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desktop speakers problem - heartbeat sound??
Slater - 27/2/10 at 05:08 PM

Good day. My desktop speakers have suddenly started emiting a heartbeat sound, it speeds up and slows down just like a real persons heart. They will play normal sound but the beating is still in the background. If I plug the speakers into my Ipod it goes away, so I think it's the computor itself.

Any ideas what is causing this and how to stop it? I am not clever with computors so please reply as if you are communicating with a buffoon.

It's a DELL Dimension 5100 with WindowsXP, about 4 years old. The sound thingy is Sound Blaster Live - 24 bit
Maybe the computor is alive!

[Edited on 27/2/10 by Slater]

mookaloid - 27/2/10 at 05:10 PM

Not alive - clearly haunted

tomprescott - 27/2/10 at 05:11 PM

You could try re-installing your audio drivers and see if it removes the problem? You can search for realtek audio hd drivers online (probably what you have), alternatively it could be some sort of electro-magnetic interference from a psu or something if the computer is of when you use the ipod?

Slater - 27/2/10 at 05:46 PM

Tom, I tried re-installing realtek audio hd driver but the speakers are still beating......even faster now.

Any other suggestions?

DanP - 27/2/10 at 06:07 PM

Try moving any power supplies and other electrical stuff away from your speaker wiring and see if the noise goes away, it could be that by plugging into your iPod you just moved the cable away from something that's interfering.

Hth
Dan

dhutch - 27/2/10 at 06:14 PM

Very odd indeed.
- We had a guitar amp that once developed the same sound, although it was at a fixed speed. Never got to the bottom of it myself and it went back for repair and £50 later came back with a new circuit board working fine.


Daniel

tomprescott - 27/2/10 at 08:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DanP
Try moving any power supplies and other electrical stuff away from your speaker wiring and see if the noise goes away, it could be that by plugging into your iPod you just moved the cable away from something that's interfering.

Hth

Ditto, thats why I asked about the power supply for the computer, it would explain why the beating is in the background when the pc goes through the speakers, but when the pc is connected but not outputting the beat is louder - interference on the speaker magnet is less noticeable when the magnet is being driven.

What kind of equipment do you have near the speakers? Cordless phone base units can cause all kinds of havoc for speaker systems. If you can find the spec for your speakers you'll probably find they aren't shielded - hence the interference. On the other hand though it does seem odd that the beeping is now louder after reinstalling the drivers - that would indicate to me that either there is a software issue and I suggested the wrong drivers for your soundcard, or that your soundcard itself is knackered. Sorry I can't be of more help!

daviep - 27/2/10 at 08:16 PM

My laptop used to do this when I closed the lid, can't remeber what it was exactly but I'm sure it was skype or windows media or something like that which caused it.

Sorry this is really vague but it only happened a few times.

AndyGT - 27/2/10 at 10:31 PM

I agree with ^^^^^^ Have you installed some software recently that may be causing this problem?

If all else fails, try finding an old PCI soundcard that you could install and disable your onboard soundcard in the bios.

Good Luck
Andy