| Students often ask about an issue where their sound
(audio) fails after their Windows Vista computer comes out of sleep
(S3) or hibernation mode. Answers were limited on the Internet and with
Microsoft and hardware manufacturers so I decided to write an article
about it. This problem is common with Windows Vista (and sometimes with
Win7) and as far as I have seen could be caused by several different
culprits:
Windows update needed. Always make sure that the OS
is updated to the latest service pack. This normally takes care of the
necessary updates. However, there is an individual update that addresses
this exact problem, it can be downloaded from: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937077/.
If the update says "The update does not apply to your system"
when you attempt to install it, it probably means that you have SP1
or SP2 installed already, and that this particular update was included
in that service pack. Quite often, this update does not fix the problem
anyway, and you will more than likely have to move on to one or more
of the next items in the list. As of this post, Microsoft doesn't appear
to offer any other solutions or advice on the matter.
Conflicting or faulty speaker connection. Many tower
computers have the option to connect the soundcard (integrated or otherwise)
to the front panel of the case with a special cable. Depending on the
configuration and connection type, this could cause a conflict. There
are several things you can look at to fix this:
- First option: Check if the front panel ports are
connected to the soundcard (or motherboard) by way of an AC97 cable.
Then look for an HD audio cable; most cases built after 2008 will
also have an HD audio connector that looks much the same as the AC97
cable. Disconnect the AC97 cable and connect the HD audio cable to
the connector on either the soundcard or motherboard (keep in mind
that the soundcard will need to be HD compliant). This is a common
fix. Both the HD audio and the AC97 cables should be labeled.
- Second option: If your computer doesn't have an
HD audio cable, then remove the front panel cable from inside the
PC altogether, then connect the speakers to the back of the PC. Most
speakers have a headphone jack, but if you are using a headset, attempt
to connect the headphone portion to the speakers, and the microphone
portion to the sound card (if the cables will reach in this fashion).
The drawback here is that on some systems, a user will only be able
to use the headphones or the speakers, not both simultaneously, and
the user would have to disconnect the headphone connector when using
the speakers.
- Third option: If you always leave the computer
in sleep mode and never shut it off, try leaving the front panel cable
connected, and connect the speakers to the front panel connector only,
bypassing the back connection of the sound card altogether. While
this is a noisier option when the speakers are first initialized,
it is viable. (Note that this will only work with basic stereo speakers).
However, in this scenario some Flash-based audio may cause the audio
to fail, requiring the computer to sleep or be restarted to reinitialize
the speakers. In addition, complete restarts could cause the audio
to fail (although sleep mode doesn't!) Some people don't like to use
the front panel AC97 connection for sound at all due to the fact that
many front panel AC97 cables are not shielded, and as a result pick
up noise from other nearby front panel cables like USB, eSATA, etc...
But HD audio cables usually do not suffer from this problem, although
if you can use an HD cable, see the first option above.
- Fourth option: Purchase new speakers that have
an optical connection and connect them to the SPDIF optical port on
the PC's soundcard (if the PC has one). Then connect the headset to
the front panel of the PC. In general, optical connections are less
noisy, and basically superior connections compared to 1/8" audio
connections.
In addition to these items, always make sure your speakers are connected
to a decent surge protector. Some soundcards require grounding which
uses a special screw and is grounded by a wire to the chassis of the
computer case. And of course, make sure that the soundcard is firmly
seated and that any and all connections to the sound card are installed
correctly and securely.
Incompatible BIOS, or BIOS misconfiguration. Some
systems' BIOS programs are not compatible with the S3 sleep mode that
Vista puts the computer into. A BIOS update might fix this problem,
and has been known to work on Sony Vaio laptops among other systems.
Also, make sure that the BIOS is enabled for S3 sleep. Incorrect
sound driver. Companies like Creative Labs issue new soundcard
drivers to combat issues like these. Check if a newer soundcard driver
is available, and view the problems the new driver is meant to fix.
Watch out for new issues that might occur when installing a new driver
(these are usually listed as well). Of course in general it is wise
to have the latest drivers for your devices; this includes soundcards,
video cards, network cards, chipsets, and so on. Note that a user might
need to employ more than one of the options listed above to fix this
problem. Also keep in mind that we are talking about S3 sleep here,
not S1 sleep. When Vista (or any OS for that matter) attempts to resume
from S3 sleep (or hibernation, known as S4), a lot of things happen
on the software side, and a lot of devices are re-enabled. Conflicts
and errors can result when many processes initiate at the same time.
I hope this helps some of you out there, I know that this is one of
the banes of Windows Vista! |
