Possible sound interference fix for A8N32-SLI !!! (PC Speaker related !!!)

Hi,

I just found this website, very interesting !!! I tried the onboard
audio once while using BF2 and I noticed the onboard audio had the
same kind of noise as when using the x-fi... !!! So that could means
it's a motherboard problem ?!?!

This guy seems to have figured it out... to bad I can't try it right
now:

http://unitstep.net/blog/2007/05/17/...32-sli-deluxe/

Tekst from link:

"
unitstep.net
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Fixing sound interference on the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
17 May 2007
If you're running an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard like me, and
are using the onboard Realtek ALC850 audio (AC '97 compatible), you
may have experienced high levels of sound interference on the audio
outputs. This interference manifests itself as "static" on your
speakers, and appears to be correlated with system activity, such as:
accessing the HDD, network activity or even moving the mouse. The
static can be quite noticeable, and is especially annoying when
there's nothing else coming out from the speakers, or if you're using
headphones. In particular, the interference is unacceptable at high
volume levels.


The cause
The cause of this interference is from the PC speaker, or rather, how
the pass-through of the PC speaker to the onboard audio, was
implemented. The onboard audio is automatically setup to receive PC
speaker signals from your motherboard and route them to the outputs.
This path was not very well isolated and as a result interference
(EMI) from other system components can creep in, resulting in the
noisy output from your speakers.

Solution: Mute it
The solution is to mute the PC speaker output on the onboard Realtek
audio. This can be accomplished in two ways, depending on your
situation and needs.

The first is in software, and requires that you have the Realtek audio
drivers installed, not the default nForce audio drivers, despite the
fact that they work well with the A8N32-SLI Deluxe, an nForce 4 board.
You can grab the Realtek drivers from Asus' site or a later version
from Download.com.

Open volume properties (either by clicking the systray icon or through
Control Panel)
Click on Options > Properties and make sure that "PC Speaker" is
checked, then click "OK"
Now, mute the PC Speaker input
This should have removed or reduced most of the sound interference -
this worked well for me. If not, try muting other inputs, such as AUX
or Line In, that you may not be using.

Getting rid of interference while using NVidia's drivers
The second method, if you choose to stick with NVidia's nForce audio
drivers, is a bit more complicated. For some reason, the nForce audio
drivers do not give an option to mute the PC speaker. I am guessing
this was because the nForce audio drivers need to work with a variety
of nForce motherboards, so they have to stick with something that'll
work with a reference design. Since not all nForce motherboards might
use the Realtek audio and may not use the PC speaker input
functionality, it could be problematic to code the drivers for this.

Thus, you'll have to disable the PC speaker in hardware. This is done
by opening your case and disconnecting the PC speaker connector from
the motherboard. This seems to break the connection to the
PC speaker input to the onboard audio, removing most of the
interference. This also worked for me. While you're inside of your
case, you may want to clean out some of the dust like I did.

Which method is better?
At the surface, it may seem like the software solution, using
Realtek's drivers just to disable the PC speaker input, is better and
easier. While it is easier, I didn't really like the audio control
panel provided by Realtek. While it had plenty of features, I just
didn't like the look & feel, nor did I appreciate the lack of an
equalizer.



The NVidia control panel, by contrast, looks more polished and offers
a fully-featured graphic equalizer, that not only shows the different
frequency ranges but also each channel. It also has a convenient
"Night Mode" that automatically reduces bass and dynamic range for a
quieter listening experience.



I was living with this problem for over eight months, and just assumed
it was because of the low-cost onboard audio. I was at the point of
buying a separate soundcard just to alleviate the problem, before I
stumbled across the solution in several forums. It seems like quite a
lot of other people have experienced this trouble. Hopefully Asus
won't let this happen in any more of their motherboard designs.
However, Asus motherboards have always been rock-solid in terms of
stability for me, so I don't think I'll switch anytime soon.

Posted at 4:54 pm Posted in Hardware, fix, motherboards, asus, a8n32-
sli, realtek
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One Comment »Comments FeedTrackback1. Nihad said on May 31st, 2007 at
3:54 am #
This issue fixed my long-lasting problem. I also noticed that it's a
interference, but did not know between which components it is. I own
Asus A7N8X, and this works perfect!
Thank You very much! Respect!

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Gonna save it on my harddisk too just in case !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Hmm,

Maybe this is old news.

I think I already tried this solution and it didn't work hmm...

At least not for BF2

Bye,
Skybuck.