area can be tweaked a little for optimum performance (i.e. low memory usage, while most skip-proof ).

After the years, I made some experience whilst playing around with several settings. For optimum performance, even on a P2-233 MMX with a Soundblaster PCI soundcard, I would recommend the following settings:

Priority: Highest (if you have a fast (600+ Mhz) system and a decent PCI soundcard, you can leave it at Normal or Above Normal.

Maximum blocks: I would set it to either 12 or 16. Set it lower (such as to 8, but I would not go any lower) if you have a fast CPU and a decent soundcard, once again. If you have skipping problems, set it beyond 16 (like 24 or even 32).

Max blocksize: The default is 32kb. I would set it to 24kb in order to improve seeking and visualization reaction. Once again, if you have skipping problems, increase this value (like to 48kb or 64kb, if it's serious skipping).

Min blocksize: The default is 8kb. If you set it lower, e.g. to 6kb, it will improve visualization and seeking a bit. I would not set it beyond 16kb, unless you experience serious skipping problems.

As for the buffer lengh, the default 2000ms should be alright, unless you have a slow CPU (300 Mhz and below) and not much RAM available (less than 64 MB). I would set it to 4000ms to minimize skipping, if any.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's a whole heap of suggestions to try if you wade through the links in sawg's post.
(including NeoRenegade's aforementioned suggestion)

Also, I've just added this one to the links:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=44757

Could the line you were looking for in the ini file be:

SYSTEM.INI
[display]
busthrottle=1

Though another thread suggests:
SYSTEM.INI
[386Enh]
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

I reckon it's more likely to be the former, not the latter one?

However, have you tried this?
Internet Explorer -> Options -> Advanced tab
Uncheck : Use smooth scrolling

TweakUI -> General tab
Uncheck : smooth scrolling

I've added a few more "Skipping" links to the TSGH Useful Links thread,
including a Search Results page regarding the use of smooth scrolling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanx DJEgg,
It was the busthrottle=1 in the system.ini that fixed it. That is what i was looking for. Thank you much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DJEgg:

I am interested in adding the busthrottle=1 line into the system.ini file but I could not find the [display] option. What do I do? (I have already added ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 line under [386Enh])

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If not, then the videocard could still be stealing bus bandwidth from the s/c.
The fix is to either update all the drivers,
or to configure system.ini as follows:

[display]
busthrottle=1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disabling smooth scrolling (in both IE & Windows Explorer)
Making sure DMA is enabled for the hard drive/s
Using DirectSound Output and tweaking the settings (create/play primary buffer)
Using PP's experimental DirectSound Output

etc etc etc

As you can see, it could be a number of things which cause skipping/distortion. However, none of them are directly Winamp's fault.

Usually, it's the soundcard drivers to blame, but I doubt if you're gonna find any new drivers for the SBAWE32. The last ones were released in 1998 & are still available @ www.soundblaster.com/drivers/

It's definitely worth looking up the latest available matrox drivers though.

It would also be wise to upgrade DirectX, if you haven't already done so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you also goto: Folder Options -> View tab
and uncheck "show window content while dragging" ?

Also, mouse control panel -> motion tab -> uncheck "show pointer trails"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2) If the skipping problems persist:
http://www.friedbagels.com/tecaudprobdu.html (vgakills!)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=32363 (v2.x DirectSound tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=94428 (DirectSound update)
http://www.blorp.com/~peter/ds_manual.htm (v2.79+ DirectSound Manual)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=62586 (WaveOut tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=43231 (busthrottle/smooth scrolling)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=45994 (system.ini tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=66514 (Gen. fixes/Windows tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=29776 (Increasing buffer)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=30885 (videocard/resolution)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=31503 (WA tweaks/sound drivers)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=88899 (IRQ sharing)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=81867 (IRQ conflicts)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=52709 (Win2k ACPI irq sharing)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=44757 (poor quality playback)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=31611 (distorted playback)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=29810 (CD related skips)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=37143 (DS tweaks/Network card)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=30389 (skipping: further tips?)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=33769 (typical user error!)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=53599 (Win2k crackle+pop/NIC)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=53487 (IDE Controller driver)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=70893 (background apps)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/....asp#audio_hiss
http://alive.singnet.com.sg/tech/click.htm
Search results for - keyword: Smooth Scrolling

If the analog output is perfect, but the digital is flawed, then it is obvious not a winamp related problem.

There are a few more possible problems:

- Power problem - the power supply cannot deliver enough power to feed the optical circuts.
- Heating problem - the digital/optical circuts get too hot and cannot function properly.

Thanks for the ideas folks - I'll try them out tonight (@ work right now). My gut agrees with Annuka since the analog is okay and the SPDIF is messed. That's pretty odd. As a matter of fact, I tried to get the analog to skip or stutter (lots of windows open, running virus scan, etc.) and it is rock solid. I'll follow up when I try some of the ideas.

Try icreasing winamp's buffer size too. It offers an option to buffer the entire file to memory if less than... feature.

Just in case its a hard drive access thing.

Okay folks, still have the problem.

Some notes on what I've tried:
1) Playing CD audio via the CD rom player - still happens
2) Using media player bundled with the soundcard and Windows Media Player (now there is desparation!) - still happens
3) Installed every Cmedia 8738 driver I could find - still happens
4) Physically inspected and reinstalled the cables and cards - still happens
5) Reduced sound acceleration in dxdiag.exe - got worse
6) Reduced video acceleration in advanced video properties - got worse
7) DMA is enabled (running ATA100 = DMA5)
8) CPU load during playback is about 2%
9) Put CPU on "real time" [highest] priority for winamp -still happens
10) Added busthrottle=1 to the system.ini - still happens
11) Smooth scrolling disabled - still happens
12) Increased winamp buffer size - still happens
13) Disabled all sounds in Windows - still happens

So.....

I think this must be a core driver issue (must do things differently for SPDIF?) or a hardware problem with the card. Thinking about trashing the sound card and getting something else. I want 44.1kHz SPDIF I/O with no Sound Blaster like sample rate conversion / audio corruption. I'm looking at the Philips Acoustic Edge - does anyone know if that works well with WindowsXP?

What a waste of time....

I really think you should try connecting the sound card to the amp using a digital coaxial cable instead of the optical:

- You know your amp works fine using the coaxial input from your DVD
- The optical circuts on the board might be broken without the coaxial being affected.

It will be a waste of money to buy a new sound card only to find that the amp is broken.

I know you mentioned that it does not appear hard-drive related, but I'll share this bit of info nonetheless.

Recently had an issue with skipping (all sound, not just WinAmp) after upgrading for an Ultra-DMA66 to Ultra-DMA133 hard drive. Searched high & low but couldn't fix the problem.

Eventually went to my motherboard's manufacturer web site (I have a Gigabyte GA7VRXP, VIA KT333 chipset) and found that a newer release of the BIOS fixed the problem (it was acknowledged in the readme.)

Granted, chances are extremely slim that this is related to what you're experiencing, but in my years in I.T. I've seen flash BIOS upgrades fix some pretty strange problems.

Atom

Good points,
I'll try coaxial connection and look for a BIOS update, especially as nothing in computer technology surprises me anymore. Heck, it could be the floppy drive for all I know...

BIOS update solved a sound-stutter problem on two computers that I built. (Both were Gigabyte motherboards with built-in sound)

DigitalMan, like I said before in this threat, I had exactly the same problem with an external DAC (Emagic emi 2|6) with Win XP Pro. Like you, I wasted my time with a lot of stuff during one year...

Finally the problem was solved by an upgrade of my XP pro (SP+drivers).

You can do it on the Microsoft:
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/

So DO IT, It should help.

Thanks Marcan,
I run Windows Update about 3 times per week. Windows Update actually did have newer drivers for the Cmedia 8738, but unfortunately they didn't make a darn bit of difference after I installed them. I have all other patches / updates installed, so maybe something new from MS will help some day... Do you know which patch / update fixed your issue?

I've even reinstalled my WinXP Pro, installed SP1, installed all patches / updates, etc. It did help getting my drives in DMA mode (big help), and it boots/shuts down a lot faster, but alas this issue - probably best called intermittent muting - is the only one remaining.

By the way, I am using an external DAC, but a different manufacturer. Was there anything related to the DAC or was it only the Windows update that fixed your issue?

I have the same problems described by DigitalMan, with an Asus GeForce 2MX.
My motherboard is a LuckyStar with VIA chipset, and the cpu is PIII 500mhz.
When I scroll a web-page with a lot of immages or when i use the Advanced Visualization Studio from winamp, the audio has some interferences like pop clicks or stutters. But no problems with 3D graphics.

So i've tried to:
-changed the slot of the soundcard
-modified the PCI latency timer
-installed the latest VIA driver.
..but the problems was still here.

Before the GeForce I had an Intel 740 and no problems with the audio.
Install the latest Detonator drives and the problem will decrease.

Also check this webpage: http://www.deinmeister.de/mvp3_zlt_e.htm

@Oge_user: excellent link - I will try the tools out. I do have a VIA southbridge and an NVidia GeForce graphics chip, so maybe this will work. Have you tried the tools yet?

I still do not understand why the analog output doesn't mute - perhaps it is interpolating/smoothing out the muting?

I'll let you know when I get a chance to try it out.

Yes, i've tried the tools (a tool which set the latency timer to 0 and another tools), they help.

To minimize the problems you should:
Install the tools and the "Detonator" drives for GeForce (i don't know where to download, maybe you should try www.driversearch.com or the site of your video card).

A Bios Upgrade maybe will help to fix the problems completely, but i've never tried a bios update...

End game:
The Chaintech card is going back. Tried everything I could think of; not worth my time to further troubleshoot:

1) Coax doesn't help
2) Changing PCI slots / IRQ / memory I/O doesn't help
3) Completely removing and reinstalling doesn't help
4) The PCI latency tool doesn't work with my VIA chipset
5) Chaintech and Cmedia help desks haven't helped
6) A number of signed / custom / hacked drivers doen't help (including latest October drivers from Microsoft update)
7) All sorts of Winamp buffers help a little, but not very much

If anyone has any last minute ideas before I yank this card please post. Otherwise, anyone want to buy a Chaintech M515 w/optical SPDIF I/O?

For closure:
Removed Chaintech card, installed Philips Acoustic Edge. Works perfectly, SPDIF audio (via coax) to my preamplifier with no resampling/etc. Sounds quite good.

I can only assume that the Chaintech card or the drivers are defective.

i have the same probleme with my sblive
it was resolved after cache tunning using O&O Clever cache pro (you can use another prog to tune the cache like xp tweaking progs)

i hope this will help