I have an A7N8X motherboard that I believe is sending an excessive amount of
noise through the line out channel. My computer is cabled up to my AIWA
CX-NA71 (your average AIWA CD/TAPE/RADIO) from my onboard sound card audio
out. I've posted an audio recording of the sound I get coming through my
speakers http://audioprob.notlong.com. I assume EMI is causing this
problem. The question is, why am I getting so much going through to my
speakers? My old AOPEN AX6BC P3-450 system didn't transmit this type of
noise to the speakers, but I also had a sound blaster 512 PCI card.
Regardless, I would expect the onboard audio on a well respected quality
board like this A7N8X to have at least as good audio as my 1998 equipment
did..

After contacting ASUS, they told me to electrically isolate the board from
the case. Black tape under each standoff and a paper washer between the
top screw and the board. I did this, and it didn't silence the noise.
(I'm not sure how that could "electrically isolate the board" when the board
is clearly touching the IO plate. Are those metal surfaces non conductive?
Maybe there is more I can do to "electrically isolate"? Should I really
have to play these games with black tape? Would a PCI audio card fix this
problem if I gave up on the onboard audio?

As for the audio clip, which you can download from
http://audioprob.notlong.com you can hear the monotonous noise that I'm
getting.

The audio corresponds to the following:
From 7 sec - 25 sec mark the computer is basically idle At that point,
something opened a dialogue box which yields the audible ring. You'll note
that for a brief time around this sound, the noise is silenced. From the
30th sec - 1:05 sec the audio noise is more convoluted with fast clicking.
I had just opened MS outlook, and shortly there after winamp. The noise is
notably different when the computer is active compared to idle. I had turned
on winamp to play a quick audio sample (the audio capture volume was high so
that it would pickup the noise, so the song is distorted since the recording
volume is high) Just like around the earlier notification ding, you'll
note that the noise doesn't come back until 5 or so seconds after I've
stopped the winamp playback.

Another aspect I found.. the noise is greatly reduced by muting the CD
Audio volume, or yanking that cable off the mother board. From 1:25 to 1:49
the system is idle again, with the noise just like at the beginning, but at
1:49 I mute the CD Audio, and you'll note that I just about kill the
offending noise.. Now if you pump up the volume, you'll note that the
interference is still faintly in the background.. but you really have to
crank up the volume to hear it. I don't know why this noise would be
coming through the CD audio.. My CD ROM is a Lite on LTR-52327. I notice
the CD audio cable passes right over top of my video card, (the onboard
connector is awkwardly on the other side of the AGP port from the cd rom
drive) and I got the video card, a V7100 from my uncle and don't necessarily
trust it since I didn't personally buy it in a store.

Anybody have any advice? Insight? Is my video card throwing EMI out to
this CD audio cable? Is my mobo still improperly grounded? In which case,
how the F am I supposed to install it. There is nothing about electrical
isolation in the little booklet that came with my SLK1600 Antec case nor in
the motherboard documentation. Is this just par for the course? Basic
Onboard audio transmits this much EMI?

I'd really like to know if I'm alone with this problem with the A7N8X. I've
heard good things about the board, but right now I'm not impressed. I
actually just got a 2nd board from ASUS. They RMA'd the first, and I have
the same audio problem. After the electrical isolation hack job with black
tape and red paper washers failed to solve the problem, I really assume the
board probably had some ground defect or component that was leaking more
than it's fair share of EMI, but with a 2nd board behaving identically, I'm
forced to consider that maybe this is the audio you get from mobo integrated
audio. Or maybe this is the best you get without the more expensive
soundstorm model. I get the audio noise coming through to my AIWA with
sound at a normal level.. 10-12 on the aiwa, which is not loud.. Certainly
it's more noticeable if you turn the audio up, but the it comes through
quite annoyingly with the AIWA at a normal volume. It looks like I've found
a workaround in muting the CD audio feed, but I shouldn't have to do that.
And since my AIWA can't play CD's anymore (many AIWA models had faulty CD
changers that died.. there was a class action lawsuit), it would be nice if
my computer could without enabling the sound every time I want to play a
disc..

thanks for reading and any help you can offer
-hupjack

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