Ok, I had another thread up here about problems with an Echo Layla. I've tried everything under the sun, and I just can't get it running, so I'm moving on and will be buying another interface soon. In the meantime, I needed to do some quick recording with the built-in soundcard (a SoundMAX Integrated Audio). I know everyone trashes built-in cards, and I don't intend to keep using it, but it sounded absolutely fine for my purposes.

Anyway, the problem is that I'm getting a strange humming/buzzing/random beeping noise. If I just crank the volume with no programs open, there's a lesser type of noise. It's mostly hissing but with the occasional blip, crackle, etc. Once I open Reaper, however, even with no project open, the noise gets considerably louder, and the buzzing/beeping is much more prominent.

To hear the noise loudly, I have to turn my mixer up all the way, which would be ridiculously loud with music. To give you an idea, when I'm sitting in my chair and have the mixer adjusted for a normal listening volume, I can't hear this noise. When I'm tracking with headphones, though, it is audible, and it's annoying.

Anyway, here's the deal: The noise is not showing up on the recordings at all. This is true whether I'm recording with a mic or direct. The soundcard is making noise only on the playback/monitoring side of things. When I listen to the recordings on my other computer with phones, they're clean as a whistle.

And here's another thing: The noise temporarily goes away (leaving only some expected hiss) depending on what's happening with the computer. For instance, if I'm resizing a track lane, the noise will stop while I'm doing that. But it starts up as soon as I quit.

Anyone have any clue as to what this is? The CPU is not connected to the net, FYI.

Thanks for any input.