audio issue

I hope this is the right newsgroup to post this in.. if not maybe someone can
move it to the right one. Anyways, I have an ongoing audio problem that I
can't seem to find an answer to. The computer is a Dell Inspiron E1505 w/
Vista Ultimate and a SigmaTel sound card. I also have Creative Sound Blaster
Audigy software installed. I actually have two problems, but I'll start w/
the first and main one.

When I'm playing my music in Windows Media Player every song gets choppy for
about 5 seconds or so at the end of every song. Also, when I manually
double-click a song to play, it takes 15-20 seconds to switch to that song,
saying "media changing" in the bottom left corner. I see no reason at all for
it to be doing this, Vista is running plenty quick and smooth everywhere
else. (computer has 2 GB ram and I keep it very clean) Here is one thing I
tried. Right click the speaker icon in the tray next to the clock, playback
devices, click on speakers/headphones, properties, enhancements, disable all
enhancements. This DOES get rid of this problem, HOWEVER.. The only problem
with doing this is that I then can't use my Creative SoundBlaster HD audio
software and am limited to the graphic equalizer in WMP. I would prefer not
to have to do this, the software makes a noticeable improvement in sound
quality and it was not free.

Now my other problem, which is currently of more urgence. This problem
occurs when the Sound Blaster software is enabled. Every so often under
random circumstances, I will bring the computer back out of standby and the
sound quality is totally messed up. It's hard to describe, but it basically
becomes really tinny and hollow sounding, w/ no bass... totally sounds like
crap to me. As I said, it would only do this every once in a while and it
typically happened if say, I put the computer in standby, then unplugged it,
then resumed.. or some random combination of those involving removing A/C
power. It used to be that I could just do a system restore to the last
restore point and that would fix the problem. But the last time this
happenend, all the restore points I tried failed, and now I'm stuck w/ either
tinny, crappy sound (SB enabled), or disabling enhancements and just using
the WMP equalizer!

I enjoy music a lot and am playing music on my computer all the time. I at
least want to be able to use my software again, but if anyone knows anything
about either of these problems, I would greatly appreciate the help. Thanks.

gregdw86 wrote:

> I hope this is the right newsgroup to post this in.. if not maybe someone
> can
> move it to the right one. Anyways, I have an ongoing audio problem that I
> can't seem to find an answer to. The computer is a Dell Inspiron E1505 w/
> Vista Ultimate and a SigmaTel sound card. I also have Creative Sound
> Blaster
> Audigy software installed. I actually have two problems, but I'll start
> w/ the first and main one.
>
> When I'm playing my music in Windows Media Player every song gets choppy
> for about 5 seconds or so at the end of every song. Also, when I manually
> double-click a song to play, it takes 15-20 seconds to switch to that
> song, saying "media changing" in the bottom left corner. I see no reason
> at all for it to be doing this, Vista is running plenty quick and smooth
> everywhere
> else. (computer has 2 GB ram and I keep it very clean) Here is one thing
> I
> tried. Right click the speaker icon in the tray next to the clock,
> playback devices, click on speakers/headphones, properties, enhancements,
> disable all
> enhancements. This DOES get rid of this problem, HOWEVER.. The only
> problem with doing this is that I then can't use my Creative SoundBlaster
> HD audio
> software and am limited to the graphic equalizer in WMP. I would prefer
> not to have to do this, the software makes a noticeable improvement in
> sound quality and it was not free.
>
> Now my other problem, which is currently of more urgence. This problem
> occurs when the Sound Blaster software is enabled. Every so often under
> random circumstances, I will bring the computer back out of standby and
> the
> sound quality is totally messed up. It's hard to describe, but it
> basically becomes really tinny and hollow sounding, w/ no bass... totally
> sounds like
> crap to me. As I said, it would only do this every once in a while and it
> typically happened if say, I put the computer in standby, then unplugged
> it, then resumed.. or some random combination of those involving removing
> A/C
> power. It used to be that I could just do a system restore to the last
> restore point and that would fix the problem. But the last time this
> happenend, all the restore points I tried failed, and now I'm stuck w/
> either tinny, crappy sound (SB enabled), or disabling enhancements and
> just using the WMP equalizer!

The E1505 is a laptop. Therefore you either have a Sigmatel sound card or a
Creative Audigy sound card. On a laptop you cannot have both. Your problems
stem from having two sets of drivers installed and one of those sets is
incorrect.

Go to Dell's support site for your specific model laptop. Use your Service
Tag to get the downloads for your machine. Download whichever sound card
drivers are the correct ones. Now uninstall both sets of drivers before you
install the correct ones.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

The computer has a SigmaTel sound car. The Creative Soundblaster Audigy
advanced MB is just an extra software package that was an option with the
computer. So, the Sigmatel driver gets installed, then the Audigy software.
Dell has not updated the Sigmatel sound driver on their website since its
release, therefore that is no help.. I already have the most current driver.
Also, Sigmatel doesn't supply any drivers on their own website, they just
refer you back to Dell (or whoever made your computer).

Are you suggesting I remove both of these, then only install the
SoundBlaster software? I don't know if it will work like that, I'm pretty
sure it's just extra software and doesn't have drivers for the Sigmatel card.

"Malke" wrote:

> gregdw86 wrote:
>
> The E1505 is a laptop. Therefore you either have a Sigmatel sound card or a
> Creative Audigy sound card. On a laptop you cannot have both. Your problems
> stem from having two sets of drivers installed and one of those sets is
> incorrect.
>
> Go to Dell's support site for your specific model laptop. Use your Service
> Tag to get the downloads for your machine. Download whichever sound card
> drivers are the correct ones. Now uninstall both sets of drivers before you
> install the correct ones.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
>

gregdw86 wrote:

> The computer has a SigmaTel sound car. The Creative Soundblaster Audigy
> advanced MB is just an extra software package that was an option with the
> computer. So, the Sigmatel driver gets installed, then the Audigy
> software. Dell has not updated the Sigmatel sound driver on their website
> since its release, therefore that is no help.. I already have the most
> current driver. Also, Sigmatel doesn't supply any drivers on their own
> website, they just refer you back to Dell (or whoever made your computer).
>
> Are you suggesting I remove both of these, then only install the
> SoundBlaster software? I don't know if it will work like that, I'm pretty
> sure it's just extra software and doesn't have drivers for the Sigmatel
> card.

I'm suggesting that you use whatever drivers are right for your computer.
I've worked on plenty of E1505s and have never installed both Sigmatel and
Audigy drivers on the same machine. However, post your question on the Dell
user forums. I seem to recall some issue with the Sigmatel drivers and
Vista that Dell solved. Search the Dell user forums.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Alright, so far I have fixed the 2nd problem I discussed (3rd paragraph of
original post) by uninstalling and reinstalling the Sigmatel drivers. I
should mention that while the Sigmatel drivers were uninstalled, I could not
access or use the Creative software in any way because it "could not find any
audio devices" or something like that. This just shows that the Sigmatel
drivers are required and that the Creative software does not install its own
audio drivers, it is simply just additional software for enhancing the sound
quality, as well as having other tools such as a media player, recording
software, etc.

As for the Dell forums, the only "fix" they mentioned that I have found so
far is the one I already discussed in the first post which is not an
acceptable fix for my situation. So if anyone knows anything different on
that issue, let me know. Thanks.

"Malke" wrote:

> gregdw86 wrote:
>
> > The computer has a SigmaTel sound car. The Creative Soundblaster Audigy
> > advanced MB is just an extra software package that was an option with the
> > computer. So, the Sigmatel driver gets installed, then the Audigy
> > software. Dell has not updated the Sigmatel sound driver on their website
> > since its release, therefore that is no help.. I already have the most
> > current driver. Also, Sigmatel doesn't supply any drivers on their own
> > website, they just refer you back to Dell (or whoever made your computer).
> >
> > Are you suggesting I remove both of these, then only install the
> > SoundBlaster software? I don't know if it will work like that, I'm pretty
> > sure it's just extra software and doesn't have drivers for the Sigmatel
> > card.
>
> I'm suggesting that you use whatever drivers are right for your computer.
> I've worked on plenty of E1505s and have never installed both Sigmatel and
> Audigy drivers on the same machine. However, post your question on the Dell
> user forums. I seem to recall some issue with the Sigmatel drivers and
> Vista that Dell solved. Search the Dell user forums.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
>

It's fixed! They finally released a new Sigmatel driver.. after a whole year
of putting up with this problem WMP finally runs flawlessly w/ Creative
Audigy software and enhancements enabled.