I had no problem..Windows 95b....changed the VIA bus back to standard IDE cause it was screwing with Nero Burner...sound was good..life was good....Then...upgraded to Windows 98..static, noise and (occasional) skippin from Cd's near the end of the cd..I thank all fer the suggestions so far but it appears to be a driver problem..not the cd-burner itself..BTW..I changed the BUS (VIA) driver back and forth with Standard IDE..no improvement

Here's what I can't get through my fathead:

When I installed the CDreader plugin and took out in_cdda.dll the sound volume was noticeably less (as in the same volume setting on Windows CDPlayer was twice as loud...but the skippin....static and noise improved ALOT

When I use the default Windows CD Player as a test it's crap..noise..skippin out of the speakers

When I plug headphones directly into the burner and use Windows CD Player it still skips but the noise through the headphones is GREATLY reduced.....huh?

I figure if the connection to the speakers was a problem things would not have cleared up with CDreader plug in....this is just a band aid though..cause I think as long as I have the problem with the CD Windows Player then I'll have some problems with my nero sofware when burning..(seem to go hand in hand)

I have an onboard crytal audio chip and the device settings say ok when looking under the sound controller setup (no yellow exclimations etc...

Will someone take me through Audio 101 and explain why I would get sound volume reduction but improvement in quality
with the Cdreader plugin...Maybe from their I can move forth..What would the reader improve that Windows Default player doesn't

Thanks as usual to all....

Kev

Ok, lets go inside the computer. Coming out of your CD-ROM is 2 cables. One is the CD Audio Cable and the other is the data cable. When using MS CD Player or the old CD plug-in for WinAMP the music is being converted from the digital CD to Audio by the CD-ROM drive. It goes through the audio cable and out the sound card. The CD Audio volume slider controls this. Now when you use the CD Reader plug in the data is ripped from the CD and passed through the data cable. This is also how you rip CDs. There it is processed as Digital Data and is converted to Audio by the computer its self and not the CD-ROM. The audio is then treated like any other wave device like MP3s. This way the audio is data when it passes through the computer and can be manipulated by WinAMP's DSP plug-ins and the EQ (probably what’s giving you better sound quality). You follow?

I falla...Makes sense ....Would tossin some extra RAM in help with the problem? Also does an "On board chip" replace a Sound card or work with it? I assumed my Crystal chip became my main ouput mechanism when a friend installed the new upgraded motherboard..I had a Sound Blaster Card before that....Under properties it says Crystal everything for the controllers so I assume the Blaster card was removed completely....I upgraded to Directx 7.0....installed Crystal drivers....checked all the attachments and leads...Other than adding more RAM...anything I'm forgetting to try?...Thanks again..

Kev

Yeah, sounds like you have an onboard sound card. They really suck. I recomend trying to get your sound blaster back and disabeling the ob-board crap. anyways, how much ram do you have right now? And CPU specs while your at it.

I have a 366 Celeron Chip (MMX Technology)......32megs RAM.....BX-3d Motherboard.....Crystal On board audio chip.....DirectX 7.0....Hope this helps....

Kev

yes, you want more RAM. At LEAST 64 megs

Up it to 64mb RAM, and get a REAL Soundcard!
 

Crystal audio bites! And Windows 98 likes as much RAM as you can give it.

You might consider trading in the integrated board altogether...

Analogy:
'Integrated is to Volkswagon' as 'Modular is to Cadillac'.

I figure that since the problem started after the upgrade..that the "hoggage" caused by Windows 98' may be the problem....Crystal ain't great by any means..but it did work with 95b so..I'll toss in some RAM and see...Thanks fer the quick responses..

Kev