My Computer's Sound Card Makes Clicking Noises When I Play a CD

A laptop's optical drive is close to the speakers, making troubleshooting difficult.

If your computer's sound card makes a clicking noise when you play an audio CD, it may indicate a software problem that you can resolve with a device driver or BIOS update. However, in many cases a clicking noise is the result of a problem with the audio CD or optical drive. In some cases, you may be able to work around the issue or resolve it permanently.

Damaged Disc

If a disc is badly scratched or damaged, you may hear clicks and other noises when playing it. You can confirm this by playing other discs; if one disc is damaged, others should not cause clicking noises. In some cases, cleaning the disc may alleviate this issue. If cleaning does not help, you can try an audio extraction program with error-correcting capabilities such as Exact Audio Copy.

Analog Audio Cable

A computer optical drive has two connections that allow it to send audio information to the sound card: a four-pin analog connection and a two-pin digital connection. If you use the analog connection and the wire runs close to components that may generate electromagnetic fields -- the motherboard's northbridge chip, for example -- the cable may pick up audible noise when you play audio CDs. You may be able to improve audio quality by using the digital connection instead.

Copy Protection

Some audio CDs use a form of copy protection that damages a portion of the disc to prevent computer CD drives from playing them properly or extracting the data to MP3 files. A CD with copy protection often has a label notifying you that it may not play properly on a computer. When you insert the disc in your computer, it may prompt you to install a playback program. If you decline installation and use an unsupported playback program, you will hear a clicking or skipping noise. The disc should play properly if you install the program. Alternatively, you can play it in a standalone audio CD player.

Damaged Optical Drive

If an optical drive is failing, you may hear clicking sounds while it accesses discs. Although you may believe the noise comes from your computer's sound card because of the close proximity between the optical drive and speakers, it actually comes from the optical drive. An optical drive contains two moving parts: one that spins discs and another that moves the laser. A clicking noise from the optical drive most likely indicates that one of these parts is failing.

References

• CD-Recordable FAQ: How Does Copy Protection Work on an Audio CD?
• CD-Recordable FAQ: How Do I Get Rid of Hisses and Clicks on Audio CDs?
• Computer Hope: Noise From Computer

Resources

• Exact Audio Copy