Calling all hardware experts...
I think my PC is sick.
For a couple of months now, audio output has been intermittent suffering periods of silence (anywhere from a fraction of a second to a couple of seconds). The sound that should have been playing during these periods is 'lost' (i.e. it's not acting like a buffering issue like you get when listening to streaming radio on a saturated Internet connection).
Originally, I put it down to a Windows issue, but since I had some time to kill today, I booted an Ubuntu LiveCD to confirm my suspicions. Much to my horror I have discovered that the same problem exists under Linux as does under Windows. I've also eliminated the speakers as being a cause - an alternative set of those made no difference at all.
So, to all the hardware/audio experts out there - any thoughts on what's happened with my SigmaTel on-board sound, and is the problem likely to disappear if I find a PCI sound card and install that in it's place? (I suspect it should, but I've never actually had a problem like this one before...)
For a couple of months now, audio output has been intermittent suffering periods of silence (anywhere from a fraction of a second to a couple of seconds). The sound that should have been playing during these periods is 'lost' (i.e. it's not acting like a buffering issue like you get when listening to streaming radio on a saturated Internet connection).
Originally, I put it down to a Windows issue, but since I had some time to kill today, I booted an Ubuntu LiveCD to confirm my suspicions. Much to my horror I have discovered that the same problem exists under Linux as does under Windows. I've also eliminated the speakers as being a cause - an alternative set of those made no difference at all.
So, to all the hardware/audio experts out there - any thoughts on what's happened with my SigmaTel on-board sound, and is the problem likely to disappear if I find a PCI sound card and install that in it's place? (I suspect it should, but I've never actually had a problem like this one before...)