Buzzing Sound in Civ 4

[Catsi]

Okay, first, this is NOT with Warlords. I only have Civ 4, I say this because there seems to have been quite a few issues with Warlords.

I just bought Civ 4 and I put it on my laptop that I bought only a few months ago. I play F.E.A.R and Oblivion on this thing with no problem whatsoever, so Civilization should be running smoothly.

But whenever I start the game up and the loading screen and bar appear, the second it reaches "Init Audio" a buzzing sound starts in my speakers. This won't stop during the ENTIRE game. No matter WHAT happens, it continues.
So then I tried turning off the sound in Civ. The sound stopped, but the buzzing remains (the sound is fine except for this buzzing). Then I pressed the mute button on my computer and the sound stopped but the buzzing remained. The only way to stop it is if I turn off my external speakers COMPLETELY.

My drivers are updated, I ran F.E.A.R. and Oblivion again and they had no problems. I uninstalled then reinstalled Civ4, no difference. I have upgraded Civ4, no change. Please, any help would be awesome! I really want to play this without losing my mind to buzzing.

 

[GenMarshall]

Do you have any subwoffers built into the speaker system? Also, does the buzzing sound also remain after you quit Civ4?

 

[Catsi]

When I use my external speakers, then yes, I have a subwoofer.
But I get the buzzing sound regardless of whether I use my inbuilt laptop speakers or my external ones. And the buzzing isn't in the sub, it's in one of the speakers.

No the buzzing doesn't hang around. It stops the second I stop Civ. It's the first time anything like that has happened.

 

[ice2k4]

Hmm, if oyu get the buzzing sound without external speakers, iy may not be the speakers emitting the buzzzing sound. I'm not sure with a laptop, but with a desktop pc, only for civIV I got a buzzing sound coming from the computer itself. I tried tracing the sound and found out it was the harddrive. I did realize the sound stoppe when i opened the case, moved the harddrive around, or tilted the case. After a few tests, I concluded the HD makes the noise because of vibrations in the case. I now leave my case slightly open when playing, and this has fixed the problem.

Are you sure it comes from the actual speakers? Try tracing the sound. If you do find that it isnt the speakers, I cant help you much because I dont know what to do about laptop vibrations. Hope the tidbit of info above gives you a better idea of what might be happening.

 

[crunch]

There's the ini file option called EnableAudio. Have you tried setting to 0?

 

[Catsi]

Where is this EnableAudio.ini file?
I did a search and i couldn't find it!

Also, I KNOW the problem isn't with my speakers, it's not physical. The only problem is with CIV4, every other game works perfectly.

*stressing*

 

[MacLeod22]

Were you able to correct the buzzing? I am running Civ IV on my laptop as well and I am having the same problem with the buzzing, I can hear the sounds fine but there is the constant buzzing that gets really old. Other games run fine without the buzzing so it has to be something with this game.

~Mac

 

[Catsi]

Nope, nothing is resolved at all. Which sucks.
Because I really wanted to play this, and I can't without a headache

 

[McLMan]

To try the EnableAudio suggestion you will need to edit the CivilizationIV.ini file which, for a standard install, is located in My Documnents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4. Make a back-up of the file, named something different, before you change it.

 

[MacLeod22]

I tried that and it didn't help, still had the buzzing, I can't figure out what the problem is.

 

[Catsi]

Didn't work for me either

Which really sucks

 

[denali]

Hey guys - had this issue on my Dell Inspiron E1505 notebook with the latest driver from Dell. I just backrevved to this driver ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/audio/R108276.EXE

and the problems went away. Try it out, maybe it'll work for you, even if you don't have a Dell, if you have that audio chip it may still work.

 

[MacLeod22]

YES!! that worked like a charm, thanks a ton!