Sound problem... not stuttering

[Gorak2020]

Ive had this problem since the games release but just sort of dealt with it hoping for a solution... unfortunatly noone even seemed to be experienceing the same problem as me. So after much delay i bring forth my delema.

It seems that when i play HL2 i get a weird crackleing/echoy problem coming from my front two spaekers. If i change the setting off of 5.1 and to 2 the error is reduced to a tolerable level (infact i played through the game the first time like this) but defenately takes away from the game.

It is a store bought copy which i am running on a Dell bought/personaly upgraded PC:

P4 3.0Ghz
X800 pro w/flashed bios
1gb ram
Creative SB Live!(Dell 5.1)

I have all the latest drivers for my hardware and updates for HL2 and cant come up with a solution. My first guess would be the audio card but dont want to spend the money to replace it(especialy if im not sure it will work). Thanks in advance for any and all help you can muster up.

 

[oni_666]

Well I've got a SB live too, and from my experience there are several things you can do to eliminate problems or conflicts.

1, make sure the SB live is NOT in the furthest PCI slot from the AGP slot, i.e. if you have 5 pci, make sure it is not in slot 5.
This slot shares its IRQ with the AGP slot, and sharing with SB live cards is usually bad.
(you can check this in start,programs,accessories,system tools, system information, then scroll down to IRQ, or try conflicts.).

2, After having made sure you have the latest drivers for the SB live, I think mine end in 0001.3300, Un-install the Liveware package, Playcentre, enviroment thing etc, and just make sure you have only the SB live drivers installed.

3,Try changing the audio codec for another one, to do this goto ..
start,settings,control panel, sounds and multimedia, hardware,audio codecs, properties, properties, Try selecting the Fraunhofer codec and changing its priority to 1 or 2.
This codec has been known to cure several sound problems associated with games.

 

[Gorak2020]

Thank you for your suggestions, but unfortunatly nothing worked. Im still geting the same crakleing/echoing error.

 

[oni_666]

Try replacing the speakers with a pair of new speakers that you know to be perfect, Borrow some off a friend or something.
That way you can eliminate, the possibility that your speakers are not working and are about to die.

 

[Gorak2020]

Thankfully this is not the case. My speakers are only about 5 months old and shouldnt be screwing up already. I should note that HL2 is the only game where this happens. i run all the other high end games with out a hitch(doom3, FarCry ect.).