hello.  i had a new hard drive installed to replace a bad one last week.  when the custom-built, xp-os pc was returned to me, everything worked properly except... when i now play back mp3's that worked fine earlier on my creative 5.1 system, they have exhibit interference (cracks, pops, skips, cutouts).  this increases the more i move my mouse pointer over software buttons.  if i play back the same song multiple times, they occur in different places each time (and they all played fine prior to the work that was done, so it's not the actual mp3 itself).  it is happening with all playback software and with all mp3's.  in addition, my mouse pointer also seems erratic... jumpy or sticky... as if there are way too many signals being sent at once or something.  i hope someone might be able to help... thanks!What sound CARD are you using?i am using creative audigy soundblaster platinum 5.1 and have used it error-free for 2 1/2 years until now.

it was suggested that i completely delete the soundcard installation, as it may have been corrupted by the new xp service pack they installed to support the 200 gb hard drive, then reinstall.  i'm trying that tonight....yea that should do it. I have the audigy 2 platinum and have found in the past the drivers are somewhat crappy, in terms of reliability.actually, it didn't help.  and... after i uninstalled it and reinstalled, i tested a few songs and found that the same thing was happening with even the legacy audio drivers;  so it's probably nothing to do with the soundcard.  i have also tested a corded mouse instead of my standard logitech mouseman to no avail.Have you tried different mp3 playback software? winamp for example.The PROBLEM is related to chipset latency between the Audigy and motherboard. I have also seen this problem when using Promise IDE expansion cards as well. Could you give a detailed list of the parts in your computer- specifically your motherboard and whether you are using an PCI IDE expansion controller card?thanks for responding.  it's been weeks now and i've tried just about everything, including replacing the memory sticks and reinstalling my os (just yesterday)... to no avail.  interestingly however, win MEDIA player and winamp both play files relatively staticfree... weird.

anyway, (and please bear with me as i am not am IT person) my motherboard (for which i believe the chipset/bios was recently updated by the repair guy) is an ABIT KG7-RAID (although i no longer have my hard drives in a raid array since the new one was installed) and please tell me how i may identify whether or not i have a PCI IDE expansion controller card.  i'm looking in Device Manager and see an HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID controller under "SCSI and RAID Controllers" and i see Primary and Secondary IDE Channels and a VIA Bus Master IDE Controller under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers", but i'm not sure that's what you need to know.

i've wondered if the RAID controller is somehow (since it is now not necessary) producing the static interference.  but anything you can suggest that i may undertake on my own would be much appreciated.I figured it was a VIA chipset that was involved. VIA chipsets are notorious for causing problems with Creative soundcards. Your motherboard actually has a hybrid chipset, being that the northbridge is using AMD HARDWARE and the southbridge is using VIA. This shouuld be the fix you're looking for: http://www.georgebreese.com/net/software/#PCIthanks again for the feedback, but i had actually found that patch a few weeks ago and tried it, to no avail.  just in case, i tried it again today and the results are the same.

fyi: after running cpu-z, here are the exact items in my mainboard: ABIT Model 761-686B(KG7) Rev. 1.0;  AMD-761 Rev. A3;  Southbridge VIA VT82C686;  and Sensor VIA 686A/B.

have you any other suggestions?  do you need further info from cpu-z or elsewhere?  thanks so much for your input.Try moving the SB Live one PCI slot down, or try it in several slots. Make sure you're using the latest VIA 4in1 (now CALLED Hyperion) drivers. When you install the VIA drivers, you'll want to install only the IDE driver. And finally, make sure you are using the latest BIOS for your motherboard. This issue was fixed in many motherboards over the course of BIOS and driver updates.well, sir... two days ago, just after writing to you last, i actually tried reloading my os on another hard drive... further down the line from the soundcard.  it worked... !!  and, obviously, your advice would have certainly been well-received had i not have coincidentally thought of it.  

thank you again.  your input did give me the push that i needed to keep trying new things.