Strange Program Sound with CS

[Dan Caviness]

Hello Everyone:

After recently reinstalling the game from scratch (via $9.99 digital download...nice!) I appear to have picked up this strange little program sound that keeps driving me nuts.
Debatable of course, this process has been ongoing for decades, but I don't want to hasten the process...

I play with sound effects/background sound on.
I dig the music...makes me want to go rent the Patton DVD...but it doesn't tell me where your tanks are...

The game works great, but as I play, every time I keep getting this little "doo doo dah" (descending frequency) sound which freezes the mouse momentarily.  This is frustrating as I move that mouse pretty quick for an old man...busily running around and dying as fast as I can.

The sound keeps popping up randomly while I play.  It doesn't seem to be connected to anything I am doing in the game, just randomly.  Over and over.

Not a show stopper but it is an irritant.
I run Windows 10.

Anyone see (or hear) this one before?

Regards,

Technically Challenged Dan

ps:  This is a program sound through the speakers...not a bad hard drive...fan bearings...or anything like that.

[Dan Caviness]

UPDATE:

Like all old farts with kids, I have a second (and third) generation IT crew that sprang from my loins.
They should be here tonight to look at it, assuming the Xmas gifts were found worthy...lol...

I heard the program sound after closing the game, so I may have something else going on here.
Only once, after I had closed it.

Regards, and thank God for my loins!

Dan

[Von Earlmann]

Hello Everyone:

After recently reinstalling the game from scratch (via $9.99 digital download...nice!) I appear to have picked up this strange little program sound that keeps driving me nuts.
Debatable of course, this process has been ongoing for decades, but I don't want to hasten the process...

I play with sound effects/background sound on.
I dig the music...makes me want to go rent the Patton DVD...but it doesn't tell me where your tanks are...

The game works great, but as I play, every time I keep getting this little "doo doo dah" (descending frequency) sound which freezes the mouse momentarily.  This is frustrating as I move that mouse pretty quick for an old man...busily running around and dying as fast as I can.

The sound keeps popping up randomly while I play.  It doesn't seem to be connected to anything I am doing in the game, just randomly.  Over and over.

Not a show stopper but it is an irritant.
I run Windows 10.

Anyone see (or hear) this one before?

Regards,

Technically Challenged Dan

ps:  This is a program sound through the speakers...not a bad hard drive...fan bearings...or anything like that.

It could be the French 5th column from Marle :-)

[Compass Rose]

It could be the French 5th column from Marle :-)

[Scud]

Not enough info, believe it or not. I'm not convinced this is a "software-related" beeping. It's more probably an error code coming from your system BIOS. To troubleshoot you'd need to know the manufacturer of the BIOS (Phoenix, for instance). The beep you describe is 2 short, 1 long. The manufacturer will have a list of error codes and you'd just look for the ones you're hearing. If it is hardware-related it will probably get worse. If software, as you suspect, then it could fix itself.

Failing that, if it's a desktop, power it down and unplug, then open the case. Touch a metal chassis part to discharge any static on your body. Blow out any dust, trying not to actually touch any components. Believe it or not, but a leaf blower is great for this. Pay special attention to the heat sink on the CPU. It will have a fan on top of it. The heat sink itself is a metal block with slotted grooves in it. Blow out all the dust there.

If you have a graphics card, maybe reseat it? Can't hurt. Should be installed in the closest slot to the CPU. Also (software), see if there's a driver update for it.

Visually inspect the motherboard. Check the capacitors, little round things with a cross notched on the silver tops. Are any bulging, like a bad battery might in a flashlight? Look for any loose fan connections to the motherboard. It's OK to plug in and turn on with the cover off, to verify all fans are running. Then see if the problem reoccurs.

If it does, it gets more complicated. You might have a failing power supply, but you'd need another one to test. (Volt/ohm meters won't work, since it has to have a load). Could be bad RAM, faulty motherboard, etc. AND let's not forget Windows, if software related. In fact, if you really believe that's the issue, then start with Windows. You could try a Windows repair. Regardless, really hard to troubleshoot. Be a lot easier if the thing just failed and shut itself off.

If this is a laptop, I don't recommend trying to open it unless you know what you're doing. However, you can try finding the air intake/outtake and blowing air through it (both ways) to get out any dust. The intake is usually on the bottom, the outtake on the side.

Does it ever happen with other programs? Do you have anything else open when playing the game? Any weird process running in the background (control-alt-delete < task manager)?

Ugh, so many areas to diagnose. I feel your pain. Let us know what your techies discover.

Dave

[Dan Caviness]

Thanks for the help Dave.

I think you're correct and on the right track.
After my Son in Law visited yesterday...my solution is clear...BEST BUY HERE I COME...it's time for a new PC....ding ding ding...
(that's MY program sound...lol...;)

It's a desktop.
I showed your post to him...he agreed...it could be almost anything.
It's at least 7 years old...time to break loose some quatloos and enrich the local economy...or at least the corporate overlords at Best Buy.

As for EARL...lol...it's definitely not the FRENCH (in Marle)...they are still mashing grapes behind the line...;)
Far more likely it's all those pesky Brits running around up North!

[Scud]

The shelf life of the average computer is 5 years, before things start to go. So 7 years? It's time.

When you get the new one and all's well, take the old one apart and save whatever is salvageable. Come's in handy for troubleshooting down the line. Power supply, harddrives, optical drives, even the diskette/floppy drive (hey, you never know). The RAM modules can be sold on ebay. The older the RAM, the more expensive to replace, so there's is a market for it. You can pick up an external case for the harddrive and use it for offline storage. The cases are cheap (under $20). That way you'll still have access to whatever's on it.

OR, try fixing it. You can learn a lot and will have nothing to lose.

Good luck with the new one.

Dave

[Herr Straße Laufer]

Dave, remember Dan's age?
He should also save the stone tablet, hammer and chisel?



HSL

[Dan Caviness]

I resemble that remark HSL...;)

[Dan Caviness]

It could be the French 5th column from Marle :-)

Absolutely!
Lucky for me I had a supply of wine and cheese on hand... so we ate lunch... and they scurried back over the Maginot Line where they belong...

Make cholesterol...not war I say!