[superdux]

just 10 minutes ago i heard this awful screeching sound again. it had been gone for months now and the last occurence maybe half a year ago.
if it occurs more often in future i will dump the card, although its convenient for my 5 headphones i have but its really nervewrecking when the sound occurs.

 

[yehuda]

Sorry to bump this old thread. Like the previous poster it had been gone for months but then happened again. First time for me with headphones on. Very loud and traumatizing screech. I use Windows 7. Anyone had it happen under Windows 8 yet?

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Do you switch from time to time between speaker and headphone ?
Maybe it occurs less when you switch from time to time.
Also I bought a second card for a second computer,
and the high pitched sound NEVER occurred.
Perhaps a particular config I don't know.

 

[yehuda]

Yeah, I frequently switch between speakers and headphones, and I don't think that affects the issue. I agree it could be related to the hardware configuration. I can change the power supply, see if that helps.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

Yeah, I frequently switch between speakers and headphones, and I don't think that affects the issue. I agree it could be related to the hardware configuration. I can change the power supply, see if that helps.

well, on the pc I  got the high pitched sound (very rare) I  use a corsair 620 hx psu,
while on the other (without issue)  I  use a seasonic that should be equivalent.
Also since the issue is quite rare, it might be that it didn't happen yet with the other config .

 

[A2Razor]

Adding some experience here with Windows 8, since questions of it were asked, and I've now used the card for quite some time under it.
 
--Problem still exists.
 
====================================================================
Power supply:  Antec HCP-1000 Platinum (have also tried my old Antec TPQ and PC-Power and Cooling 1kw supply)
Motherboard: ASUS P8C WS
BIOS: 3306.  Have also tried 3202 and 3108.  Happens with all bioses, no impact on frequency or time of occurrence.
CPU:  Intel E3 1270v2 (Ivy Bridge, Quad-Core)
Memory (exact model):  KVR16E11/8 (4 modules, 32GB ECC DR3-1600)
Do you overclock? No
Graphics:  EVGA Geforce 690 (card does not matter, happens with any .. including an AMD Radeon 7970)
Graphics driver:  320.18 (driver does not matter, happens with any)
Soundcard: ASUS Xonar STX, onboard sound disabled (at bios), videocard sound disabled
Sound driver:  8.0.8.1818 ... yet also happens with "all" drivers.
Other cards + drivers:  No extra addon cards
Peripherals + drivers:  Razer Imperator (mouse), Razer BlackWidow Ultimate (keyboard)
OS: Windows 8 64bit, all updates (as of 6/1/2013)
Playback software (when it happened):  Can happen at any time.  Happens randomly in games, on desktop, browsing the internet in Firefox, sometimes as early as the Windows startup sound on OS entry.  Also -- No correlation to GPU clock frequency changes has been observed (I've logged this looking for answers).
Which audio port do you use?  Both headphones and speakers, happens with either, at any time -- randomly.
Are you able to consistently reproduce the issue?  No.  Have found no correlation with when it happens, nor any means to reproduce it on command.  Happens roughly 5-10 times a month since I've owned the card for over a year ago.
====================================================================
 
To add even more and potentially debunk hardware combinations being to blame .. I've also tried the card in my ASUS P6T7 (Gen 1 Core i7), in addition to my ASUS M488TD-EVO USB3 machine (AMD 965), and in addition to on a Biostar A880G+ AM3 board (two Intel boards, two AMD boards).  That's three motherboards tested under both Windows 8 "AND" Windows 7, with no variation in frequency of occurrence.  (problem happens on ALL of them)
 
***I've also swapped cards with a friend that also owns a Xonar STX, and his board produced the EXACT same problem and number of problem occurrences.  It may be hardware combination related, yet I'm strongly doubting it at this point.
 
 
 
He on the otherhand claims to have "never" heard the noise -- ever.  Perhaps the problem has to do with electrical noise (power issue to the house)?  Even though most of this should've been filtered out by the PSU.
 
 
Anyone have a suggestion of another card that has an equivalent version of ASUS' Smart Volume Normalization, or ... something at least similar (preferably with completely different hardware)?  At this point I think I "need" to switch cards, be it that my case is my house's electrical wiring, appliances in the house, or otherwise...  I still am not used to the noise, even though it doesn't "scare the living ****" out of me anymore after a good year of hearing it.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Still didn't experiment the problem with my second card  on second pc.
A mystery ...

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by A2Razor /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Happens roughly 5-10 times a month since I've owned the card for over a year ago.

That's way too much.
Try to disable unnecessary playback/recording device in  volume mixer.
Go to playback speakers / properties/ advanced, and ensure the  sampling rate is the same as the one defined in the xonar audio center.
When playing music, use a resampler ( for foobar, there's sox) , and set same sampling rate.
That's all I can suggest.

 

[A2Razor]

Quote:

Still didn't experiment the problem with my second card  on second pc.
A mystery ...

 
That's way too much.
Try to disable unnecessary playback/recording device in  volume mixer.
Go to playback speakers / properties/ advanced, and ensure the  sampling rate is the same as the one defined in the xonar audio center.
When playing music, use a resampler ( for foobar, there's sox) , and set same sampling rate.
That's all I can suggest.

 
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
 
Sadly already have tried disabling all playback and recording devices that aren't in use (via the Windows Mixer).  Sampling rate I didn't have to touch for the problem to occur the first times, though I've tried setting it back down to PCM 48khz and 44khz, or up to 96khz or higher.  Also have tried things like setting hi-fi mode to shut off any advanced effects in the Xonar Control Panel app, and disabling giving applications exclusive mode priority, etc, via playback device properties for the speaker output.
 
 
"When playing music, use a resampler ( for foobar, there's sox) , and set same sampling rate."
 
Not played around much here with application settings, yet I've often had the static squeal start-up in the middle of the night whenever no audio is being played on the machine (idle).
 
 
---Short of just giving my friend one of my boxes, putting the card in it, and telling him to "use it".  See if the problem starts using my hardware in a different location, I'm pretty out of ideas.
 
It's "possible" / I'm starting to suspect that high powered devices like the house AC cycling on are "the trigger".  I live in Arizona, so the AC is running constantly, and cycling on and off all the time.  Alas, I don't have a good way to test this...  I'd probably need get a system hooked upto the breakers box that can measure and plot power draw, so that I can look for a load-spike whenever the squealing starts.
 
Perhaps getting a power filter / active inverter to power the machine is a good idea to remove any electrical noise / spikes from the line.  At that point though, it'd probably be cheaper to just switch to another card too, heh.

 

[bcschmerker4]

Quote:

Adding some experience here with Windows 8, since questions of it were asked, and I've now used the card for quite some time under it.
 
--Problem still exists.
 
====================================================================
Power supply:  Antec HCP-1000 Platinum (have also tried my old Antec TPQ and PC-Power and Cooling 1kw supply)
Motherboard: ASUS P8C WS
BIOS: 3306.  Have also tried 3202 and 3108.  Happens with all bioses, no impact on frequency or time of occurrence.
CPU:  Intel E3 1270v2 (Ivy Bridge, Quad-Core)
Memory (exact model):  KVR16E11/8 (4 modules, 32GB ECC DR3-1600)
Do you overclock? No
Graphics:  EVGA Geforce 690 (card does not matter, happens with any .. including an AMD Radeon 7970)
Graphics driver:  320.18 (driver does not matter, happens with any)
Soundcard: ASUS Xonar STX, onboard sound disabled (at bios), videocard sound disabled
Sound driver:  8.0.8.1818 ... yet also happens with "all" drivers.
Other cards + drivers:  No extra addon cards
Peripherals + drivers:  Razer Imperator (mouse), Razer BlackWidow Ultimate (keyboard)
OS: Windows 8 64bit, all updates (as of 6/1/2013)
Playback software (when it happened):  Can happen at any time.  Happens randomly in games, on desktop, browsing the internet in Firefox, sometimes as early as the Windows startup sound on OS entry.  Also -- No correlation to GPU clock frequency changes has been observed (I've logged this looking for answers).
Which audio port do you use?  Both headphones and speakers, happens with either, at any time -- randomly.
Are you able to consistently reproduce the issue?  No.  Have found no correlation with when it happens, nor any means to reproduce it on command.  Happens roughly 5-10 times a month since I've owned the card for over a year ago.
====================================================================
 
...

Given your report of this howl in Windows® 8ight™ 8.0.10000 (MultiProcessor Kernel 6.2.9200), it looks as though Microsoft® has NOT licked the random howl, known to occur in Windows® Se7en™ 7.0.8001 and Windows® Server 2008™ Release 2 6.1.7601, that colored my review of the XONAR® Essence™ STX (see said review, as amended 26 January 2013 from the original 24 April 2012 posting).  In addition, this random howl has been reported on other audio cards and chips.

 

[AncientWsidom]

Quote:

In addition, this random howl has been reported on other audio cards and chips.

From Asus or from other brands?

 

[bcschmerker4]

Quote:

From Asus or from other brands?

Among the chips affected by this howl (known to affect Windows® 6.1.7601, 6.2.9200, 7.0.8001, and 8.0.10000, all at seemingly random events) are the Creative Laboratories® SoundCore3D® (no specifics on which Sound Blaster® models in particular) and audio chips from not only C-Media® but at least two other manufacturers (no specifics).  Microsoft® attempted a hotfix on C:\Windows\System32\WDMAud.drv and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WDMAud.drv on the affected Windows® releases (KB2653312).

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

  Microsoft® attempted a hotfix on C:\Windows\System32\WDMAud.drv and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WDMAud.drv on the affected Windows® releases (KB2653312).

"Attempted", So this doesn't work ?
I didn't have a problem since I have installed it in on two Pc with xonar stx. But someone claimed in this thread the hotfix doesn't work.
The issue was already rare for me, so I can't conclude.

 

[bcschmerker4]

I haven't used the resampler hotfix myself.  The howl the subject of this Thread first showed up on other chips within weeks of the release of Service Pack 1 for Win 7 and Server 2008 Release 2; if it affects Windows 6.1.7601 and 7.0.8001, I had reason to suspect it would also affect 6.2.9200 and 8.0.10000 (which is apparently the case as reported in Post 81 by A2Razor).  Did Microsoft use the patched WDMAud.drv in Win 8 and Server 2012?  I don't know, having decided to hold off on purchase of a Win 8 rig until Service Pack 1 is released.

 

[A2Razor]

I'm not quite sure if the hotfix works or not...  I've just applied it now and am continuing to test under a Win7 dualboot.
Doesn't seem that this update was installed by Windows Update automatically (go figure), or ... at least it wasn't in my list of installed updates.  WDMAud.drv on my system was certainly a different version than the one listed.
 
 
Minimally I can say that the problem for-sure happens under Windows 8.
 
--I'd really ""HOPE"" that Microsoft has applied the fix (if they had one) in their latest and greatest OS, for such a horrible audio glitch that ruins your listening experience ... yet as bcschmerker4 mentioned really there's no way to know unless they confirmed or denied it theirselves.  Will report back if the problem goes away under Windows 7 after having installed that specific KB (may take a few weeks to know for sure).

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

 
Doesn't seem that this update was installed by Windows Update automatically (go figure),

yeah, otherwise the system would refuse to install it (displaying the message that the hotfix is already installed) . Perhaps those claiming the hotfix doesn't work, assume it's already installed.