Member Avatar for motech

I'm still looking for an answer as to why my work pc plays all media a bit too
quickly??
Is it actually possible to overclock a soundcard? I don't have any likely
explanation as to why everything sounds almost like chipmunks.
Even streaming media doesn't play correctly. If my media player
downloads and buffers 30 seconds of live stream, it still plays it in only about 20 - 25 seconds
so it ends up waiting for the buffer to reload a lot.

I don't have access to the hardware so I really don't have any idea
what is in the case. I know it's running win2kpro is all. I don't have
it in front of me right now and I've never actually looked for the soundcard
driver name.


Mine is the only computer there that seems to have this problem?

Any ideas on what could cause this?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Saskman

Dani AI

Generated

Short expert note for and others who hit this "chipmunk" symptom: it is almost never literal overclocking. Two classes of causes explain system‑wide speed/pitch changes — audio-processing effects (karaoke/pitch/tempo) applied by a vendor control panel, and sample-rate/clock mismatches between the software stream and the audio hardware/driver. was right to point at drivers; ’s report of a control‑panel “karaoke/pitch” fix is exactly the kind of vendor-level toggle that can affect every player and every stream.

Why sample-rate matters: digital audio is played at a fixed samples-per-second (44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, etc.). If the hardware/driver is using 48,000 Hz but the file is 44,100 Hz, playback will be about 48000/44100 ≈ 1.088 (≈ +8.8%) faster — enough to sound noticeably “high‑pitched.” Larger speedups usually mean a pitch/tempo effect is active rather than a small resampling difference.

Quick, practical checks (can be done without opening the case):

  • Play a short WAV whose duration you know (10 s). Time it with a stopwatch to confirm playback rate.
  • Disable any vendor sound manager or “enhancements/effects” applet in the system tray (these apps often include karaoke/pitch controls).
  • Temporarily swap drivers: install the manufacturer’s correct driver or the generic Microsoft driver to see if the symptom follows the driver.
  • Test with a different output device (USB headset or an inexpensive USB sound dongle). If USB audio is normal, the onboard codec/clock is suspect.
  • Boot a Linux live USB/CD and play the same file. If Linux plays normally, it points to a Windows driver/app setting.

If the control panel fix from worked for others, ask IT to disable that effect or reinstall the correct OEM driver. If none of the above helps, the onboard audio clock or codec can be faulty and will need a hardware replacement.

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Member Avatar for Dani

It seems to me like a problem with the sound card drivers. What sound card is it? I don't think you can overclock a soundcard because I don't believe it has a processor in it, but even if you could, and you did, it would just speed up the clockcycles of the processor, it wouldn't make it play any faster.

Right click on My Computer and go to Properties. Get into the Device Manager, and let us know everything listed under Sound, video and game controllers. And whether anything has a little yellow exclamation mark or question mark next to it.

Member Avatar for motech

It seems to me like a problem with the sound card drivers. What sound card is it? I don't think you can overclock a soundcard because I don't believe it has a processor in it, but even if you could, and you did, it would just speed up the clockcycles of the processor, it wouldn't make it play any faster.

Thanks for the input. That was pretty much my take on it as well.

The drivers are a standard AC97 set of drivers.
I can't find any mods or anything out of the ordinary.

It's system wide as it sounds the same no matter what media player I use.


Maybe someone in IT was bored enough to write a custom AC97 driver?
(I highly doubt it) Just to mess with someone? If it is, it's from sometime
before my employment there.
This computer has been this way from the first day I started using it.

It's just reaaaaaally strange to me and even though I've gotten
used to my trance playing at almost happy hardcore speed, I
wonder about it every few days. Wish I had opportunity to
open it up and poke around heh. Not my dept there though.
Oh well :)

Thanks again for the input... maybe someone
will read this and be the person that's run into it a few
times and knows what's going on :) hehehehehe

Member Avatar for rachel123087

My computer does the same thing...did you ever figure out what was wrong with it? I'm sick of watching movies where everyone sounds like a friggin chipmunk lol...let me know.

Member Avatar for SnowDog

Have you tried removing and redetecting the soundcard from the Control Panel?

Are you sure that your Soundcard needs the AC97 drivers and not SoundMAX? There are some issues where updating the system can cause them to switch with onboard-based sound systems.

Member Avatar for fredspage

I have founhd an answer to this problem. In the system bar, at the lower right hand corner of the screen, there is an icon called Sound Effect. Right click on this and it will bring up a menu with a screen called Sound Manager. On the main screen of this there are three boxes. In the box on the lower left, (my computer is Italian and I dont' have an english version) marked KaraOK there is a box marked, on my computer, Apice which has a number with two arrows for adjustment. If this number is anything but 0 that is your problem. Reduce the nmber to zero with the arrows and click on OK.
If this doesn't work for you, then I am stumped. It worked for me, but there may be other arcane devices inswtalled by MS to confuse us proor mortals. Good Luck.
Fred Lovett

Edited by Dani because: Plug snipped
Member Avatar for Saskman

All my media plays too fast???

Member Avatar for Saskman

All my media plays too fast???
Fred Spage thank you I've tried almost everything and was going crazy but what you said worked for me thanks a LOT!
he basically said: "In the system bar, at the lower right hand corner of the screen, there is an icon called Sound Effect. Right click on this and it will bring up a menu with a screen called Sound Manager. On the main screen of this there are three boxes. In the box on the lower left, (my computer is Italian and I dont' have an english version) marked KaraOK there is a box marked, on my computer, Apice which has a number with two arrows for adjustment. If this number is anything but 0 that is your problem. Reduce the nmber to zero with the arrows and click on OK." that's it, that fixed my problem ! :)

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