Driver problem with Audigy2ZS and 5720

Hoping someone will be able shed some light on this strange problem...

I am one of the first people to order this computer (Sager 5720) back in October and have been plagued by strange behavior of my Audigy2ZS notebook PCMCIA audio card ever since.

I had the Audigy2ZS PCMCIA card leftover from my previous laptop where it worked fine, I even returned the card to Creative with RMA and got a new one back with the same problems. The problem is a terrible screeching and buzzing noise when using the card in the 5720 with EAX enabled 3D games. The problem occurs only in EAX enabled games and in every one I tested including Doom3, BF2, FEAR, and Unreal Tournament 2k4 and renders the card unusable for gaming. Disabling the EAX feature in the games doesn't eliminate the problem but it does reduce it slightly. There is never any problem when listening to any other audio application including movies, music, or non-EAX enabled games. If I quit the game the sound goes back to normal in other apps, if I alt-tab out of the game and allow it to keep running the sound issues remain.

I have tried just about every thing possible including various versions of Creative's drivers, reformatting and reinstalling WindowsXP completely. Disabling other hardware components at the BIOS level including the on board audio, IR port, and serial port.

I have, however, found an interesting workaround which should give a clue. EAX games work great if I run them directly after reinstalling the Creative dirvers off the CD. Just the bare bones sound card drivers with none of the extra software. After playing a game and going back to other uses of the PC I am unable to get EAX enabled games to work again with the card unless I reinstall the Creative drivers again. A system restore to the point after installing the drivers will work also. Clearly some other software is corrupting my Creative drivers in some way forcing me to constantly reinstall them. The fact that a system restore also repairs the problem leads me to think of a registry corruption.

I have several mulit-media apps installed including WMP, Quicktime, WinAmp, iTunes, and RealPlayer that all get used regularly. I'm trying to isolate the problem but haven't been able to yet.

I'm hoping that by posting this someone may read it who may already be aware of some driver conflct or something that may solve my issues a little quicker than I have been able to.

 

I use that same Audigy 2ZS PCMCIA with my 5720. I hear that odd screeching only for a few seconds when I first launch FEAR. As soon as the game moves past the first splash screen, the screech stops. I never installed anything more than the standard Soundblaster utilities and use a 2.1 speaker system (Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX). Maybe this is why I don't have that same screeching problem?

 

I always hear the screeching sound in the FEAR splash screen even when it's working properly. I've heard that's a common bug in the game and it different from the problem I have.

I'm certain it's some kind of software conflict.

 

I must admit I had a similar problem when playing COD with the Audigy soundcard on my 5720. I couldn't set the sound to anything except "Miles 2D Positional Audio" because I would get screeches. Or, I don't know if I'd call them screeches per se.. it was more of a metallic sound. It actually reminded me of how my hearing used to get when I took acid as a kid

One other thing I noticed was that when moving the pointer over options in the title menu, I would get a static sounding click in echo to the "kerchunk" sound these games usually make when the pointer moves over an option. It was very irritating, actually. I think it may have also happened in BF1942.

Anyone gone onto an Audigy forum to see if this problem isn't just limited to the 5720 or Sager?

 

That's definately the sound!! Best description I've heard! LOL

Anyway, I have spent countless hours sitting at airport terminals researching this issue on various forums and websites including Creative's and other Audigy2 specific forum threads. I've never found anyone with the identical problem. This would lead me in the direction of thinking a software issue related to a driver that is not common except in this Sager model?

I'll run some tests and come back here.

 

They have updated the drivers for the Audigy, have any of you tried that?

 

Haha!! Nice, they just came out today. I'll give that a shot. Thanks.