[Scgeeks] Re: Audio problem

[Indigo]

"AndrewB" <loyal at spamcop.user> wrote in message 
news:g7grjn$d7h$1 at news.spamcop.net...
>
> Although you have AVG 8, have you tried any spyware scanners like ad-aware 
> or such?  That might explain the disk activity of ntoskrnl.exe, if your 
> machine is a spambot or something like that.  But also, streaming media 
> may result in disk activity too.
>

Thanks for the response, I was wondering whether I was ever going to get any 
help! I have SpyBot running in realtime to monitor registry changes, but 
don't use ad-aware anymore.

> Do you have a 32 bit or 64 bit version of Vista?

32 bit

>
> Do you have another pc at your location you can use to stream to see if 
> it's your ISP throttling you?  Or maybe borrow one?

I have my old PC in the basement hooked up to a stereo system to eventually 
get around to ripping .wav files from LPs, but it's not connected to my 
modem, and it would be a royal PITA to do so.

I did discover one thing that might have been causing the problem, not sure 
yet. I had installed "SoundTap" in an attempt to capture the XM audio 
stream, didn't like the results, and it "took control" of the sound card at 
the most basic level during install. My problems started before I installed 
that software, BTW. Anyway, I tried to unistall SoundTap, and found a driver 
that refused to be deleted. Today I finally figured out how to gain 
permission to delete the subdirectory, and checked to make sure that the 
driver wasn't loaded after a reboot. I also re-enabled some Windows services 
that were related to Bluetooth and other things (thinking my wireless mouse 
runs on Bluetooth, which isn't correct). I also noticed last night before 
the SoundTap driver deletion that while watching live TV on my PC I had 
absolutely no problems with the sound, which points to the streaming process 
as the real issue. Point aside, DO NOT screw with SoundTap (or any other NCH 
software), it's insidious, especially their 'toolbox' feature. It took me 
multiple runs of RegCure to delete all references to that fscking program.

Today I don't think I've had any sound issues except for a few minor pops 
and crackles while listening to XM Online -- the other streaming audio 
service has been flawless. Could be a simple as the fact that I unplugged 
and cleaned all the audio connectors, but I doubt it.

While dealing with this whole issue, I got the brilliant idea to use the 
line out from my PC to my powered speaker system to run a line down to the 
basement LP recording stereo using one of the spare line in inputs so I can 
listen to my PC audio in my workshop during the day. I already have the wire 
and the male 3.5 mm plug to L/R RCA male connector cable, just need to find 
a single male to double female 3.5 mm splitter to make it work. Only issue I 
can see is that the signal strength may be reduced significantly over the 30 
foot wire run (I'm using some spare 22 gauge speaker wire). Any insight on 
that?