MaximumPC 2005 05

YOU’RE GROUNDED

I heard I could record my

collection of LPs onto CD. So I

tried running a cable from my

stereo receiver to the audio-

in on my SB Live soundcard.

When we played back the

music from the computer, half

of what was recorded was buzz.

Do you have any suggestions

for a clean sound?

—JEFF HORNING

Assuming the buzz is coming from

the receiver and not from within

your head along with the other

voices, what you’re hearing is

electrical hum, which you can

eliminate by grounding the receiv-

er. Look at the back of your receiv-

er; there should be a screw in the

back labeled “Ground.” Wrap a

wire around this screw, and then

attach the wire to a grounding

source; one of the screws on the

back of your PC should work.

There’s another way around

this problem. If your turntable has

its own RCA-out jacks, you can

attach a pre-amp to it and then

record directly from that. Note

that vinyl records are recorded

with an equalization method

called the “RIAA curve,” which

de-emphasizes bass so the record

player needle doesn’t vibrate and

get jarred off the track. The bass

is restored by the record player’s

internal circuitry. So make sure you

buy a pre-amp that can compensate

for the RIAA curve, or that your

software can do so after you’ve

completed the recording (check

out Sony’s Sound Forge , $70, http://

mediasoftware.sonypictures.com).

VOLTAGE DISPARITY

My system has a PNY 6800 Ultra

videocard in an Asus A8V with

4GB of RAM. The rig refuses to

run for more than 10 minutes

during online games before it

freezes. PNY’s tech support says

voltage is the problem—that

my 12V rails are running less

than 12V. According to my BIOS

hardware manager, I’m running

at 12+V, but according to the

Asus probe program, I’m running

at just 11.551V. All the other

voltage readings are very similar

between the two monitors. I want

to know which voltage monitor is

more accurate. Any suggestions?

—VICTOR KNIGHT

Motherboard-based voltage monitors

are inherently shaky. If you really

suspect a lack of power, get a simple

digital multimeter (which can be

found at your local Radio Shack for

as little as $20) and test the 12-volt

rails’ output directly. You can do this

by setting your multimeter to DC or

“auto” and measuring the voltage on

one of the four-pin Molex connectors

that power the hard drives.

Stick the black probe into

the Molex port with the black wire

(or ground line), and stick the red

probe into the yellow port to measure

12-volt power. If you want

to check 5-volt power, you can move

the red probe into the red port. In one

of our Lab’s PC Power and Cooling

supplies, the output registered at 12.1

volts, well within the spec.

Before you even measure, take

a close look at the power cables

you’re using. If you connect too many

devices to one line, you can have

problems. Ideally, the two power

leads plugged into your videocard

should come from two different

trunks. You shouldn’t run any Y-cable

or extensions to the videocard, as

that can lower the voltage the card

gets. Make sure you test several dif-

ferent trunks as well.

If the PSU’s 12-volt output is fine,

there are several other possible

culprits. A component could be over-

heating. This might explain why you

can play for 10 minutes before expe-

riencing problems. Try running with

the side of the case off and a room

fan blowing into the PC. If it works

past the magical 10-minute mark,

you’ll know to add additional cooling

to your CPU and videocard.

If popping off the side of your

case doesn’t solve the problem, you

could have a RAM timing problem.

Corsair modules are fast, but they

tend to have aggressive latency

settings. You might want to try crank-

ing back the latency to CL2.5 or CL3

to see if that solves the problem.

Because Asus hasn’t qualified any

1GB modules for that particular

board, you should try running just

two modules. If it runs with just 2GB,

make sure you are running the latest

BIOS. Manufacturers often use BIOS

updates to correct compatibility

problems between RAM and moth-

erboard. If the BIOS update doesn’t

solve your problem, contact Corsair

and Asus. Both should be able to

address any compatibility issues.

BE LOYAL TO YOUR FANS

The other day, some strange

noises were coming from inside

my computer. I thought maybe

this was a ball bearing in the fan

going bad. Upon opening the

case, I saw that the CPU fan was

hanging by the power wires. On

closer inspection, I noticed that

THE SWEET SOUND

OF DEFRAG

As I was browsing my iPod through

Windows Explorer, I realized I can

defragment it from the Properties

menu. The iPod uses a Fat 32

file system, so I imagine it can

be defragged just like any other

drive. Will it harm my iPod to

defragment it? Is it even helpful?

—IPODSTER

Apple recommends against defrag-

ging your iPod, and we tend to agree

with them. Although we’ve read some

positive reports from people who

performed a defrag on their units,

when we ran an informal test on our

own iPod, we saw no difference in

performance when changing tracks

or skipping songs. Because there’s

no real gain from defragging, we

don’t see a reason to run unsanc-

tioned utilities on the player.

Ask the Doctor Symptom Diagnosis Cure

 MA XIMUMPC MAY 2005

Although it seems like it might be a good idea, you

shouldn’t defrag your iPod. Instead, simply restore the

iPod using the Apple firmware update utility and then

resync your music.

▲ ▲

If you’re really concerned about defragging your

iPod, the Apple-recommended method is to use the

iPod Updater program from Apple.com and select the

“Restore iPod” option. This will wipe all of your music,

and restore your iPod to its pristine state. Once that’s

done, you can resync the iPod with iTunes and be back

in action.