Alright, I made a post about this a month ago, the thread is
here but I'll make a new one to more clearly go about this.
The Problem
Usually a few minutes after starting my computer, The sound on my computer becomes fuzzy/staticy & then cuts out completely. The sound recovers off & on but never is fully "normal" once it cuts out the first time. Always slightly fuzzy/staticy and my microphone output sounds "wierd" to other people.
This is a system wide problem and is not isolated to one program or game. It is not my speakers or microphone as I've used them on other computers and with other hardware and they function normally.
When shutting down my computer (if the sound is not 100% normal), it displays a message saying "Waiting for program to close "explorer.exe - Playing logoff sound". At this point I can either wait at this screen for several minutes for the computer to shut down (2-20 mins usually) or I can do a "Force Shut Down". Now, IF i "Force Shut Down" my computer hangs at the POST screen when I reboot.. It POST's fine.. But will simply hang there and never complete the boot up phase. It registers keystrokes but will not let me navigate to the BIOS or anything else. At this point I have to continuously shut down my computer & restart it until It boots up normally.. Once it DOES boot up normally it doesn't have a problem booting up again, providing I don't "Force Shut down". Usually I only have to shut down & restart a couple of times. But the last few times It has taken 20 or so restarts to boot my computer back up.
I have already re-formatted my PC completely, updated Windows 7 with all the current updates, installed fresh & updated drivers from Asus' website.. Cleared the CMOS. Update older programs I thought were the problem.
After going through all of this... The only option I see is failing/faulty hardware. I built this computer in late August 2010, and never had any problems whatsoever until mid Febuary when this issue started.
What I can't explain though, is that just after the last reply in my previous thread, the issue just.. "Went away" until yesterday when it resurfaced.. I was previously using System Restore to regain sound for a few hours until the issue returned, but over time that window became smaller and smaller, down to only a few minutes of properly working audio. But for literally an entire month I've had no problem at all.. No idea why. I originally thought I had a bad Windows 7 patch because thaw was usually the last thing to change on my computer before this issue resurfaced.
Computer specs:
Case: CoolerMaster HAF-X
Power Supply: Corsair HX850 Modular PSU
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Extreme
Memory: Corsair Dominator GT 3 x 2GB sticks
Processor: Intel Core i7 930
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Venomous X-RT
Graphics Card: Asus 5870 2GB Matrix Platinum edition
Boot Drive: Intel X-25m G2 80GB Solid State drive
Secondary Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Optical Drive: Common ASUS DVD/RW CD/RW drive (bare drive)
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit Home Edition (OEM edition for system builders)
