USB/Sound Issue

I am having a sound-related issue that I think may be related to USB.
When I plug in a USB device, such as a flash drive or my cell phone, my computer will freeze for a couple of seconds, and I will often have sound issues.
One such issue is my system sound becoming very quiet for no reason, even though all volume settings are correct. I have to restart the computer for the sound to normalize.
Another issue I had was when I unplug a flash drive, if I am listening to music from my hard drive, it will pause for no apparent reason.
I have never experienced issues quite like this before, and I would welcome any suggestions as to what may be causing the issues, or how I might fix them. Thanks!

A little bit about my system:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400
8 GB RAM
1 TB SATA HDD + 1 GB External USB drive
Sound Blaster Xtreme Audio card
GeForce GTX 285 video
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

If you need any more info, just let me know.
Thank you in advance!

Reply 1 : USB/Sound Issue

I had very similar issues and it turned out to be a very similar system and let's hope. Look at the HP d4999t and d5000t. It's very similar and here's what I found.

1. The 1 TB HDD had a firmware update. That was scary but helped, but no cure.
2. Turns out the Intel Rapid Storage Technology app was not optional.

Hope this helps,
Bob

Reply 2 : USB/Sound Issue

I don't have a RAID array in my system. I'm not sure how the Intel Rapid Storage Technology applies. It seems like the USB is problematic, but I'm really not sure.

Reply 3 : USB/Sound Issue

I hope you can see that THAT software title was not optional in my machine. Without it, my SINGLE non-RAID 1TB drive performance was pitiful.
Bob

Reply 4 : USB/Sound Issue

Intel Rapid Storage Technology is for RAID systems.

Reply 5 : USB/Sound Issue

Read another example where it fixes another issue at http://forum.cdburnerxp.se/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6798

Intel changes the name of this software over time so you get to roll with it.

You can choose to ignore this one but on a very very very similar system, it didn't work right until.
Bob

Reply 6 : USB/Sound Issue

It is true. The technology to which you are referring is Intel's RAID software. I'm not sure what you are talking about, but you were misled somewhere. Here is a quote from Intel: "This driver provides support for high-capacity & fault-tolerant
Serial ATA (SATA) RAID 5 arrays and high-performance &
fault-tolerant SATA RAID 10 arrays".

Reference: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=18859

=-) Perhaps you were referring to something else?
At any rate, this has nothing to do with the original problem I mentioned. Does anyone have any ideas, or some constructive input? Thanks again.

Reply 7 : USB/Sound Issue

Read my last link and in that one it's " Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager" and I leave it to Intel to explain the name change.

I'm unsure why you need more about this. After dozens of installs this has helped in every case.

I can only share and wish you well, good luck, hope you find it and will let you be.
Bob

Reply 8 : USB/Sound Issue

I want to impress on you that Intel changed and updated the Matrix Storage Manage and the new name is as above. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17882

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-020784.htm has Intel writing:
" Whether using one or multiple hard drives, users can take advantage of enhanced performance and lower power consumption. "

Again, your choice. But I fear you're passing up a possible fix.
Bob

Reply 9 : USB/Sound Issue

This issue is solved.
For anyone else having this issue, here is the solution:
Right-click the speaker icon in the task tray. Click Sounds, then click on the Communications tab.
Next, select the Do Nothing radio button to set Windows to not reduce system sounds when communications activity is detected.
Mine was set to reduce volume by 80%, and this is what it was doing when I was plugging in my phone, or other devices.
I hope this can help someone else with the same issue!