Vista - Possible Fix for mouse/HD sounds through speakers

Hi Folks,

Just thought I'd reort on a possible fix for reported issues where you can hear sounds like your mouse movement and/or HHD thrashing sounds coming in through your speakers/headphones.

WARNING!: This might not work for you!

I've had this issue ever since I put together this PC and for over a year have never resolved it properly.

The good news is that it now seems to be fixed.

Here is what happen:

I have two hard drives and two DVD burners. One of the DVD burners was connected to the MB using the old IDE, the rest were SATA connections.

Recently, I installed an Auzentech sound card 7.1 XI-Forte PCI-E (bloody amazing card!) much to my surprise I noticed my mouse movement sounds had become worse! It was bearable before but down-right annoying now.

On a hunch I swapped my IDE DVD burner to a SATA drive...and voila! Noise gone.

The reason I suspect is because of the layout of the MB. The IDE slot is righ next to where the Audio Front panel connected to the MB. Now the front panel Audio connects to the card.

Now I know it sounds strange and not quite logical but a combination of the IDE ribbon running past the SATA cables and the front panel audio connection and an independant sound card (not the onboard sound) I think is causing cross electrical interference.

I can still hear the mouse movement noise but it's incredibly faint and Drive noises completely gone!

I'm happy! at last!

Now, since I took the opportunity to thoroughly clean the innards from all dust the fans sound more powerful and louder...sheesh!

Can't win them all...

I hope in some way this report helps others