C-Media 8738 PCI Souncard whines

flightsimmer · 09-18-2007, 01:16 AM

Hey guys, this is my first post and its a little embarrassing.

I have never had to post online for tech support before! Anyways, I am ready to get this problem fixed.

I had a computer custom built from an online store and it is a beauty!
To help solve the problem, I will list the specs of what I had built in case there is a known bad-combination of parts:

-ASUS P5N SLI Motherboard
-ATI Radeon x1650 Saphire video card
-Intel Core2Duo 2.13Ghz CPU
-2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 DIMM's
-600 Watt ATX Power Supply
-300GB Westerd Digital HDD (7200 RPM)
-C-Media 8738 8 channel 7.1 PCI Soundcard

The only problem is my C-Media 8738 8 channel 7.1 PCI sound card. There is nothing special about it, and as you should already know, it just plugs into the motherboard's PCI slot, it is not onboard. *duh* I also have onboard sound from SoundMAX, which I now use instead of my fantastic 7.1 PCI card because it does not have this problem. To cut to the chase:

Whenever my computer uses the soundcard to play a sound, it makes a horrible high-pitched whining sound. It will NOT do this when the soundcard is not being used by the computer to play sounds, only when it has to play something does it whine. It continues to whine for about a full second after the sound is done playing before stopping. I did not know too much about hardware when I ordered my computer and went with the 600 watt power supply because I knew enough to know my computer is pretty loaded, and I plan to expand it even farther to 1GB of video memory and 4GB of DDR2. So my first thought was that the speakers are getting too much power and it is electrical interference, but then I remembered the speakers have thier own independant in-the-wall power source. Okay, so my next thought is they are blown. (I listen to my music and war games real loud) So this is the first time I connect the speakers to the onboard soundcard to confirm that it is in fact the speakers, and the problem just does not exist with the onboard soundcard. To further confirm my results, I plugged headphones into the PCI soundcard and those too will whine when the soundcard is made to play a sound. I searched and searched for the latest drivers for my soundcard and installed them, it did no good. The louder the speakers go up, the louder the whine becomes, so I think this whine is being "played" by the soundcard like any other sound, or else it would not respond to volume input. Does anyone know why my soundcard whines when it plays sound? The whine is a constant pitch - it sounds the same no matter what properties the soundfile being played has. Any and all help is very much appreciated - I have tried everything I can think of. Oh yes, let me not forget, here are the nit-picky specs of the soundcard:

http://www.magicmicro.com/description.asp?iid=154

and the Motherboard:
http://www.magicmicro.com/description.asp?iid=1112

**manic** · 09-18-2007, 05:13 AM

Neither of those links worked for me. Anyway try moving card to a
different pci slot, preferably the one furthest from the cpu. Might be
feedback from a fan. Could be that the card is just bad.

flightsimmer · 09-18-2007, 02:47 PM

Thanks for the idea! I'll have to go try that. That is odd about the links, they won't work for me now either....

flightsimmer · 09-19-2007, 12:03 AM

Okay, well, I tried that and STILL no luck. The links are back up and working. I went to the product page and noticed one major difference. On the description it is listed as an 8 channel soundcard, on the soundcard itself there is a label that says 6 channel soundcard, and in the picture on the site the card has SIX sound jacks, whereas mine only has five. Did they send me the wrong one? My computer displays the soundcard as a C-Media 8738, which is what I ordered. Does the computer read the device name from the drivers? I may be using the wrong drivers for the card I have if it is not an 8738 model. I need to send it back and get what I ordered I think...

SheaColandri · 10-31-2007, 04:59 AM

I have a very similar card based on the same chipset. I, too, have 5 jacks (for 5.1 channel output). I had a screech problem recently which I discovered was due to a poor internal jack connection - these cards all seem to come with extra light-duty I/O stuff. If it's not that in your case, I have 2 other avenues for you to try:

1) Check your mobo documentation for a jumper dealing with the onboard sound. My first instinct'd be to disable it completely & see if the whining stops when the card handles ALL the audio. However, your mobo may have a jumper to set manually when another sound card is installed in the system; I noted that the mobo features mentioned an auto-detect CODEC which senses its own jack connections....perhaps it won't work with another card supplying the output jacks.

2) Some of these cards have internal connectors (probably near to & similar to the CD/DVD-IN) designed to be hooked to onboard audio systems. Mine is labelled "AUX", but I specifically wanted no part of onboard audio stuff so didn't research this.

My final thought concerns the MIC jack. Almost every card of this type has a very weak microphone subcircuit - meaning poorly engineered & integrated. Basically, I cannot plug anything into this jack without some kind of output jack trouble...so I live without for now. If you're using the MIC jack, try unplugging from it & check the sound.

All I have for the moment....let us know what transpires!

09-18-2007, 01:16 AM	#1 (permalink)
flightsimmer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: 209.131.234 Posts: 25 OS: XP	C-Media 8738 PCI Souncard whines Hey guys, this is my first post and its a little embarrassing. I have never had to post online for tech support before! Anyways, I am ready to get this problem fixed. I had a computer custom built from an online store and it is a beauty! To help solve the problem, I will list the specs of what I had built in case there is a known bad-combination of parts: -ASUS P5N SLI Motherboard -ATI Radeon x1650 Saphire video card -Intel Core2Duo 2.13Ghz CPU -2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 DIMM's -600 Watt ATX Power Supply -300GB Westerd Digital HDD (7200 RPM) -C-Media 8738 8 channel 7.1 PCI Soundcard The only problem is my C-Media 8738 8 channel 7.1 PCI sound card. There is nothing special about it, and as you should already know, it just plugs into the motherboard's PCI slot, it is not onboard. duh I also have onboard sound from SoundMAX, which I now use instead of my fantastic 7.1 PCI card because it does not have this problem. To cut to the chase: Whenever my computer uses the soundcard to play a sound, it makes a horrible high-pitched whining sound. It will NOT do this when the soundcard is not being used by the computer to play sounds, only when it has to play something does it whine. It continues to whine for about a full second after the sound is done playing before stopping. I did not know too much about hardware when I ordered my computer and went with the 600 watt power supply because I knew enough to know my computer is pretty loaded, and I plan to expand it even farther to 1GB of video memory and 4GB of DDR2. So my first thought was that the speakers are getting too much power and it is electrical interference, but then I remembered the speakers have thier own independant in-the-wall power source. Okay, so my next thought is they are blown. (I listen to my music and war games real loud) So this is the first time I connect the speakers to the onboard soundcard to confirm that it is in fact the speakers, and the problem just does not exist with the onboard soundcard. To further confirm my results, I plugged headphones into the PCI soundcard and those too will whine when the soundcard is made to play a sound. I searched and searched for the latest drivers for my soundcard and installed them, it did no good. The louder the speakers go up, the louder the whine becomes, so I think this whine is being "played" by the soundcard like any other sound, or else it would not respond to volume input. Does anyone know why my soundcard whines when it plays sound? The whine is a constant pitch - it sounds the same no matter what properties the soundfile being played has. Any and all help is very much appreciated - I have tried everything I can think of. Oh yes, let me not forget, here are the nit-picky specs of the soundcard: http://www.magicmicro.com/description.asp?iid=154 and the Motherboard: http://www.magicmicro.com/description.asp?iid=1112 __________________ Windows XP/SP2, Western Digital 500GB HDD, Seagate Barracuda 200GB HDD, 4GB DDR2 @ 667MHz, (2)512MB Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, Intel Core2Duo 2.13 Ghz CPU, (2)DVD +/- R/RW/DL Reader/Writer, Dial up internet LOL

09-18-2007, 05:13 AM	#2 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,244 OS: xp	Re: C-Media 8738 PCI Souncard whines Neither of those links worked for me. Anyway try moving card to a different pci slot, preferably the one furthest from the cpu. Might be feedback from a fan. Could be that the card is just bad. __________________

09-18-2007, 02:47 PM	#3 (permalink)
flightsimmer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: 209.131.234 Posts: 25 OS: XP	Re: C-Media 8738 PCI Souncard whines Thanks for the idea! I'll have to go try that. That is odd about the links, they won't work for me now either.... __________________ Windows XP/SP2, Western Digital 500GB HDD, Seagate Barracuda 200GB HDD, 4GB DDR2 @ 667MHz, (2)512MB Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, Intel Core2Duo 2.13 Ghz CPU, (2)DVD +/- R/RW/DL Reader/Writer, Dial up internet LOL

09-19-2007, 12:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
flightsimmer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: 209.131.234 Posts: 25 OS: XP	Re: C-Media 8738 PCI Souncard whines Okay, well, I tried that and STILL no luck. The links are back up and working. I went to the product page and noticed one major difference. On the description it is listed as an 8 channel soundcard, on the soundcard itself there is a label that says 6 channel soundcard, and in the picture on the site the card has SIX sound jacks, whereas mine only has five. Did they send me the wrong one? My computer displays the soundcard as a C-Media 8738, which is what I ordered. Does the computer read the device name from the drivers? I may be using the wrong drivers for the card I have if it is not an 8738 model. I need to send it back and get what I ordered I think... __________________ Windows XP/SP2, Western Digital 500GB HDD, Seagate Barracuda 200GB HDD, 4GB DDR2 @ 667MHz, (2)512MB Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, Intel Core2Duo 2.13 Ghz CPU, (2)DVD +/- R/RW/DL Reader/Writer, Dial up internet LOL

10-31-2007, 04:59 AM	#5 (permalink)
SheaColandri Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: So Cal Posts: 1 OS: Win XP Professional SP2 My System	Re: C-Media 8738 PCI Souncard whines I have a very similar card based on the same chipset. I, too, have 5 jacks (for 5.1 channel output). I had a screech problem recently which I discovered was due to a poor internal jack connection - these cards all seem to come with extra light-duty I/O stuff. If it's not that in your case, I have 2 other avenues for you to try: 1) Check your mobo documentation for a jumper dealing with the onboard sound. My first instinct'd be to disable it completely & see if the whining stops when the card handles ALL the audio. However, your mobo may have a jumper to set manually when another sound card is installed in the system; I noted that the mobo features mentioned an auto-detect CODEC which senses its own jack connections....perhaps it won't work with another card supplying the output jacks. 2) Some of these cards have internal connectors (probably near to & similar to the CD/DVD-IN) designed to be hooked to onboard audio systems. Mine is labelled "AUX", but I specifically wanted no part of onboard audio stuff so didn't research this. My final thought concerns the MIC jack. Almost every card of this type has a very weak microphone subcircuit - meaning poorly engineered & integrated. Basically, I cannot plug anything into this jack without some kind of output jack trouble...so I live without for now. If you're using the MIC jack, try unplugging from it & check the sound. All I have for the moment....let us know what transpires!