multiple sound problems

Since I have limited knowledge in computing I will try to explain the situation as detailed as possible.

Ever since around a month or so ago by computer's sound has been behaving very strangely. The sound would work completely fine when I start up my computer most of the time, however generally after around 30 minutes the computer's sound quality would begin to progressively decline until it would be inaudible. Generally this process takes around 2 minutes where I would hear weak distortions/crackling/static to stronger distortions/crackling etc and would ultimately fade in volume and cease to produce sound. This can be quite annoying and would not be fixed by just simple efforts such as shut downs and restarts. The ordeal would last from several hours to even days. Ive tried fixing this problem by installing/reinstalling drivers. However this has not worked. I even checked with the owner of my computer store however he did not spot the cause. Strangely 2 weeks ago the sound miraculously became fixed working perfectly until today where Im beginning to get the same problem.

Im currently using:

ASUS A8N SLI Motherboard and Realtek Audio sound (no audio device is displayed when the sound is not working)
Windows XP Service Pack 2


Motherboard properties

Motherboard ID 07/26/2005-NF-CK804-A8NSLI-B-00
Motherboard Name Asus A8N SLI

Front Side Bus Properties

Bus Type AMD Hammer
Real Clock 200 mhz
Effective Clock 200 mhz
HyperTransport Clock 1000mhz

Memory Bus Properties

Bus Type DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64bit
Real Clock 201mhz
Effective Clock 402mhz
Bandwidth 3219 mb/s

Motherboard Specific Properties

CPU sockets 1 socket-939
expansion slots 3pci, 2pci-e x 1, 2pci-e x 16
ram slots 4ddr dimm
integrated devices audio, gigabit lan
form factor ATX
motherboard size 240mm x 300mm
motherboard chipset nforce4-SLI
extra features jumperfree, q-fan, stepless freq function

motherboard manufacturer

company name ASUSTEK computer inc

Help is widely appreciated. If this still doesnt work then buying a new sound card might be the inevitable option.

 

Sounds (!) a bit like a connection problem - at least that would be one option, consistent with teh thing not working, then working for a while, then not working again. Also consistent with no audio device showing when the sound isn't working, and with there being no improvement from rebooting.

Hence, one easy test would be to re-seat the soundcard. Give the works a clean (remove dust) while doing so. Be careful of static electricity while poking around in there though.

Also, do you have speakers (built-in or separate), or earphones? PC, Mac or laptop?

 

Im using PC and windows as an operating system and the speakers are seperate

 

Try other speakers or earphones then, if you haven't already - the problem could be in there. But also try re-seating the card and cleaning the card connections, as suggested.

 

Ive already tried the speakers on another computer and has worked fine. I just cleaned the dust completely today however this has not resolved the problem. Any other suggestions?

 

Hmmm... That's a pity.
Do you have another sound card you can try - from an old computer or a friend's/family member's computer?
One wonders about overheating, but that should be fixed by leaving it off for a while.
How old are the card and the computer? Maybe the card is running out of puff.

 

dont have another sound card. My computer and the sound card are around two years old now.

 

Here are two more options, to try to see what's causing this.

1. Take teh sound card out and try the on-board (integrated) audio.

2. Move the sound card to another slot and see if that helps (put it as far away from the graphics card (if you have one) as you can.

3. There's a very slight chance that malware is using up your system resources. Do you keep that stuff cleaned out. If you want to make sure of it, follow the instructions here: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

More questions:

Did you do anything to the computer just before this started happening? Updates? New hardware? Spilled coffee in it?...

Anything unusual about the environment happen or change back then? New telephone sitting on teh computer? Cat that likes chewing wires arrived? Attacked by aliens from teh planet Magneto?...

What sort of sound have you tried while having this problem? Games? Music? YouTube videos? Movies? If you have only tried one or two, it may be helpful to try some others.

How helpful was the person at the computer shop? Did he have a good look at it, or did he want you to go away?

 

I just realised that my computer does not have a sound card, its using just onboard audio from the motherboard.

1. Nope, the problem arised absolutely randomly. I thought it was a hardware problem at first.
2. Nope again
3. It happens in all aspects of sound. Movies, music, internet, windows sounds etc
4. He gave it a good 20 minutes of examination but could not really find a solution besides suggesting that I should opt for their lasted range of sound cards :/

 

Well that knocks out a few of the options!
Two more things to try:
1. Wiggle and push the speaker jack where it plugs into the computer. Maybe there's a loose or bad connection there. If so, you might hear a difference by doing this.
2. Blow an electric fan into the computer to keep it cool. It may be that the audio is overheating.

Did the guy at the computer shop turn the computer on and observe teh problem occurring?

 

unfortunately the sound was working properly when the computer guy was observing the computer therefore he did not experience the actual problem although I explained it to him. Do you think its a hardware or setting issue?

 

OK, it would be hard to find the cause when it's not happening. You might think about taking it back when it IS happening (hopefully - these things have a habit of fixing themselves when someone else looks at them).

Could be hardware. Motherboard might need replacing. The idea of blowing a fan into it was to see if it was overheating. If that solved teh problem, overheating would probably be the cause. That might be fixed by methods other than getting another motherboard. (Did you try this and wiggling/pushing the plug in teh back?)

Could be a setting issue, but I think that would only be so if someone has been overclocking it - getting into the BIOS and changing certain settings to do with speed.

If the computer is only 2 years old, it may be still under warranty. Have you checked this out?