PC developing unusual problems.

[Blín D'ñero]

I worked on BIOS after posting my previous post.

Onboard audio should be disabled now.
Quick Boot was already enabled.
I disabled the full screen logo on bootup, so I can see the POST now on bootup.
I noticed the older IDE HDD was set to boot up before the newer SATA HDD in the BIOS boot priority, so I put it to do the SATA drive first.
It now just boots up Windows, without going to the boot select screen.
Also, the RealTek entry in Device Manager is no longer there.
There was no trouble in just deleting the old XP folder on the older HDD.

Here is what is shown in my boot.ini when I first opened it. I changed nothing for now, since it had only one OS entry by the looks of it.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /usepmtimer

With that stuff hopefully out of the way, I can get back to troubleshooting my audio problems.

That's looking healthy!

Btw:

The /usepmtimer switch specifies that the Windows XP operating system or the Windows Server 2003 operating system use the PM-TIMER timer settings instead of the Time Stamp Counter (TSC) timer settings if the processor supports the PM_TIMER settings.

Source
microsoft

Dual Core or multiprocessor AMD Opteron processors may encounter Time Stamp Counter (TSC) drift in certain conditions. Whether the system is affected by this issue depends on the specific ProLiant server generation, the number and type of AMD Opteron processors installed, the operating system, and whether AMD’s PowerNow! feature is being utilized. This condition affects operations such as network communications and performance monitoring tasks that are sensitive to system time. For example, Microsoft Active Directory domain controllers can report an Unexpected Network Error (Event ID 1054).

[...]

Note: When installing the latest AMD PowerNow! Technology driver from AMD, the BOOT.INI file will automatically be updated with the “/usepmtimer” parameter. While the driver itself does not resolve this issue, the installation process will make the necessary changes to the BOOT.INI file to prevent the issue from occurring.

[...]
The switch /usepmtimer will prevent a lot of known issues with several AMD CPU´S, the solution is to add that switch in the boot.ini or to apply the AMD drivers that will put this switch on the boot.ini
The AMD multiprocessor driver requires this setting for things to work properly, because the default processor time stamp counter (TSC) is not synchronized properly between cores on chipsets for AMD multiprocessor boards. Using the switch forces the system to use the PM timer instead of the TSC timer, which resolves the issue.

Source
technet

[rditto48801]

I think I did install drivers at one time for AMD multi-core CPUs.

On an odd side note, my sound came on unexpectedly.
Even though I occasional heard the one 'rapidly repeating sound', I decided to double check the wires for my speakers and whatnot.
When I went to check the plug in the back, where it is plugged into the sound card, the moment I touched it I suddenly heard one of the window's sounds (the basic one that pops up such as when it requests a button clicked, such as going to do the music test in dxdiag).
I think I accidentally bumped the keyboard, but I had just done the music test moments before and had no sound or music.

I then did a quick check and I now have sound again for the time being. All sound and music passed in dxdiag.
The plug was in all the way already, so I don't think it was loose at all, at least not that I noticed. I don't know how that would cause volume to cut out, sounds to rapidly repeat, or for things like winamp to just not work at all during times the sound does not work.
This is just plain baffling, since it is hard to tell what caused it or what fixed it if it is just going to up and work or not work at apparent random.

Is it possible that for some reason the PCI sound card itself might have somehow been loosened up somehow and not be fully seated in its PCI slot?
Or that perhaps the sound issue might be the PCI sound card itself having some sort of hardware issue?

Since it is getting late and I am a bit tired, I am not really wanting to attempt to open up the case, and I am not up to much trouble shooting, so I will get back to checking possible things tomorrow. Also check again tomorrow if the sound is going to cut out again or not after I get up tomorrow, or before I head to bed tonight.

At least I got sound again for the moment.

[Blín D'ñero]

As long as you're tired, I would leave it as it is, after again making sure all connections are firmly seated.
Yes a card can move out of its slot, it only needs a hair-thick displacement to cause oddities. Recently i had the same. Something on the PC shocked me, (i don't remember if it was during gaming or not), and i accidentally kicked against the PC's casing with my foot. I immediately got freezing and after a reboot it turned out i had lost crossfire: one card disabled. Had to open the case, reseat the (second) card, and long story short: complete cure.
So if your problem persists you know what to do!

[rditto48801]

Well, when I booted up my PC this morning, no sound.
After a little wiggling of wires, unplugging my PC and opening the case to use some air spray to clear any built up dust, I got it back together, booted it up again, and had sound again.
I forgot to check if the sound card was firmly in place or not. I'll try to remember to check that if the sound cuts out again.

I have noticed on thing of interest relating to my Winamp music player. Normally, when I double click a music file, Winamp starts playing it right after it starts up. But if my sound is not working, Winamp does not 'auto-play' once it starts up, and does nothing when I hit play.
My Windows Media Player, however, will still 'play' music files, whether or not there is sound or not.
So, whatever is causing my sound to not work (possibly hardware) also affects Winamp. Maybe because it can't detect the sound device it needs?
I think the no sound issue might also be behind one game I have locking up during the initial load screen.

As far as I can tell, there are still no signs of other problems at this time.

Since the only solid fix seems to mainly occur when checking the cabled plugged into the sound card, you might be right about the sound card having come loose a tiny bit.

[Blín D'ñero]

[...]
I have noticed on thing of interest relating to my Winamp music player. Normally, when I double click a music file, Winamp starts playing it right after it starts up. But if my sound is not working, Winamp does not 'auto-play' once it starts up, and does nothing when I hit play.
My Windows Media Player, however, will still 'play' music files, whether or not there is sound or not.
So, whatever is causing my sound to not work (possibly hardware) also affects Winamp. Maybe because it can't detect the sound device it needs?
I think the no sound issue might also be behind one game I have locking up during the initial load screen.

[...]

Good point. I'm far from sure about this but maybe Winamp addresses the hardware decoder while WMP just runs in software using the installed mpeg codecs? I don't know, i'm not a technician, engineer, programmer, all i care is does it work!

What game is that?

[rditto48801]

It was a game called Fishdom: Frosty Splash. It works perfectly fine now that my sound works. The loading bar didn't even slow down, it was loaded in about the amount of time it took for me to realize the loading bar had frozen at 40% the previous time when I had no sound.

Also, I still have sound, no loss of sound so far.

I opened up my case before I turned on my PC this morning before I turned it on, and checked the sound card a little to see if it was loose. It seem in firmly, although I barely felt something, sort of like a little metal on metal friction being overcome. Other than that, it did not seem loose or anything, but I felt the one thing when I was gently pushing down/wiggling the side opposite of the back part where the speakers plug into it, seeing if it was in their firmly or loose in some way. Since it did possibly budge a tiny bit, you might have been right about it not being seated in there all the way.

[Blín D'ñero]

[...]
I opened up my case before I turned on my PC this morning before I turned it on, and checked the sound card a little to see if it was loose. It seem in firmly, although I barely felt something, sort of like a little metal on metal friction being overcome. Other than that, it did not seem loose or anything, but I felt the one thing when I was gently pushing down/wiggling the side opposite of the back part where the speakers plug into it, seeing if it was in their firmly or loose in some way. Since it did possibly budge a tiny bit, you might have been right about it not being seated in there all the way.

Yes, your detailed description is what i actually meant to say! I just lack the vocabulary. "sort of like a little metal on metal friction being overcome" can really make the difference of working correctly or not (or not at all). A PC's case can also get slightly bent across diagonally if the surface it is standing on is not perfectly flat, so the motherboard bends with it, resulting in cards not sitting absolutely perfectly.
I'm glad it's fixed!

[rditto48801]

I have no idea if it is related or not, but I heard the oddest noise from my computer a short bit ago.
It lasted maybe a second, and is best described as a cross between a beep/tone like sound and what might be best described as a small high speed drill bit drilling into metal.

It about startled the heck out of me. It sounded like came from the upper front of my case, which is where my drives are at (both HDD and the combo CD/DVD-ROM, with no disk in it at the time)
I have no idea where the PC's internal speaker (if any) is located at, but the sound was about as 'annoying' and attention getting as a 'buzzer' type sound.
I don't think I have ever heard such a sound before.

System performance seemed to not be affected at all, no errors, or anything, so I am a little baffled as to what it could have been, or why it occured.

[Blín D'ñero]

Well, that's likely a warning beep, via the speaker, from motherboard. It alarms when it detects hardware failure. The codes are printed in your manual... and also here. If it happened during Windows operation, a short break in the power supplied from your wall socket (can always happen) could cause it, nothing to worry then. But if a connector or Ram modules not seated tightly enough are causing it, you'll notice.

[rditto48801]

Well, sometimes when the furnace starts up in the evening, when quite a few lights are on, the lights seem to 'go dim' for a brief moment, so I wonder if that could have caused it. I was in the middle of playing an older game (a little before 11pm here) when it happened, so I wasn't exactly paying attention to the lights or if the furnace had started up or not.

I still have seen no signs of any sort of errors.
Everything seems to still be alright right now.