High pitched sound after several minutes of normal operation

[lazyrunner50]

Ok, so I have had Vista Business up and running for about a month or so now, and it seems to work fine, but after about 30 minutes or so (sometimes after only about 10 minutes), a loud high pitched sound comes over my speakers. Usually I'll be watching a video or listening to music, and it will be working fine through several video clips, and then the high pitched sound will start. If I try to watch any subsequent videos, they will run for 3 seconds (always 3 seconds), and then just stop. One way I've found to stop the sound is to open the Creative Audio Console, and switch between the modes (for instance, from Entertainment Mode to Game Mode). This doesn't solve the problem with videos playing nor can I play any more music, but at least the high pitched sound stops. I had read something on the Creative website about the sound api being much faster in Vista than in the previous OSes, so the drivers might have problems keeping up, but I have the latest driver installed.

Anyway, here are my specs:
AMD AM2 5200+
ECS KA3 MVP Crossfire motherboard
Corsair TwinX 2048-6400C4 2GB DDR2-800 Memory
Creative Audigy X-Fi XtremeMusic
ATI 1800XT
Plextor PX-716SA DVD-RW
NEC ND-3500AG DVD-RW
Netgear WPN311NA Wi-Fi PCI adapter
2 x 80GB Seagate SATA Hard Drives
Windows Vista Business

Additionally, (and this is probably an unrelated problem), but Windows keeps saying that my BitDefender Antivirus program keeps crashing, even though it works perfectly fine.

 

[linney]

What happens if you try Headphones or even different speakers?

Is System Restore an option to revert back to before the problem?

DirectX: Description of the DirectX Diagnostic Tool

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;190900&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

See if anything here is of use to you?

Random Noises when surfing the net with Internet Explorer
thread779-1198700

Screech
thread779-1289037

Mysterious sounds when surfing on dial-up.
thread779-926663

"ghost-in-the-machine"

http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-20.htm#3

http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-13.htm#3

http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-05-01.htm

I don't know much about BitDefender perhaps you could try a more relevant BitDefender forum?

http://www.google.com/search?q=BitDefender+Antivirus++forum&rls=com.microsoft:

It wouldn't hurt to make sure that your machine is clean of other malware too.

Removing adware & spyware
faq608-4650

Try the free version of "Ewido" now called "AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5"

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

Windows Defender

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

 

[lazyrunner50]

Wow! Thanks for your verbose response! Unfortunately, none of the things works.

What happens if you try Headphones or even different speakers?
-The sound seems to be a side effect of the problem, not necessarily the problem itself. I say this because if I switch sound modes using the Creative Audio Console, the high pitched sound stops, but videos still have problems (and I can't get any sound until I reboot).

Is System Restore an option to revert back to before the problem?
-Unfortunately no, because I typically try to keep my machine as clean as possible (meaning delete temporary files/old system restore points/etc). Additionally, the problem started occurring from day one.

Random Noises when surfing the net with Internet Explorer
-Nope, totally different noise, and it happens sometimes even when all I've done is open a video or listen to music already on my computer

Screech
-From what they were saying that sounds like a beep internal to the computer (due to possible mechanical error). My computer is mechanically just fine. The sound has been coming out of my speakers, not a mechanical problem.

Mysterious sounds when surfing on dial-up
-I'm using Wi-Fi broadband, and the sounds they're describing are standard Windows sounds played at the wrong time. Mine is definately not a Windows sound!

"ghost-in-the-machine"
-Same as last answer...

I don't know much about BitDefender perhaps you could try a more relevant BitDefender forum?
-Will have to try that...

It wouldn't hurt to make sure that your machine is clean of other malware too.
-I'll try a run through with spybot and adaware, but I doubt malware is the problem. I am very careful with my computer, and have Bitdefender running in the background all the time (it detects malware, etc.). I also make sure to clean out all the temporary caches every few days, and run full antivirus checks at least every week or so. Additionally, since this problem has been occurring since day one, I doubt it's because of malware.

 

[linney]

Not much here but it may be of interest to you?

Sound Off On Vista

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...rdware+acceleration"+vista&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4

 

[gpalmer711]

Do you still get the problem if you just switch your machine on and leave it alone for 30 mins to an hour?

Also just to confirm you are using the Vista Drivers for this card?

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[lazyrunner50]

Linney,
Thanks for your help! I had read something similar to that earlier, but not as detailed.

Greg,
I haven't tried that yet, but will let you know. As for your second question, yep, I'm using the latest drivers available from Creative (I've not tried any hacked-3rd party drivers)

 

[lazyrunner50]

Greg,
Yep, it still makes the same sound even if I don't listen to any music/watch any videos.

 

[gpalmer711]

Well i'm leaning away from this being a sound card problem.

Perhaps it would be worth checking the event viewer. Click on Start > Click on Run - Or click on the new vista search bar > type eventvwr > Press Return/Enter on the keyboard.

See if there are any errors at the same time that the high pitched noise starts.

I've seen something similar before but it was down to video card drivers. However the fact that it still makes that sound even when you are doing nothing with the machine gives the impression that this would not be the case.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

Have you tried it from Safe Mode?