Static ringing in my headphones.

[SlowGoing]

I have lived with the killer white noise long enough, and I think its about time I asked for advice.  It seems my computer will not stop giving off a low static noise that can be easily ignored while listening to music or videos, but between songs and while navigating its impossible to shut out.

Here are some of the observations i have made on my own or while looking through other posts:
-The noise happens regardless of volume. weather its low or muted the static will stay.
-The static seems to get louder when I go through specific actions. (mouse movements and starting windows media player seem to cause the most consistent changes)
-Out of the two audio out ports the one in the front of the pc seems to have it worse. I would use the rear one but the headphone chord is too short.
-I can sometimes hear, what i believe to be, the hard drive spinning in my headphones (usual when I open WMP)

Im not sure what the cause could be, but Im hoping it will be easy to fix. As of now the only theorys I could come up with were that I might be able to blame something along the lines of poor wiring. If that is true Im not sure I can do anything about it myself.

I hope the info is helpful enough to narrow the possibilities, and thank you for your help.

[Allan]

Does this only happen with headphones? Do you have external speakers connected and if so do you hear the sound through them?

[Tim_Cdy]

Is this a Desktop or a Laptop?

[Allan]

Is this a Desktop or a Laptop?

-Out of the two audio out ports the one in the front of the pc seems to have it worse. I would use the rear one but the headphone chord is too short.

Unless it's the world's largest laptop............

[Tim_Cdy]

Ahh, yeah good point 

[SlowGoing]

Unless it's the world's largest laptop............

You are right, this is a desktop. Also hahaha that was funny... no offense Tim. I wouldn't have even caught that ether. =D

My pc has built in speakers that leave a lot to be desired, but I don't hear it from those speakers. I'm not sure if its because the static is so low I cant hear it when its at that distance but the static I'm typing about does not appear on my speakers although I do get a faint static from turning it up too high. I may be wrong but I believe most speakers do that, right? The static on my headphones does get slightly louder when I turn it up though.
Long answer short, No I don't believe it does.

[mroilfield]

This may be a silly question but have you tried a different set of head phones or tried those head phones on another device?

[patio]

Use the rear jacks....you may want to invest in an extension cable...available at Radio Shack or any electronics outlet.

[SlowGoing]

I normally use them as my I-Pod headphones so yes on that account, and every set of headphones so far does it.(3 or 4 sets so far...). Getting an extension would make nice a plan B, but I was hoping to fix it if at all possible before I try to avoid it. Thanks for the advice though, I'll keep it in mind.

[rthompson80819]

In my experience, audio static is almost always (but not always) a physical problem, often a problem with a jack or plug.  Since you are having a problem with both the front and back jack, and have tried several different headphones, the problem must be something on the sound card if you have a separate one, or on the mother boards link to the jacks.

Long shot: do you have an AM radio station nearby?

Whatever, I think Patio's suggestion of an extension cord is your best bet.

[BC_Programmer]

With my sound card, if I put my network card too close to it, I get constant static and audio aberrations (clicks, pops, buzzes, etc).

This has happened in every PC I've worked with- if the audio card's vital organs aren't shielded, then any nearby RF device is going to cause problems.

Currently, my gigabit NIC is built into my motherboard, so it doesn't cause any problems for my sound card, which seems rather well shielded. However, if my wireless PCI card is enabled, suddenly it's click pop buzz city, and I swear it sounds like a flipping bug zapper in the middle of a cloud of mosquitos. This is despite both the wireless card and the sound card having their own anti-interference mechanisms.

A few times in a few of my machines I've had this mysterious buzzing and other sound artifacts, and in most cases I just had to space out the components more from each other, or find a way to move the sound card away from the RF-noisy network card, and the problems either went away or were reduced to the point they were no longer an issue.

[Gizmologist]

Are you using the MOBO audio section or an after market card? Usually the noise from the MOBO card is due to a LOT of hash in the DC circuitry as the same power is supplied to the fan etc. The serial clocking of the mouse interface will also sort of back feed into the MOBO audio.

With no music or other audio playing, listen carefully to the headphones as you move the mouse around. Do you hear some rapid hash (static) as the mouse moves? If so, all you can do is install an after market decent quality audio card. That will solve the problem

[SlowGoing]

-The static seems to get louder when I go through specific actions. (mouse movements and starting windows media player seem to cause the most consistent changes)

Mouse Static - Check
Thanks for all your help guys, I think I might be able to get that extension and call it quits.