Annoying 'helicopter-buzz' when idle (2 Viewers)

[Ruud]

Hi,

just received my brand new amplifier with a Onkyo USB DAC on board: the amplifier is connected via USB and is recognized as a set of USB speakers. Sound is superb (by passing the on board sound card and directly digital feeding the Onkyo DAC) anyway... I notice an annoying buzz (sounds like a helicopter sound) when MP is idle.
When I go to e.g. the TV menu the sound disappears until the menu appears and then it returns (on a different frequency), same for all other menus and browsing the TV guide. So this only happens when MP is in one of its menus and is idle.
When I close MP the sound disappears, when I restart MP the sound appears again.

any ideas on what this may cause or tips to further pin point the problem?

many thanks.
Ruud.

 

[SciDoctor]

Does this problem occur if you run any other DX accelertated applications GAMES etc?

If so could be interference caused by the GPU or PSU when under load

 

[Ruud]

Does this problem occur if you run any other DX accelertated applications GAMES etc?

If so could be interference caused by the GPU or PSU when under load

Hi SciDoctor,
thanks for your reply and your thoughts on this.
Unfortunately I'm not much of a games man (won't run al to gether on my hardware). The interference part did cross my mind and I ran a tool that checks for HW acceleration of DX7,8 and 9 of the video card (by testing al these modes via turning cubes, bouncing boxes etc.: putting load on the video card)
None of these tests reproduces the sound.
Strange thing is that the sound starts immediately when MP is idle (that is: for me as a user... when awaiting 'commands'). The sound stops when MP is actualy doing someting (like going into the my weather module or my music module) where it immediately start again with the sound when idle again...
switching USB ports did not make a difference, will try tonight to exclude the interference by isolating the USB connection as much as possible from other cables / interference sources.

Big question for me now is: what is MP doing when idle (sounds contradictionary )

kind regards,
Ruud.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

on board sound card

If used, any problem.

May well be the driver\usb chipset causing the sound when MP idle but no DX instructions updating.

Make sure onboard sound is deativated in BIOS, after uninstalling its driver in Device Manager first.

 

[entrecour]

Until recently I was struggling with very similar problems (I was also getting noise interference when for example new web pages were loaded). The noise was present even at low reciever volume levels.

Apart from installing latest sound drivers etc. the solution for me was to disable (or set to zero) all recording functions in the sound panel (in Vista under Control Panel / Sound / Recording tab). I have an ASUS MB which has a audio capture input feature. For good measure I also turned off all system sounds (No Sounds under Sound schemes).

Now there is no noise interference at all.

Hope this works for you.

 

[entrecour]

Check also if you get the noise interference when play videos in IE or WMP - if so it might be caused by electrical interference from your video card.

 

[Ruud]

hi, did some adjusting as suggested in your replies. disabled all recording functions, deleted and disabled the on board sound card (which by the way did not have this problem).
Found out by using another program used for testing DirectX that when I pump up the volume to 'very loud' (as in: when the music by accident starts to play, my neighbors from 3 blocks down come over to join the party )I get the same humming sound as within MP. So at this moment my best guess is that indeed the video card is causing the interference.

Now... how can this be solved?
Can I shield the video card in any way or is this useless?
Would a more quality / shielded USB cable do the trick or is the interference on the USB components on the motherboard and not on the cable?

Any help / educated guesses are welcome.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Ruud.

 

[entrecour]

First I'd suggest you report this to NVIDIA on the Vista bug report form, link at the bottom of this page Nvidia - Vista Quality Assurance

Check that it's not onboard wifi that is causing the problem just in case.

Here are a few postings on other forums I found that might help you...

Sound Problems (some tips on grounding and shielding in this)

Sound Interference... What maybe the cause?

nvidia driver makes ticking noise in my computer! (linux)

 

[Ruud]

First I'd suggest you report this to NVIDIA on the Vista bug report form, link at the bottom of this page Nvidia - Vista Quality Assurance

Check that it's not onboard wifi that is causing the problem just in case.

Here are a few postings on other forums I found that might help you...

Sound Problems (some tips on grounding and shielding in this)

Sound Interference... What maybe the cause?

nvidia driver makes ticking noise in my computer! (linux)

Hello Entrecour,
thanks for your input. Nice reading in the provided links. Just did a quick test by powering the amp via another power outlet then the one the PC is hooked up onto (as suggested in one of the articles): this reduces the volume of the sound to approximately half, but still to an annoying level.
De-plugging the vga cable from the video card doubles the volume of the sound so it is definitely VGA card related. Sound kicks in when windows is in its startup screen (with the 'slider' going from left to right (think that thats the point where the drivers are loaded).

Will do some more reading and experimenting tomorrow and will definitely do a bug report to nvidia and to the manufacturer of the video card: they position this card in the fanless HTPC arena so this is a serious show stopper.

anyway thanks for your effort, i will follow up with more results.
If you have any more ideas, please do not hesitate etc.

Thanks,
Ruud.

 

[Ruud]

Hi,
just a follow up post. Finally solved the problem by installing a 'ground loop isolator'. Often ussed in car stereo setups where there is possible electronic noise of the motor via the amplifier. More recently this is used by DJ's who use a laptop.
costs almost nothing, works perfect: no hum what so ever.
regards,
Ruud.