Wi-Fi and Sound Issue

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JohnBM01

JohnBM01

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I am seeking advice for an issue that has annoyed me since mid-late March of this year. Searching online to get hints from others just further befuddled me in trying to retake my PC and my regain my sanity. I'm hoping to resolve this matter somehow. If I don't speak up about this, I may be unable to get any advice or even allow others searching the Internet to get some advice. Most of you used to me since my GTPlanet debut in December 2003 may know me for "40 page intros." Well, this one is worth it because the perfectionist in me want to be as detailed as possible about everything in trying to document my issues. But first, some inisght on what I'm using as I try to explain my problem...


What I Have
I have a 2005 HP Pavillion computer. Since about May 1997 and until October 2008, I've enjoyed the awesomeness of dialup Internet access. Since joining the wireless crowd, I've enjoyed wireless Internet using my Netgear WG311v3 PCI wireless network adapter. The adapter is good for Wireless-G. I am considering getting a newer adapter to take better advantage of the new Wireless-N network now in my household. I have a USB wired mouse, and I also have both a PS/2 keyboard and a USB wired keyboard. My family recently gone from an AT&T 2Wire modem to a Motorola Surfboard under Comcast Xfinity Internet. My PC is running Windows XP SP3. I use Windows Firewall and recently went back to Microsoft Security Essentials after uninstalling avast! antivirus. Back around 2008 or so, I bought a 1GB RAM module to boost the 381 MB RAM to 1.3 MB RAM.

Since I am having wireless Internet troubles with my PC, I use my Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 (it is a portable media player and not a "phone") for WiFi Internet access.


The Problem
What's the problem? Recently, I have noted at seemingly random times that my wireless Internet would drop when certain Internet activity occurs. What happens when the connection is dropped? Here is what happens: my WiFi connection gets dropped from the network, followed by the sound card going out. I then have only limited access to my mouse and my keyboard before the computer eventually freezes up to where I have to do a hard reboot to regain control of my PC and my WiFi... until the next potential time the WiFi connection and/or my PC crashes. By not using the Internet or through limited usage (even including any automatic downloading), I am fortunate to go a full day with a consistent connection and with my PC running fine. Other times, I just almost expect my connection to crash at an expected or unexpected time. I don't get a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), I don't see any minidump reports telling me about any crash information, I don't see any logs saying that any program crashed with some faulting module... only hint I get is in the Event Viewer showing Event ID 4202 in Event Viewer. Because of the anonymous nature of these crashes, I do not use the WiFi on my PC unless I really have to. I tried to use the Internet on my PC to download the Windows XP SP3 pack- only to have the download fail on me, and I ended up successfully downloading XP SP3 from my Android device. Or I may only use the WiFi Internet just to be sure that it's still working.

When I check the Event Viewer, the ONLY hint I get that my connection has crashed is a 4202 Event under Tcpip. It used to be that after a serious error, a window would show up saying that Windows recovered from a serious error. But once my WiFi goes out *randomly* after some activity, I don't get any hints or any sort of advice except for that lone Tcpip 4202 Error event. For the uninitiated, event 4202 in Event Viewer states that the network adapter has disconnected from the network. It suggests the network adapter has malfunctioned if the network adapter has not been disconnected. All this tells me is to be ready to shut down the computer and reboot to regain all functionality again.

Sometimes, I could simply be browsing files on my PC or trying to find certain files to open, and either my PC or my connection would crash, leaving me no choice but to reboot. The wireless connection does not recover even if I attempt to Repair the connection. Same goes if I try to manually disable and enable the WiFi connection. I have even run virus scans which eventually have crashed the WiFi connection. The virus scan continues; but once it's done (or after canceling the scan) after the WiFi crash, the PC freezes up to where a hard reboot brings everything back to normal. I may even try to access a feature or open a program, and the PC will crash to where I have to restart the computer. Just as worse... the WiFi may crash some time after the Windows XP "Welcome" screen appears! I sometimes started the computer in Safe Mode after the PC fails to load without crashing or freezing in successive attempts just to reload in Normal Mode.

My computer would rarely freeze up and crash since first getting it in 2005. But after these crashes become more frequent, I am starting to feel as disappointed of dealing with these crashes as I have with my previous eMachines computer. My PC has worked VERY fine until my suspicions arose starting in mid-late March of this year. So it isn't like I have fiddled with the same issue for a long while.


Diagnosis
Now comes the business of trying to diagnose how to resolve this issue. I have attempted virus scans using avast! (which I have recently uninstalled) and MalwareBytes, both of which coming clean. I've even used MalwareBytes in Safe Mode with no notice of any viruses. I have even attempted to disable certain programs from starting up as well as disabling any Services that I think may be hampering my computer and its online connection. All of which, to no avail. I basically have to use my Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 (it is a media player, not a "phone") and the WiFi capabilities of that device to use the Internet. My PS3 also is on the same WiFi network. Both my Android portable media player and the PS3 can access and maintain a connection just fine. The only problem is in trying to maintain a solid connection and hope that random WiFi crash doesn't happen while browsing online or looking up files on my PC.

It helps to note that I have both a PS/2 keyboard and a USB keyboard. I have my USB keyboard initially to try to type more efficiently with the PS3. I also use a wired USB mouse. When the WiFi crashes happen, and if my PS/2 keyboard is connected, I am unable to use my PS/2 keyboard unless I restart the computer. My USB mouse runs fine. When the WiFi crashes happen, and if my USB keyboard is connected, both my USB mouse and USB keyboard remain functional until the PC eventually freezes up after closing a tab or window or something.

I took advice to disable the Wireless Zero Configuration recently, and that did nothing to resolve the matter. I eventually re-enabled the WZC and still face the same problem. I did a System Restore last month (not a full re-install of Windows XP), and that did nothing to solve the WiFi issues I'm facing. I have had "Spybot: Search and Destroy" to investigate my PC along with the use of TeaTimer. That went clean. HijackThis seemed pretty clean as well.


Conclusions Drawn
After thinking a lot about what has happened with my PC, I've come to these conclusions:

* Whatever is impacting my PC has to do with my WiFi connectivity. So I may think there may be a firewall issue denying certain kinds of traffic. Of course, I have no clue of any potential firewall matters of blocking of certain network traffic impacting my firewall and eventually my PC and WiFi. Nothing firewall related shows up or is reported that I know of.

* I don't think a virus, malware, spyware, or some rootkit is hiding in my PC to cause these WiFi issues. It isn't as if my browsers or anything are directing me to suspicious sites or re-directing my browsing to some shady site.

* I do not suspect my PCI wireless network adapter card has any problems. If it did, I (1) would not be able to access the WiFi connection, and (2) I would not to able to maintain my connection without any sort of faulty drivers or software. I did reinstall my network driver cards, and this did NOT resolve the matter. (Remember that as of this post, I was considering getting another wireless adapter but didn't get one.)

* It can't be a router or modem problem because I can connect to it properly more or less. The wireless router/modem also connects another PC, my Samsung Galaxy Player, my PlayStation 3, and of course- my PC. It would be a router/modem issue if it shuts off or disconnects every so often. For the most part, the connection remains solid all day every day unless the network is down or if the power goes out or something.

* While the crashes can happen at any random moment, most of these times either happen as I am exploring sites or while something is downloading (such as updates automatically downloaded, for example). Some Internet activity of some capacity ends up resulting in a random crash of the PC and WiFi. Since these are random moments that these crashes could happen, it is difficult to actually get a handle on when the PC or the connection will crash and what actually triggers the crashes.

* I initially believed this was a problem with Firefox and Opera. I only use Internet Explorer "for emergencies only." I have Firefox 20 and Opera 12.15 (I believe). Since I use Windows XP SP3, the highest IE I can use is IE8. I don't have a handful of add-ons for IE8, so I am able to use IE8 for a certain amount of time and in a certain capacity. Chrome has given me a bad experience, so I am not even considering returning to Chrome. Firefox checks for updates, and Opera is used for checking on my E-mails. Those options could lead to the dreaded Tcpip 4202 error my PC can't recover from without a restart.

* I once suspected using Facebook and logging into Google were culprits in my WiFi issues. I am not logged into Google when I use IE. This is a problem for me because I use Blogger/Blogspot and YouTube- which require using Google accounts. Google may sometimes send me updates on who added me on Google+ or something like that. Those Google activities are among certain activities that will help to my wireless connection crashing at a random moment.

* Fearing that my PC may be overheating or not performing at its best, I dusted off the inside of my computer and got some dust out. That basically stopped my PC from making a loud whirring sound after using some programs for a certain amount of time.

* The wireless connection may report it is running at 1.0 Mbps. I am connected to WiFi and able to reach certain sites just fine, but I may suspect something may be dropping down the connection to where it eventually disconnects from my PC.

* This thing isn't killing my computer, so I doubt I need a new computer. Even if my PC is outdated by today's standards, it still works just fine.

After suspecting these things, and after countless Google searches for answers, I am at the end of my rope determining what more can I do to resolve (or at least treat) this issue. I figure it may be some kind of bug within XP or some kind of firewall issue, or I may need to consider getting another wireless adapter to replace my somewhat five-year old PCI network adapter. I would prefer getting another PCI wireless network adapter since the USB ports at the back of my PC are all filled up. However, I would have to make some adjustments if I wanted to get another USB device. Or I could just get one of those multi-port USB things. It would be near impossible for me to try a wired connection as opposed to a wireless connection.





This is as detailed as I can be about my PC/online issue. I am welcome to answer any further questions or offer some other details. Are these WiFi crashes something I'm going to have to live with, or is there anything that can seriously help me resolve this? Your advice is welcome.


[UPDATE] The Wi-Fi issue seems to have been resolved. It now seems to be a sound issue.
 
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I would go for the cheapest option/possible fix available. Buy a new PCI card. They go for 10 bucks, and just might solve your problem. I've had kinda the same issues on a laptop, and a new card solved it for me.
 
Lengthy post,

I'd try new power supply.

Does your motherboard have any bulging/scorched capacitors.

bad_capacitors.jpg
 
2005 was quite a while ago. I think it may be just your PC getting old/processors wearing out. Have you had any plans to get a new computer?
 
I don't think the PC is aging to where things are getting fried. My previous PC was what I had since maybe 1999 or 2000. I am not skeptical that this PC is getting too old. The motherboard seems fine to me. I don't think power is an issue. In fact, one other measure I took was to disable any power-related settings. I was at a Wal-Mart today and saw a USB Wireless-N adapter from Netgear. I didn't buy it. I probably will get it next time just in case. My wireless adapter is a Wireless-G adapter.

As a fun fact, my current PC is the only one I have ever installed hardware for it. That includes a RAM module, another sound card, and my PCI wireless adapter.


Anyhow, I seem to be leaning towards getting a new wireless adapter. My confidence is still a bit low since I don't think it will resolve my random wi-fi crash issues.
 
Okay. Update time. I went ahead and bought a new wireless adapter. I got the Netgear N300 Wireless USB Adapter. I "aggressively" tested the wireless adapter through using Firefox and thought it performed very well. It seems like my Wi-Fi issues have been resolved using this new adapter. I also disconnected the old Wi-Fi adapter and uninstalled the software associated with the old wireless adapter.

All's well that ends well, right? Well... not quite. I still get some random crashes sometimes. So I now feel that I may have halfway solved my problem. I now want to investigate my sound card- a Diamond Xtreme Sound card. Remember that I noted the sound card going out as the first sign that my PC has crashed. How do I know I may also be facing a sound card issue in addition to a WiFi issue? Well, you know some messages pop up; and if you associate a sound with them (even if they are default beeps), you'll hear a sound play with that. For example, a window will come up if you try to end a process from Task Manager. Once the sound crashes and once the PC attempts to play the associated sound effect, my PC freezes up. This leads me to believe that my overall issue relates to having to buy a new Wi-Fi adapter and a new sound card. Or maybe I needed a new sound card all along.

When these crashes happen now, I no longer note the Tcpip 4202 event in Event Viewer. It must mean that I've solved my Wi-Fi issue. Now, I may need to get a new sound card. What I may attempt this week is to re-install the drivers for the sound card. Sound otherwise runs fine. I just feel that when the system has these random crashes, since the sound is the first thing I notice go out followed by the limited mouse and keyboard functionality, I need to investigate certain sound-related issues with my PC. I will disable sound in Firefox and Opera. I have a Noise add-on for Firefox that plays sounds for various actions. I'll disable that and see if that helps.

The last time I did sound card shopping, I bought a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE. This was great for me sound-wise, but I was using dialup Internet then (56K for the win!). Using the Audigy SE sound card only meant my sound experience was great but at the expense of my PC not being able to connect via dialup. So I sold that and bought a Diamond Xtreme Sound card. Maybe both the Wi-Fi and sound card were my culprits. I am hoping I don't have to spend any more money. The PC (to me) is far from being dead. It may be scary to realize the sort of correlation between your PC's performance and its sound characteristics.


If this is true and if I am right, I may be well on my way to having my PC issues truly resolved.
 
Never re-installed Windows. I did a System Restore on about April 3rd of this year.

I have this update... rather than replace my sound card, I simply moved the sound card to a different PCI slot. I had to reinstall the sound card drivers. So the previous driver was replaced. I also (for investigational purposes) disabled Windowd sounds. I will re-enable sounds if I think things improved or are improving.


I now feel it may just be a sound or sound card issue to be negotiated.
 
Here is another update. My sound card went out AGAIN. But this time... I have all my functionality left. I typed up this entire post as my sound card went out. Normally, the sound card would freeze and crash my computer. But strangely, I typed up the whole thing without the thing crashing. I still needed to restart the computer just to regain control of my sound. So now, I feel like this means I need to get a new sound card.
 
Is it an external sound card? I'm just guessing at this but do you think it could be that your PSU is powering too many things at once?
 
The Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1/24-bit is a PCI sound card. I am not even sure if power is any real issue. I have disabled any sort of power settings as I think such settings could contribute to the issues my PC has recently faced. I don't think the PSU is a real issue. If it is, though, I would be hellishly inexperienced in fixing or diagnosing anything related to the UPS or the PSU.


What seemed to happen in my last post was either that something was being downloaded, and my sound card went out. I was using Firefox while having a productive time aggressively using Firefox. Funny enough, my PC didn't freeze up until I attempted to play a sound file through the Sound and Audio options in the Control Panel for a sound event. I am not sure what is causing my sound card issues, but I think I now have a better idea of what is going on. I can regain full enjoyment of all PC activity once this issue is resolved.


[UPDATE] The sound card crashed on me again. However, I attempted to disable and enable the sound card through the Device Manager... and it was successful. The sound came back on and ran efficiently. The PC didn't crash afterwards. So whatever has impacted the sound card, it can be manually disabled then re-enabled. I don't want to do this for too long because I still want to regain full PC usage without having to continually do this each time the sound card goes out.
 
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New update... I have now used the Internet on my PC, but with a twist- I disabled my sound card. I aggressively been online using Opera and Firefox. The sound card still goes out. Surprisingly, even though the sound card is disabled, sound still comes through the Line In port of my sound card. I usually use the Line In to hook in one of those cords that has a white and red port (usually what connects MP3 players to Audio ports on stereos). Despite this, the sound card still goes out eventually. However, and because the sound card is disabled, I don't face the threat of the PC freezing up to where I have to reboot the computer. And when I am done using the browser, I re-enable the sound card... until the next time I either want to use the Internet or if I fear a certain automatic download (or some other action) will impact my sound card.

So basically, I solved my Wi-Fi issues by getting a new adapter. The PC still runs fine, but I'm just doing so without sound for when I go online. I almost thought about maybe if there could be some sort of conflict with my sound card. You know, like possible IRQ conflicts between my wireless network adapter and my sound card. I can't confirm if there is a possible IRQ conflict that could impact my sound card.


I still have disabled any sound effects related to certain actions (like opening a file or blocking a pop-up) as a diagnostic action. Doing so has reduced the possibility of the PC crashing.
 
What I am thinking of now is that perhaps all of this is just a sound card issue. I will try to get a new sound card this weekend, possibly hope to pick up an inexpensive ASUS sound card. The only thing I fear at this point is this...

While I think this is all a sound card issue more than anything, part of me believes there COULD be something a bit more than just a sound card issue. Only other possibility could be something maybe DirectX related or perhaps an update I installed that may have impacted my sound card.

At this point, I have not purchased another sound card. All I am doing now is just basically thinking about what more could be wrong if buying a new sound card doesn't fully resolve the issue(s) I'm facing.


[UPDATE] I did a DirectX test of my sound card not too long ago (meaning I enabled the sound card). All tests ran fine. So there are no DirectX issues to speak of. As of this update on May 11, 2013; it may have been a sound card driver acting up at random times either when the Internet is in use or with some other action. As of this update, I have not gotten a new sound card.
 
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Latest update... I bought a new sound card (finally). Unfortunately, it was with an ex- the Creative Audigy SE. Yes- I have given the Audigy SE a second chance. After finding out I didn't connect the card properly, my PC was eventually able to recognize the sound card and work immediately.

So far, so good. I probably thought both my PCI wireless adapter and my sound card were either showing their age or somehow became corrupt to where I needed to get some replacement material. I've used the Internet on Opera with my Internet and with my Audigy SE sound card to no fault so far. I kind of feel like I've resolved my issues. But if this somehow doesn't work out, I can return my Audigy SE to the Best Buy I got it from within 14 to 15 days.


Thanks to everyone who lent their advice to me. I don't think my issue has been completely resolved; but as of this post, things are looking very positive.


[UPDATE] Damn it to Hell... this s:censored: is getting f:censored:ing ridiculous. The sound card went out AGAIN while online. This time trying to restart and re-enable the sound card while online, I am unable to get the sound card back up and running. And when I tried to play sounds after the thing went out, the PC just doesn't play back the sounds. It used to be that the card would try to play a sound, then eventually freeze up and crash to where I have to restart the computer. This time, I still maintain full control of my PC, just that my sound card just clicks off until I restart the computer.

I had also tried to play a YouTube video. All it does when the s:censored: crashed is just pretend to play a few seconds of video until the thing stops. No sound means you're only going to get so far trying to enjoy whatever video you're watching. It will still load up, but you obviously won't be able to hear anything.

The new Wi-Fi adapter helps. The new sound card helps. So now... it may be something regarding the sound card drivers by Windows. I am now REALLY running out of ideas on how to remedy all of this. Now what do you suggest?
 
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Drivers from windows? I hate to suggest it but try getting the latest driver from the manufacturer. Sometimes you can have a special chipset(I had experience with this! With a GPU/south bridge combo on one chip requiring a specific driver and the normal nvidia 9300 driver would not work with the chip) that requires a certain driver.
 
You could try an USB-soundcard. I'm not entirely sure if it will help but I would give it a try after all that painful hassle with PCI cards. You can get a cheap USB-hub if you are running out of available USB-ports.
 
I am basically believing that there may be something within Windows or some kind of corrupt file(s) that is causing the sound card to semi-randomly go out. Maybe there is a resource issue I am not aware of. Maybe a suspicious registry entry is causing my problem. Maybe something compromises my sound card when the Internet is in use. Just running out of ideas and having more questions than answers.

I don't know how else to explain or demonstrate what is going on with my PC. Everything basically runs fine. Only issue is the sound going out at a random time either browsing the Internet, performing certain actions on the PC, or with certain programs active. "Back to normal" here means having full control of my PC without having to disable my sound card just to use the Internet.


All I can do at this point is keep trying to find some kind of solution...
 
I read someone has solved his similar issue by disabling sound card and video card from device manager and rebooting, that's supposed to give them new IRQ's or something. I have no clue if that will work.. [source]

What kind of video card do you have, on-board or discrete? There might be a chance of an AGP slot conflicting with a PCI slot if your motherboard has an AGP slot occupied by a video card.
hmmmz.gif
 
I use the same reliable, yet crappy onboard SiS 760 video. I recently thought about buying a new graphics card just to enhance the video to my *modern* games. However, I am still fixated on trying to find a solution (if possible) to my sound issues. I just want the PC to work harmoniously again with sound and without having to disable the sound for more intensive activity. I may attempt to download the latest drivers for my Audigy SE, but I am pretty sure that won't prevent or minimize the random disabling/crashing of my PC's sound.

One other thing I seem to have ruled out is any PSU or power issues. I don't think my motherboard is at any fault either. The processor doesn't seem to be any issue in this.

If it means anything, I finally installed CCCleaner. Maybe some rogue program or something could be at fault with this sound issue.
 
Do a scan with Malwarebytes, just to make sure you're not being haunted by any malicious software.

If you are confident it's not hardware related, at least you can just focus on the software/drivers.
 
It may be something software-related. Earlier today, I attempted to load up an Internet radio stream. As I loaded it up successfully, the sound card went out... again, and I had to disable and enable the sound card... again. It has to be something related to the computer's connection to the Internet somehow impacting the sound card. The only thing that goes out is my sound card. And if I stuck with my older sound card, I am guaranteed to have to restart the computer.

The biggest sign of everything relates to Internet activity somehow impacting my sound card at any random moment. Here is a little more insight:

* I may leave Firefox to run idle. Firefox will often times search for updates automatically, even including certain updates to certain add-ons.

* Opera doesn't usually stall out on me, but even Opera may have my sound card go out trying to browse online or access my E-mail.

Only a few times has the sound card gone out when I've done something NOT involving Internet usage. There were a few times when (with Windows sound events active) the PC would get to the Welcome screen, play the Welcome sound I used, then freeze up to where I had to reboot. There were a few times I tried to do virus scans, and the sound card would go out again. Trying to load and/or save files resulted in the sound card going out. So there has to be something software-related because I doubt there is any serious hardware issue. I don't really think anything related to device drivers is the culprit. If so, I would have constant issues trying to keep and maintain my sound card running and recognized. It is just something that somehow disables my sound card at a random point based on some sort of activity- often times involving Internet usage and non-Internet usage some other times.


I just can't put the clues together to come up with a proper solution at this point. However, at least I have clues and hints to hopefully resolve this issue.
 
Have you checked windows event viewer?

Have you removed your sound card and uninstalled any drivers/programs that came with it? Have you gotten the latest drivers from manufacturer's website?

Have you removed your network card (if an expansion card) and uninstalled any drivers/programs that came with it? Gotten latest drivers?

http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html

You can use something like that to remove drivers not being used.

Does this happen with ALL browsers that you have on your system? Have you tried restoring them to default settings?

Have you tried a different PCI slot on your motherboard for sound card?

Download Acronis Drive Monitor and check the health of your hard drive.

My first test fix would be to clean format and re-install windows, but this being the third time I've mentioned it, I'll leave it alone.

Your computer is 8 years old. Average lifespan of a hard disk is around 5.

You mentioned earlier that you ruled out PSU/Motherboard/CPU. How did you rule those out?

Sure you'd probably see other problems, but I'm curious.
 
I tried that Drive Monitor thing, and it came out clean on the hard drive. However, I did note that my external hard drive (a 320GB expansion drive) was reported at 30% healthy. The warning label was 70%. I rarely check that drive for anything because I mostly use it to store data usually too big for my PC. A number of games I play are even on this expansion drive, especially larger ones and ones I just put on there to conserve space on my main drive. I also use a program designed to keep this drive awake by writing a blank file on it every three minutes. I am pretty unsure if this external hard drive could play an issue with my sound issues.


I just wanted to bring up that observation.
 
My latest diagnostic attempts with my sound card and my sound was to disable my COM and LPT ports on my PC. I was thinking this could probably lessen the resources to my PC. I also set the Windows Audio service to automatically restart immediately if/when the sound went out.I did browsing on Opera as a test with the sound card on. The sound card didn't switch off. Sadly, the sound card went out (again) while I was playing a game on my PC. It wasn't some resource-intensive game or anything.

See what I mean about random outage? I once again had to disable and re-enable the sound card. Trying to restart Windows Audio did absolutely nothing. I may try to clean the inside of my computer a bit more. Ever since disabling my sound card, I have not had to restart my computer at all. The sound issue went from crash-and-freeze to crash-disable-and-re-enable since buying a new Wi-Fi adapter and buying a new sound card. This still seems more of a software issue than a hardware issue. And regardless of what software/hardware issue causes my sound to bow out at a random point while enabled, I have yet to really pin down what is causing this and how to keep the sound running without having to enable or disable the sound card once the sound goes out.


I do still thank everyone for giving me some advice. That's why I came here and posted all of this- I have been running out of ideas on how to stop my sound from going out at random moments. Your support is helping.


[UPDATE/EDIT] The sound issue with my PC is not so much on any kind of hardware issues. Similar issues I've seen were about how some PC users have absolutely no audio device detected as part of their audio issues. That is NOT my issue. I can basically now just disable and re-enable my sound card to return to actually using sound for when I need to use it. I'm just either looking to permanently not have to disable/re-enable my sound card to listen to sounds or find some other method to regain full sound control. Some people have even recommended I find a USB sound card. However, there are two reasons why I am not going for this: (1) I know not of any USB sound cards I can find at a physical store, and (2) a USB sound card may not make any real difference in resolving this matter after having onboard audio go out long ago and after using up two different PCI sound cards.

Something will come along. Some solution will come along. Just about all questions have answers. I'll find some answers to my questions eventually...
 
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A sad fact I'm coming to is that maybe my PC is kind of getting old to where PCI material and some other internals just don't work as well anymore. Someone mentioned I use a USB sound card. Well, I remembered that my Logitech ClearChat USB headset has its own sound card. So I installed my Logitech headset to my recently-bought USB hub. [Pending a post update] It seems like using a USB sound source other than my PC's normal sound hardware seems to be working for me.


Let me provide a review of everything so far. Try to follow me here.

* It used to be that I had a USB mouse and a PS/2 keyboard. When my old PCI sound card used to go out along with the WiFi, my USB mouse would remain functional while my PS/2 keyboard would lose functionality until I reboot the computer.

* I've since used a USB mouse and a USB keyboard. I had a bit more functionality once the crashes happened.

* I then bought a USB WiFi adapter followed by a new PCI sound card. The sound would still go out, but I had a bit more control than what I used to have after the sound goes out. I even was able to disable and re-enable the sound card to listen to sound again. Doing so, however, meant I got sick and tired of having to keep disabling and re-enabling sound. I didn't take any measures to do another system restore or a fresh re-install of Windows. So I basically decided to disable the sound card for times other than using the Internet or some other intensive activity.

* I later took a diagnostic step to disable all sound events (like when Windows starts, pop-up windows, start navigation, etc.). A bit more control was offered after crashes. When the sound goes out, files pretend to play but eventually don't emit any sound. YouTube videos either pretend to play or go extremely slow and with no sound.


So the situation now is that I've decided to use my USB headset, which has its own sound card. Using USB-enabled material seems to be working better for my *aging* computer than most of the age-old ports. I am using a USB mouse, a USB keyboard, a USB printer, a USB wireless adapter, a USB gamepad, a USB headset, and my 320GB external drive... which is USB-powered. I have only one USB hub, but I may think about getting a second USB hub if it seems like only my USB material will work better than my non-USB hardware.

There are two ways I can look at this. (1) Be thankful to have other methods to use and utilize my PC, or (2) think of some way to get the PC to work better WITHOUT relying mostly on USB hardware? And on top of that, will there be a moment where I may have to consider a new PC entirely in case the USB hardware starts failing like every part of a badly-built car? XP support will be ending in the future. Lots of fears abound for me; but so far, this is looking like a wonderful solution for me- use USB hardware instead of some of the many non-USB hardware I've used for the longest. Maybe I should use my USB hardware more since my PC is getting old. Funny thing is that I've always feared using non-USB hardware since I was not skilled at doing things like installing new RAM modules or changing up PCI devices. Basically now, I feel the USB hardware is working better for me while the PCI and internal stuff is failing or liable to fail. As of this post, I even disabled my Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and simply relying on my USB headset for sound.


I may slowly get around to re-enabling sound effects and such in the future if I feel things are getting better for me. For now, I'm feeling a bit happy to enjoy sound and overall freedom with limited or no interruption.
 
I'm glad about the USB solution working well for you! I know USB ports can get corrupted if they are not protected from short circuit and other hazards but I think it's more unlikely than having a flaky PCI slot, especially on an old computer.
 
After about three days, I haven't had the sound go out with my USB headset like with my PCI sound card. I have aggressively used my sound card through my USB headset with little or no flaws. I guess anyone who may have a similar problem may indeed want to try using a USB Audio Device instead of PCI devices if internal devices are a problem.

The only negative to the switch is that I have to find other ways of listening to most of my other material. Perhaps down the road, I want to consider getting a USB-powered sound card so I can return to using devices for recording as well as going back to my non-USB headphones. The only sound recording I can do with my USB headset is with its microphone. I do have other devices, however- like a USB capture card for recording audio and video, and I also have a USB desktop microphone.


So there is my update. At least for my situation, going with USB sound is working better for me than the old-style PCI and internal audio material for my computer. Just for the record- I still have my Creative Audigy SE still installed both on my computer and in the PCI slot I put it in. I've just disabled the Audigy SE from showing up as an available device through Device Manager. Anyone who may be in my situation regarding the sound going out randomly may want to take some of the steps I've taken to resolve my situation.
 
Here is another update...

Using my USB headset was my own sort of fix for getting sound back to my PC and in being able to hear sound again without having to worry about it fading. A few days ago, I accidentally stepped on my USB headset on the floor, causing the right side of it to not hook in correctly. I was able to slip it back on temporarily until it fell out again. Trying to fix it and getting frustrated... I broke off the cable that connects to that side of the headset, leaving me only with sound from the left side of the headset. Basically, I am back to having no sound again- and I'm not even going to chance or go through having to continually enable and re-enable my PCI sound card.

The headset audio was only a temporary fix to be honest. Having that USB headset for sound gave me the control to listen to material on my PC, but it makes me unable to use mixer features for recording. No worries, though, because I ordered another USB Audio Device online. I ordered the Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1 USB sound card. It will allow me to comfortably use my headphones again as well as my speaker system for PC sound. I can also likely feel normal again listening to sounds from other sources. I'll just have to buy another USB headset or maybe use my USB microphone if I want to talk with people or do voice recordings. I have disabled all sounds on my PC and will not re-enable them until I get to finally use my new USB Audio Device. That precautionary step allowed me to enjoy using my PC without fearing the sound will go out and crash my PC.


So the update is that I'm getting myself a more permanent solution for the lack of audio for my PC. I probably figured there was a problem trying to get PC sound to remain working with programs being used. Since the USB headset provided sound without a hitch, I figured the solution to my problem was to simply use USB devices to perhaps take some strain off of the PC having to use onboard and PCI resources.
 

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