After installing Vista Home Premium onto my computer, increasing my memory to 1.5Gb, and adding a new graphics card, the sound coming out of my speakers is crackly and distorted.

My sound card is connected to a hi-fi system which has been faultless in the past, but for some reason has become troublesome.

Basically when I turn on my computer the sound is fine, but then after a while there's a faint crackling noise that gets louder and louder before the sound just shuts off altogether. According to Device Manager, there are no device conflicts or problems. Sound only comes back on when I go to the volume control on my taskbar and move it slightly (but sound is then extremely bad quality, sometimes sped up, and often cuts off again).

Any ideas?? I heard it might have something to do with my screen resolution or something?

Some more information; sometimes when my computer is left for a while, the crackling is actually in time with the ticking of the Vista Sidebar clock...? And also gets louder when I scroll down webpages?

I have to keep restarting/rebooting my machine to get a couple of minutes decent quality sound!

Thanks for your help.

First, click on Start>Windows Update. Click on "Check for updates".

Second, recommend you click on the Mr. Driver link in my signature and check the status of your drivers. I suspect you need to update something.

Good Luck...

Thanks for your reply.

According to Windows Update, I am 'fully up-to-date'.

Have checked on DriverAgent and apparently there's a problem with my VIA Bus Master IDE Controller - 0571, and there is an exclamation mark (meaning a problem) with my Vinyl AC'97 Audio Device.

I can't find updated drivers for either device online. I have Vista Home Premium (x32).

I have updated my driver for my graphics card, but the problem still persists - still very crackly.

Can anyone help? Thanks again.

For VIA Bus Master IDE Controller - 0571 click on - DriverZone.com

Install the VIA driver, then reboot, then recheck Mr. Driver and report your findings.

Hello,

I followed your link, but on that page, clicking on the 'Downlioad' button takes you to the VIA website, and there's no driver to be found. Think they may have moved the file but can't find it.

Any other sources?
Thanks again,

Sorry about that. I didn't follow it all the way.
You should have more luck with this one - VIA Technologies, Inc.

Okay, that's all downloaded and installed. Thank you.
Been back on DriverAgent and it says I have a problem with my Vinyl AC'97 Combo driver;

"INCOMPLETE DETECTION - Driver Agent may not have identified this device accurately. Only update the driver if you are experiencing problems with the current one, and are absolutely sure that the new driver is for the correct audio chipset."

Do you know where I can find the latest driver for this device? I have version 6.14.1.4180.

Thanks again.