• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Sound Card problem

JonathanX

JonathanX

Joined
Jun 27, 2015
Messages
138 (0.04/day)
System Specs
System Name ASUSTek Computer Inc.
Processor AMD Phenom II X4 945
Motherboard ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3
Memory 2x4 GB DDR3 Kingston
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon HD 7790, 1 GB GDDR5, 128-bit
Storage Kingston 240 GB SSD + Western Digital 500 GB SATA3
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster 793DF 17 inch CRT
Case Delux DLC-MG760 450W Silver/black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio SB0790 + Genius SW-5.1 Home Theater
Power Supply Enermax NAXN 450W
Mouse Genius, Black
Keyboard Dell
Software Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Version 2003, Service Pack 2
I have a soundcard Creative Xtreme Fidelity SB0790, namely this one:

1.jpg


and recently, while I was just listening to a YouTube song, the sound kinda crashed, the volume got very low and it also made weird sounds, like a wind blowing, or something like that, I don't know how to explain it properly. At first, I thought my sound system malfunctioned, because I had it repaired last year in November, so I thought it might have malfunctioned again. This is my sound system:

genius 5.1.jpeg


But before calling the guy who repaired my system, I thought of replacing my sound card because, who knows, maybe it was the card's fault. So I took out my sound card and replaced it with my previous one, a Creative Audigy SE SB0570. And after that, I restarted my PC and since Winamp wasn't working, I reinstalled the very same sound drivers, and now everything sounds OK.

So what happened? Has my Xtreme Fidelity card really malfunctioned? If so, why? I mean, usually sound cards don't get ruined as quickly/easily as video cards, right?

I also have to mention that after the repair of my sound system Genius, every once in a while the speakers made a small sound, like a hissing or something like that. And I don't remember them making this hissing before, only after the repair. What happened? Has the repair of the Genius system affected the sound card?

Is there any point in inserting back my Xtreme Fidelity card to see if the problem is still there? because in that case I can be 100% sure that it's the sound card's fault, right?

PS: I noticed that the orange connector was the issue with my Xtreme Fidelity card, I mean after the sound malfunctioned, if I took the orange connector out of the orange slot of the card, the weird noises stopped. And when I plugged it back in, the weird noises started again.

This is the orange connector, the one at the bottom:

4.png


What do you think? Is there any point in reinstalling the Xtreme Fidelity or it's just a waste of time and I can throw away the card?
 
JonathanX said:
I have a soundcard Creative Xtreme Fidelity SB0790, namely this one:

View attachment 301264

and recently, while I was just listening to a YouTube song, the sound kinda crashed, the volume got very low and it also made weird sounds, like a wind blowing, or something like that, I don't know how to explain it properly. At first, I thought my sound system malfunctioned, because I had it repaired last year in November, so I thought it might have malfunctioned again. This is my sound system:

View attachment 301265

But before calling the guy who repaired my system, I thought of replacing my sound card because, who knows, maybe it was the card's fault. So I took out my sound card and replaced it with my previous one, a Creative Audigy SE SB0570. And after that, I restarted my PC and since Winamp wasn't working, I reinstalled the very same sound drivers, and now everything sounds OK.

So what happened? Has my Xtreme Fidelity card really malfunctioned? If so, why? I mean, usually sound cards don't get ruined as quickly/easily as video cards, right?

I also have to mention that after the repair of my sound system Genius, every once in a while the speakers made a small sound, like a hissing or something like that. And I don't remember them making this hissing before, only after the repair. What happened? Has the repair of the Genius system affected the sound card?

Is there any point in inserting back my Xtreme Fidelity card to see if the problem is still there? because in that case I can be 100% sure that it's the sound card's fault, right?

PS: I noticed that the orange connector was the issue with my Xtreme Fidelity card, I mean after the sound malfunctioned, if I took the orange connector out of the orange slot of the card, the weird noises stopped. And when I plugged it back in, the weird noises started again.

This is the orange connector, the one at the bottom:

View attachment 301267

What do you think? Is there any point in reinstalling the Xtreme Fidelity or it's just a waste of time and I can throw away the card?
Click to expand...
That connector likely needs to be cleaned with Deoxit or some other kind of contact cleaner. Even 99% IPA would do the job. The card itself is fine, just needs some TLC.
 
lexluthermiester said:
That connector likely needs to be cleaned with Deoxit or some other kind of contact cleaner. Even 99% IPA would do the job. The card itself is fine, just needs some TLC.
Click to expand...
Late reply, but I feel the need to do it.

I took the card to a service center in my town (which has only 5star reviews, by the way) and they told me the orange connector is indeed damaged and it needs to be replaced. So the card is not fine at all, according to him, and it needs more than just a scrub with those substances you mentioned. The guy said he had some similar cards himself and he would search for them to take the connectors off them and put them in my card, but eventually he couldn't find them, so a good option would be to go to him with the other card (Xtreme Music) and he will exchange the damage connector(s) with the "golden" ones from the Xtreme Music card.

By the way, I don't know how many of you reached the conclusion (on the other thread) that the Xtreme Music is a better card than this one, because I have been using it since I last posted here and I tried ALL the drivers made by Daniel K and each and every single time the sound is CLEARLY WORSE than even with the SB0570! I'm NOT kidding! Maybe it's a driver problem, maybe you guys have other sound systems or other speakers, maybe you use headphones, maybe you're not accustomed to listening to MP3s made at 160 or 192 kbps - like I am...... I don't know, but one thing for sure, this card sounds definitely worse! I had many instances when even youtube videos sound with the 2 frontal satellites at HALF the volume of the other speakers!

A good example would be this song:

David A. Stewart - Lily Was Here ft. Candy Dulfer

Believe me or not, after listening to my MP3 version of this song, I immediately went to youtube to see if the problem persists... AND IT DOES!! It sounds exactly the same on youtube too: the 2 frontal satellites sound at only HALF their normal volume! And this is just one example, many other songs have the same issue with this card - the Xtreme Music!

Why?

Is the card faulty? Maybe the guy who sold it to me asked for half the normal price because the card was faulty and he tried to get rid of it by finding a sucker like me? Because that can be an explanation too! Or is it some driver problem? Or maybe the driver for this card - even if it's made by Daniel K - has some bugs on my Windows XP?

I don't know, but I will get rid of this card: I shall ask the guy at the service to use its "golden" connectors for the SB0790, because that card NEVER gave me any problems like this, except for malfunctioning at the orange connector. The sound I got with it was always superb, but this Xtreme Music card, which has been so praised, gave me a significantly worse sound AND this bullshit error about the 2 frontal satellites.
 
lexluthermiester said:
Damn. Sorry. That jack looks fine physically. The contacts looks like there was some oxidation going on that just needed cleaning. This is what I see 99.9% of the time.
Click to expand...
More bad news: the guy from the service replaced All The Connectors by putting the golden ones in the SB0790, just like we discussed, but after bringing the card home and inserting it in the PC, I still had the same problem: weird noises (like wind blowing), hissing, sound lowered at approximately 20% of its normal/initial volume.

I think the card is finished, because this proves that replacing the connectors DID NOT fix the problem. So, logically speaking, the problem is definitely NOT with the connectors, but with something else. Damn! And sadly for me, the service guy is on holiday now, so I can't even break the news to him since he turned his phone off. So right now I am using my SB0570 card (which still sounds perfect, by the way, I mean it has no technical problem) and I am waiting for the service guy to come back from holiday and I'll tell him to try and fix the card again. If the says/thinks it's impossible, I'll just buy another SB0790 since there are still 2 or 3 for sale (second-hand, of course) in my country.

I'm very much afraid that my darkest predictions from my first post were correct: there is a big chance that I can just throw the card in the garbage can. Let's see what the service guy will tell me and/or what he will be able to do about this problem.

lexluthermiester, did you ever have any such problem with any of your sound cards?

​

 
JonathanX said:
lexluthermiester, did you ever have any such problem with any of your sound cards?
Click to expand...
Not that I can recall. To me, those results seem like a capacitor problem. With SPUs, they either work, or not. So your situation seems more like a signal degradation thing. I hope those jacks didn't cost you much.
 
Being a pci card, which is 25+ years old, the board might need a cap replacement
 
lexluthermiester said:
Not that I can recall. To me, those results seem like a capacitor problem. With SPUs, they either work, or not. So your situation seems more like a signal degradation thing. I hope those jacks didn't cost you much.
Click to expand...
Signal degradation, total card degradation... it's kinda the same thing to me. The card seems finished, I'll see what the service guy will be able to do about it, but I am already looking for a similar one. I am eyeing a SB0730 (it's called Extreme gamer) and an XFi Titanium, but I'm not sure if it works under XP SP2, 32-bit. Also, the guy selling it might not wanna send it outside of his town.

It's a big pity if I will have to throw away this BEAUTIFUL SB0790 which has provided such splendid audio quality, but if it cannot be repaired... then that's just it.... :(

The jacks? You mean the golden connectors? Like I said, I bought the Xtreme Music card - which I already talked about both here and in my other thread - but since it sounds like crap compared to even the SB0570, I "sacrificed" it (so to speak) by telling the service guy to take off the golden connectors from it and put them on the SB0790 card. He (the service guy) did that for free, he said it's pointless to charge me money for such a thing.

By the way, the card is from 2006 (as it can be clearly seen in the photo I posted) and now we're 2023, so it's 17 years old, not 25+. But yes, 17 years old for a sound card is still a pretty big amount of time, I would guess...
 
Last edited:
JonathanX said:
Signal degradation, total card degradation... it's kinda the same thing to me. The card seems finished, I'll see what the service guy will be able to do about it, but I am already looking for a similar one. I am eyeing a SB0730 (it's called Extreme gamer) and an XFi Titanium, but I'm not sure if it works under XP SP2, 32-bit. Also, the guy selling it might not wanna send it outside of his town.

It's a big pity if I will have to throw away this BEAUTIFUL SB0790 which has provided such splendid audio quality, but if it cannot be repaired... then that's just it.... :(

The jacks? You mean the golden connectors? Like I said, I bought the Xtreme Music card - which I already talked about both here and in my other thread - but since it sounds like crap compared to even the SB0570, I "sacrificed" it (so to speak) by telling the service guy to take off the golden connectors from it and put them on the SB0790 card. He (the service guy) did that for free, he said it's pointless to charge me money for such a thing.

By the way, the card is from 2006 (as it can be clearly seen in the photo I posted) and now we're 2023, so it's 17 years old, not 25+. But yes, 17 years old for a sound card is still a pretty big amount of time, I would guess...
Click to expand...

Ok northfix. Krisfix.de and northridgefix might be your only hope at this rate...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top