G400-TV - Loud Chirp! during boot?

[CEichhorn]

I have installed G400-TV in Win98-SE and it seems to work correctly except that there is a loud chirp/short squeal during the boot process.

The system is an Asus P3B-F / 800 Intel P3 with an SB Live! card.

Any ideas?



Ike

[Dr Mordrid]

My guess is that the SBLive (SBUndead? ) complaining that it can't take over the whole system, which is typical for those #$%* things. That or it may be sharing an IRQ with something like the AGP adapter.

Recommendation: open case. remove SBUndead & place on floor. raise foot 1 meter and stomp hard

Seriously now....check your system properties and see if the SBL is sharing with anything, especially the display adapter. IF so move its location to another slot and see what happens.

That or cure the problem entirely by getting a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. It uses so few system resources there is no contention issue. Even during high quality MP3 playback I can hardly measure its CPU utilization.

Dr. Mordrid

[CEichhorn]

No Apparent Conflicts

The SBLive is using IRQ 5 and 10 and the G400TV is using 11, each all by its lonesome (except for the steering holders).

Every test I try works out just fine - but I still get this intermittent, every third time, shutdown lockup. Grrrrr.

Thanks!

[CEichhorn]

Mystery Chirp

Now the chirp is gone. (BUT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING????)

Hmmmmmmm. Where's that phone no. for Turtle Beach...? <g>

Thanks again.

[Dr Mordrid]

Santa Cruz page;

http://www.voyetra-turtle-beach.com/site/products/santacru/

VIAHardware.com FAQ on SBLive vs. TB Santa Cruz;

http://www.viahardware.com/scfaq.shtm

Dr. Mordrid

[droopy]

@CEichhorn

It sounds like you have the same problem I experienced some time ago as well.

For me it was a high pitched noise which sounded like accustic feedback. Since this is basically nonsens if you have direct cable connection and no microhpone I started looking at the sound card and the G400 Marvel. I still do not know the exact cause or why / where it occurs. I know though that it is really accustic feedback from the combination of soundcard and G400 Marvel.

The problem was solved for me by setting the sound levels for line and WAV in the windows mixer to a lower level then maximum.

Try it, maybe it is the solution for you too .

Regards, Leon

[LvR]

droopy

Correct action there.

The combination of sloppy switching and very high channel gain results in this PITA - it can be confirmed with a scope.

It is a known hassle on especially W2K systems - posts on Matrox available since about March2000.

CEichhorn

If the problem went away by itself, then chances are you fiddled with the recording/playback levels and now have them running at a suitable level to prevent feedback.

I have resorted to fitting a potentiometer in each of the channels in order to get enough attenuation while still being able to have the whole range of the volume sliders in the audio panel available for level control during recording (I have found on a few setups that your recording level has to be set to just about the minimum in order to prevent the howl - leaving no control over levels)

[KRSESQ]

My old ISA soundcard generates a brief, loud, obnoxious f*rting noise during boot.

It doesn't seem to cause any problems so I've learned to live with it.

Kevin

AMD K6-2 @ 300
FIC VA503+
Marvel G200
Media Vision Pro Audio 16 soundcard

[LvR]

If it was just a "chirp" I would also live with it.

In the stubborn cases I came across, the chirp settled into a very annoying continuous high pitched racket that was simply unbearable.

[CEichhorn]

Chirp Saga

Certainly seems related to the sound card and the G400, and fiddling with volume levels affects it.

It is intermittent, i.e., doesn't happen every boot (?!). and can be loud enough that it is heard across the house and sounds like a speaker might be damaged by it. Of course, if you turn down ALL the volumes, it is quieter. But then you turn something else up and, next boot, CHIRRRRP! (Almost a popping...)

I suspect it is related to the G400 TV-VCR volume on the monitor TV. If THAT is turned up to "normal" levels, the chirp is *really* loud. If the TV onscreen is at a low level, the chirp is less pronounced. If the TV volume is OFF entirely, the pop is v-e-r-r-r-y low.

More sound card diddling.....

TIA

Ike

[LvR]

As I said before - it is not the soundcard - its the Marvel.

See here :

http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/Forum11/HTML/003715.html

[CEichhorn]

Chirp!

Checked the reference. Obviously a comon issue.

Unfortunately, this is the current BIOS and SW.....

Ike