HELP USB SPEAKER PROBLEM.

TinderBox (UK)

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 14, 2006
Messages
3,488
Location
England, United Kingdom
I just bought some usb speakers yesterday, my problem is they make an popping, crackling sound.

I found that they only do this when my cpu usage is very low, 0-5%.

they way i found this out is when playing music in windows media play 11, if i have the visualization running, you know the dancing graphics - the sound is perfect.

but if i minimize the player or stop the visualization the popping noise returns.

I have tried re-installing the usb driver, and the chipset driver - no good.

can anybody help this is doing my head in.

edit : this also happens in nero player and powerdvd, i downgrade to WMP 9, no good.

thanks.

John.
 
Last edited:

gregw

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
1,511
Location
Hong Kong
Found a patch at Microsoft that specifically addresses popping in USB speakers here. Hope this helps.
 

TinderBox (UK)

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 14, 2006
Messages
3,488
Location
England, United Kingdom
Hi gregw

I found the patch the other day i can`t install it, I already have XP Home SP2, so i think i already have the patch.

I have already tried upgrading the usb driver and installed somthing called a filter patch.

but the sound is still the same.

can anybody explain to me why the sound is perfect with high cpu usage, and it pop`s and click with low cpu usage.

thanks fore the help

John.
 

Arkayne

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
629
Location
San Diego, CA
I've had simliar problems with usb headphones. The fix was to use a USB hub with its own separate power supply. I remember reading that the motherboards built-in usb power supply was "dirty" so you get pops and crackles. It's like having a bad ground in a car audio setup where you would hear the alternator whine and even the turn signal relay through the speakers.
 

TinderBox (UK)

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 14, 2006
Messages
3,488
Location
England, United Kingdom
Hi Arkayne.

I have tried an USB 2.0 hub with an external power supply, no difference.

I think it`s some type of compatability issue with my usb 1.1 ports, the driver is windows standard "USB AUDIO DRIVER" dated 2001, but i have searched for updates without success.

keep the suggestions comming

thanks

John.
 

Arkayne

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
629
Location
San Diego, CA
Hmmm, I'd stray away from the built-in usb hardware and give a newer usb pci card a shot. They can be had for $5 - $10.
 

BB

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
2,129
Location
SF Bay Area
I don't think that this is your problem, but it did fix my issues with on Window's XP Home writing (proprietary) memory cards for my GPS. The problem was that the power management feature of USB (at least on a laptop computer) would cause the writes to fail over the ten-twenty minutes it would take to compile and save the data...

First, I turned off power management features (right click desktop, Properties, Screen Saver, Power, turn off any power management--I only needed to this for "wall powered" mode. I left the battery operation settings alone since I was doing this with AC power available).

Next, click on Settings, Control Panel, System, Hardware, Devices, Universal "+" Serial Bus Controllers, Right Click each of the sub devices (probably only the ones with "root hub" in their descriptions, click on Power Management, and un-check the box where it says "allow computer computer to turn off this device to save power". On my system, there are three "root hubs" that I need to un-check this box for.

I don't think it will fix your problem--but it is worth a try.

-Bill
 

Raybo

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 27, 2004
Messages
477
Location
Illinois
TB,

Give this a try, open up your (Windows) volume control and crank your speakers with no media playing so you can hear the backround pops. Try "ticking" some of the mute boxes, if the poping stops than try some music to hear how it sounds (if it plays at all).

Ray
 
Top