Sound card hum

[BrianCapps]

At high volumes :D I hear a very annoying hum through my speakers. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the cause of this? I've tried everything, Iand I think I've narowed the prob. down to the soundcard. Ideas?

Thanks

[Über~PhLuBB]

Originally posted by BrianCapps
At high volumes :D I hear a very annoying hum through my speakers. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the cause of this? I've tried everything, Iand I think I've narowed the prob. down to the soundcard. Ideas?

Thanks

You sure it's not line noise? Like noise is a hissing sound, that stays no matter how low you turn your volume, but gets louder when you turn up your volume past a certain point.

You can't really do anything to stop line noise, aside from keep your speakers and all speaker related cables the hell away from your computer, monitor, phone line, wall outlets, TVs, phones, and all power cords.

[eobard]

Just what is the everything that you've already tried? I don't want to insult you by suggesting some basic stuff you may have already tried so let us know what you have done, maybe then we can come up with some other ideas.

[KILLorBE]

Are you sure its not the cable your using?

I had some problems with an old cable that made a humming sound, later I found out it was not the cable but the plug, so you might wanna try another cable.

[RangerJoe34]

i had the same problem. the problem was the soundcard though, so i just get a sb live for like $50 and everything is great now, i am not sure if you want to have to buy a new card though.

[BrianCapps]

I've tried things like: unplug the speakers (from soundcard)- the noise stops. I've moved power cables inside the comp ond outside- no dice. I've turned off fans, the noise persists. The only time it is annoying is when I'm trying to listen to classical music, as I have to turn it up to hear it, and the hum is louder than the music!

help?

[phungilax]

i would make sure its plugged in and has good contact with the port. i have had such problems and just re sat the connection. also make sure your speakers can handle high volumes

[eobard]

Switch cables, then switch speakers. That should help narrow down where the problem is.

[flaming gerbil]

try more expensive cable with better shielding. monster cable is good. cables pick up electromagentic energy very easily, i.e. flourescent lights, dimmers on your lights, refrigerator magnets, etc. could be ground looping, try shorter cable length-this will keep your cable from acting as an antennae. also could be improperly wired cables or connectors. also try to keep power chords and speaker cables from intersecting one another.

[Über~PhLuBB]

Originally posted by BrianCapps
I've tried things like: unplug the speakers (from soundcard)- the noise stops. I've moved power cables inside the comp ond outside- no dice. I've turned off fans, the noise persists. The only time it is annoying is when I'm trying to listen to classical music, as I have to turn it up to hear it, and the hum is louder than the music!

help?

I just thought of something... does your soundcard have a preamp? If your sound card is not amplified, you'd have to turn your speakers way up to hear it. What brand and model of soundcard do you have?

[BrianCapps]

Here's a new twist: The hum stops when the hard drive is accessing. My question: Wha?!?

[Über~PhLuBB]

Originally posted by BrianCapps
Here's a new twist: The hum stops when the hard drive is accessing. My question: Wha?!?

That makes me think that both your HDD and sound card are improperly grounded, or are RIGHT NEXT to each other.

Is either of those the case?

How old is your HDD? What brand is your sound card? What kind of mobo do you have?

Do you have a second soundcard anywhere in the house that you could switch out with your current one, so we could narrow it down more?

[BrianCapps]

How do I properly ground things? Arent they grounded throught the PSU?

Here's what I got:

HDD1: Quantum Bigfoot, age- 3 years+ (bought it re-maunfactured)

HDD2: Maxtor, age- 1 year

No name sound card, came with a compaq.

Mobo: Abit SE6 - 6 months old

I do have 2 PSUs in my case. Both 250 watt. one runs all my fans and any othe goodies i might add, the other runs the guts.

I noticed this hum when i made the switch to my new case and added the second PSU.

How do i better ground the HDD?

[bdf24]

As far as I know it should ground right thru the PSU like you said. Or if anything thru bolting the HD in the case. Try shutting down the second PSU once and see if you still get the hum.

I get a hum on my system if I run the audio out to my sterio. But it go's away if I plug a cable into the video out on my Radeon. Go figure.

[Über~PhLuBB]

Originally posted by BrianCapps
How do I properly ground things? Arent they grounded throught the PSU?

Here's what I got:

HDD1: Quantum Bigfoot, age- 3 years+ (bought it re-maunfactured)

HDD2: Maxtor, age- 1 year

No name sound card, came with a compaq.

Mobo: Abit SE6 - 6 months old

I do have 2 PSUs in my case. Both 250 watt. one runs all my fans and any othe goodies i might add, the other runs the guts.

I noticed this hum when i made the switch to my new case and added the second PSU.

How do i better ground the HDD?

I don't know why I even asked about it being properly grounded... That was pretty dumb. (It wouldn't work at all if it wasn't properly grounded).

Like bdf said, try removing the second PSU (If you leve the case open, you wont have to worry about the fans going off).

If that doesn't stop the hum, try another soundcard.

If you don't have a spare soundcard, or amother computer you can temporarily remove the soundcard from, you can pick up a pretty decent sound card for around $50. Shell it out, it's worth it if all you have now is a peripheral or on-board sound card.

(The Sound Blaster Live! Value, and PCI512 are prime choices)

[BrianCapps]

Well, I had planned on getting a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Platnum sooner or later. Guess it'll have to be sooner than later :D.

Thanks for the info.