Losing system audio. (Revisited - still an ongoing problem)

Just out of curosity, how long has your computer been on at the times that these random losses occur? If it has to do with an overheating issue, then i dont know exactly if maybe wave files are more delicate than other sound files, or maybe they go through a different channel. It may end up being a deffect on the board. I have once, and only once, had a faulty mother board that would randomly re-boot my computer every once in a while after it had been on for a while. I ended up discovering some sort of short that was causing it, buyt was never able to exactly pinpoint the issue.

I dont think that your problem is actually a hardware issue, but it may be. Just an idea.

I don't shut this one down. I'm a firm believer that it's better for the hard drives to just leave them on. Here is another example. When I left a bit ago, I had audio. When I came back (roughly forty-five minutes later) and looked at this post I had no audio (system audio that is). This is the frustration. It is totally random. At the moment I have 4 IE browser instances open. ICQ is online, but I was in away mode for at least the last forty minutes or better. The only thing that would have happened since my stepping away from the computer and me coming back is ad rotations on ICQ. So now my question becomes, how can an ad rotation on ICQ nix my computer's system audio... Oh well...I'll have to deal with it tomorrow or the next day again. It's off to bed for me now.

I agree with leaving the computer on. I taken a lot of grief from some of my co-workers who think its about the dumbest things they have heard of. Apparently they think the computer needs to "rest." Oh well. Im wondering, this problem has just started, correct? It has begun to get hot outside, and was still wondering if it has to do with an overheat. I have one of those alcoves in my desk for a computers CPU, but dont use it because the computer gets way too hot if it sits in there for too long. I discovered this winter that I could keep it in there, but as summer came, it began to screw up. I dont know much about the sound card that you have, but if its as tempermental as my video card is to heat, it may be plausible for this to be caused by that. If the CPU is kept in an alcove, i would check the BIOS for the temp reading, then take it out and let it run for a while, then check again. Again, this may be nothing, but it may be somthing different than what you have already tried.

GL

Completely understand your post Smokenjoe, and I do understand about heat. I don't overclock my computers and have changed nothing that should be physically affecting it in regards to heat.. This one sits in my apartment in the kitchen where it has been for a year. (You can see a picture of it in this post http://www.ozzu.com/hardware/post-your-workspace-t18670.html - it's actually hard to see but it sits in the bottom left of the desk). And before you ask, I also seldom if ever use my oven. The problem isn't recent. I think I installed this OS sometime around November and I have been having this problem since sometime around December. I am considering your advice, but I can find nothing hardware-wise or physically related to justify it as a heat related problem. This computer has sat in the same spot doing the same thing for a year.

And again, I note that it only nixes wav files. MP3's and other embeded audio as well as CD's play just fine (unless the CD is a program using wav files for audio - I just noticed recently that flash pages using embedded wav files don't play either whereas flash pages using MP3's do.)

This is not the hardest problem I've tried to solve but at the moment it's ranked number two and pushing on number one.

//- edit - for the record - after looking back at the beginning date of this post, it seems I have been having this problem since October.

This is just a shot in the dark but could it be a IRQ conflict between the modem and the integrated sound? It doesn't seem likely since wav files seem to be the only thing affected. Might be worth a look...

I did think of that JrzyCrim, but no conflicts and I just double checked (and at the moment have no system audio and still no conflicts.)

Under sound, video and game controllers I have
Audio codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
Video Codexs

Under Audio Codecs in Properties I have
IMA ADPCM Audioe CODEC
Microsoft ADPMC AudioCodec
Microsoft CCITT G.711 Audio CODEC
Microsoft GSM6.10 Audio CODEC
DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) Audio CODEC
Ihacm.acm
msg723.acm
Indeo audio software
Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec
Sipro Lab Telecom Audio Codec
Microsoft PCM Converter

I won't even enumerate what's under Legacy Audio Drivers unless you need them...too many there.

Legacy Video Capture Devices -- none listed in properties

Media Control Devices
(MCI) CD Audio
(MCI) Microsoft Video for Windows
(MCI) Midi Sequencer
(MCI) Sound
mciqtz32.dll

SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio Properties
Audio Devices
(sub) - Sound Max Integrated Digital Audio
MIDI devices and Instruments
(sub) WDM-based device
Mixer Devices
(sub) SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio

Video Codecs
Cinepak Codek by Radius Inc.
Indo codec by Intel
Indeo video 5.10
Microsoft Video Codec v1
Microsoft RLE Codec
Microsoft Video1
msh261.drv
msh.263.drv

Hmm, This is a tough one...

You might check for a DMA conflict. Device manager/properties/DMA. I don't know how many DMA channels SoundMax uses but there should not be any other device using the same channels.

If I have any other ideas, I'll let you know.

Edit: When you do lose sound, is the wave slider on your volume control muted? If so, that might make it easier to find a known solution.


Cheers,

Ok, I think that I may have stumbled across somthing interesting, but first, I need to know how you connect to the internet. You have said that this problem happens a good amount of the time when you are connected, so i searched on some other sites for the same type of problem, and i sorta found somthin, but its very specific. Do you use dial-up or cable/DSL/T1?

Some of the lingo that they use I dont exactly understand, but I"m hopin you do. Ill just cut&paste. Basically this guy wrote in to another help forum, describing that when he connected to the internet, his "tp701" (I looked this up and it seemed to be a type of Kingston RAM) would get locked up with .wav files. This is what the helper said:

The TP701's sound system and built-in modem use the same DSP
(kinda like MWAVE, but different - it boots internally
independent of the OS so you don't have to jump through hoops
installing drivers). If you're using the modem, the DSP
sometimes does not have enough processing power left over to
successfully emulate a Soundblaster. That's why you're having
problems.


Buy a PCMCIA or external modem.


I dont know exactly what PCMCIA is, and Ive gotta get in bed. I hope that maybe this can shed a little light on this problem.

Yeah, tell me about it. It's a bugger for sure. Couldn't find your path to DMA where I thought it was. This machine is Win2K OS. Checked System Info for DMA properties. The only two listed were Direct memory access controller channel 4, and Standard floppy disk controller channel 2...both show status of OK.

Smokenjoe - I use Comcast cable broadband. FYI definition of PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) is here:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/PCMCIA.html
P.S. I haven't used a modem in close to three years.

Oh, sorry. I thought that machine was running 98se.

Well, I'm off to bed. I'll definitely think about your problem some more. I've got plenty of free time this week. Plus I do enjoy troubleshooting, although it is more of a challenge when you can't physically touch the machine.

Smokenjoe: I think the 'tp701' is an IBM thinkpad which makes sense since laptops are usually where pcmcia cards come into play.

Edit: ANTO: Is your sound integrated on your MOBO or is it a sound card?

In any event, you might try shuffling around your PCI cards. Particulary your sound (if it's not integrated) and your NIC (or whatever is applicable). Sometimes this can resolve possible conflicts.

This time, I'm really off to bed.

Cheers,

Integrated. There are no conflicts I'm aware of. I'm off to bed too.

Hasta manana

Ok, well, I geuss that didnt help much. I dont really have any other advice, but I'm gonna keep lookin. GL with it, and sorry I couldnt help much.

Smokenjoe,

Believe me, I take every piece of advice into consideration. I'm fairly good at troubleshooting stuff like this, but this one just has me stumped. I appreciate your efforts.

Thanks, at least I dont feel like a total failure!