z-680 Crackling Noise

[dark_15]

Hey guys,
My brother got some z-680's to use for his computer. He has them running on a Shuttle SN8G4 (athlon 64 SFF) via the the optical out on the back of the case. When he plays music after an hour or two he gets this annoying crackling noise that is very obvious and makes the music sound bad. After he shuts down and restarts the computer, sub, and control center then it works again for another hour or two. What do you think is the culprit here?

Heat? It is one of those mini-pc's with only one fan...
The optical connection? A Shuttle defect perhaps?
The cables?
The speakers themselves?

I am thinking it is the first one, but who knows...

Thanks for the help!

[stan03]

is the southbridge getting hot?

[dark_15]

I have no idea... I cannot tell because I am not at the machine... but a restart fixes the problem... and a restart would not cool off the machine that greatly... do u think?

[dark_15]

bumpage... any other ideas?

[stan03]

i think that you need to try putting a heatink on the southbridge, yes a shutdown could cool it enough to run it for another hour. is the sub istelf getting hot?

[dark_15]

I am going to crank up the fan speed tonight and see what that does...