After hitting "S" for leaving the Flight Deck (to view the exterior of the aircraft) I encounter a noise, rather like static, of an unacceptable level.If this is an inherent fault with my sound card, a "Creative SB Live 5.1", can I overcome the problem?Cliff

Hi Cliff,Just make sure you have the latest drivers installed and in the DirectX diagnostic tool set your sound acceleration to standard. This should help.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 & Lockheed C-130/L-100 Mechanichttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

Hi John...........please excuse my ignorance but where do I find the Direct X diagnostic tool? How do I access it?And thanks for answering so promptly.Regards,Cliff

Cliff,you should bring up Start menu - Run dialog box, and then type "dxdiag" in to execute the DirectX diagnostic tool. There you have several pages, including sound. It will automatically examine your system when you click on the corresponding button.I dare to ask if this sound you are hearing is more like a distortion to the original sound, or is it like a blowing wind sound? Sure is a dumb question, but there is an outside wind sound that comes alive after PMDG installation and in the first days it used to annoy me to death.. ;)Cheers,

Thank Balint and John.............it appears as if the problem is now solved with your help.I downloaded and installed the latest drivers as well as changing the setting in DirectX to Standard. That seems to have been the answer.The sound, as near as I can describe it, was a mix between crackling and loud static.With my regards and appreciation.Cliff

Hi Cliff,Glad to be of help.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 & Lockheed C-130/L-100 Mechanichttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

John, I wonder if I may ask your further guidance?After following your suggestions the crackling dissapeared.However lately it's returned to the PMDG 737s and has now, in addition, manifested itself in the new Captain Sim 707. There's no problem with any other of my aircraft.I asked the Captain Sim support about it and was advised that it's a Windows Direct Sound problem and that it can be solved by hitting "Q" twice.That didn't work and I'm wondering whether I should be considering changing my Graphics card. (Creative SB Live" 5.1 Series (WDM)Any thoughts on the subject?Enjoy your weekend.Cliff

Are vyou sure it's not the default cockpit sounds on the aircraft? It does have a *ticking* from the stby altemeter and the REC FAN. You can access the PMDG menu and change the sound if you desire...Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/Animation1.gifCaution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | NEC LCD 1980SXi 19" | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro |

I'm positive Randy. It's a loud hissing, crackling sound.Captain Sim have just replied as follows:.............................................................."It's a flightsim problem. Start the diagx.exe and go to the sound settings and try some settings. Some people have solved the prob with it. How many ram do you have?"..............................................................In diagx.exe I've reduced the sound acceleration to Standard on both Sound One and Two but it made no difference. I'm following it up with them though. Thanks for you interest pal.

Maybe another dumb suggestion ;-) If you're using Active Camera you might also want to check the sound setting in their option section.Henk-Jan

Thanks for the suggestion Henk-Jan but it seems as if my card is the problem. I received this reply from Captain Sim this morning....................................................................."It is an issue with the card/driver. I don't know what it is with these cards but they ALL suffer the same basic issue - artifacts. Not a sodding clue why Creative didn't fix that YEARS ago!!!! Live!, Audigy and Audigy 2 all seem to suffer this problem." ...............................................................With my thanks to you and others who have tried to help,Cliff

Well not true. I have a Audigy Gamer and it is fine. There has been issues with soundblaster type cards. Updating the drivers have fixed the issue with everyone I know including me! Same crackling in exterior view. Try the updates once again, maybe even try moving the card to another PIC slot then cancel the windows drivers install and install them manually.Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/Animation1.gifCaution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | NEC LCD 1980SXi 19" | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro |

Cliff, I agree with Randy. Try moving your soundcard to another slot. The way you describe the sound you hear makes me feel like the sound- and videocard could be sharing their IRQ. Take a look in your motherboard manual to see how the IRQ's are set amongst the slots. Though WindowsXP takes care of the IRQ's, there still is the hardware IRQ sharing of the motherboard. Moving your soundcard COULD do the trick...Good luck!Henk-Jan

Its an issue with that particular sound card. I used to get it when I had one and first started running Windows XP.

Randy maybe you'll be saving me having to change cards.Your suggestion is a bit too technical for me to carry out myself but my computer guru friend will be with me sometime next week and I'll ask him to try your proposal.Thank................Yours,Cliff