During videos (bik/bink files) the audio constantly cuts out on me, it plays a couple of seconds, then goes out a few seconds, then back in. Basically makes them unwatchable.
This has been a problem that I can not figure out for the life of me.
It happens with about any bik file in any game, really annoying because a lot of games use them (especially older ones) and I can't fix it.
I'm running on an Asus p5q-deluxe via the onboard HD audio from Soundmax. I have the only drivers for it (great support there soundmax/asus).
I have tried:
Turning off sound acceleration
Uninstall/reinstalling drivers
Making sure there's no conflicts in audio
uninstall the bik32.dll and install the bik player from Radtools.
None of it works at all.
There is one game that plays a bik file fine, Left 4 dead. The intro to it plays fine with no problems, and I can't figure out why it does. It has a bik32.dll in it's folder and I've tried putting that one in other games folders but no go, they still stutter.
If anyone could help me with this issue I would love you forever, it's sooooooo annoying and I just built this pc a few months back for gaming, which makes it a real headache since it happens so often.

If your machine is dual core try disabling the second core when you play stronghold.

Tried that, still does it.
I'm running on an intel e8400/2gb ram/xp w/sp3 and updates.

Sure as hell sounds like a sound driver issue to me. Are you 100% sure there are no newer drivers available? It is usually not good enough to assume that Asus has the latest online..
Also, if the drivers come with a configuration utility (usually found in the control panel somewhere), it could be a good idea to experiment with any settings in there.

Yep, asus only has 1 driver up (same driver on the mobo cd) and the official soundmax site has none, they just point you to asus or whomever made the hardware that uses their audio device.
I've tried everything I can think of, the problem is ONLY in .bik files, WMP, avi, anything else plays just fine with no problems.
It just baffles me why left 4 dead's Logo/intro's play fine, when other vavle games (IE HL2, TF2, CS:S) all have the same sound skipping issue even though all of them use bink.
If there was a way I could pin point what audio codec or whatever it uses for audio and what's different compared to the others I'm sure that'd at least get me in the right direction.
I tried emailing Radtools (developers of the bink format) but never got a response from them. Tried emailing various developers that have the problem with the games and usually get no where either.
As far as I can tell, Bink files have their own codec, and the only stand-alone player that will play them is Radtools (VLC, WMP, etc doesn't support the format).
If I play them in game, or out of game via the Radtools player the problem is still there.
If I play the left 4 dead .bik files via the radplayer, the problem is there as well, it's only in-game that it plays fine for some reason.

This may sound a bit stupid but what resolution are you running your desktop at and what resolution are you running the game at? I've heard bink videos have trouble with higher resolutions so try setting your game resolution to something fairly low and see if it works, if it doesn't try setting desktop resolution low before you launch the game.
Also turn off and disable any programs you don't need running before launching the game. I'm not entirely convinced your problem stems from your sound card.

There is a guy on the Asus forums complaining about the exact same issue as you, but interestingly he has a P5Q Pro board which uses a Realtek chip - so Ralackk's suspicion that the sound card is not to blame, could very well be correct.
Since the Bink-people are unwilling to help, it might be an idea to contact Asus as the error seems to be connected with at least their P5Q boards.

1650x1680 is my lcd's native res and what I run my monitor at.
However for games I generally run them in their highest supported res if they don't go up to mine and I have nvidia's aspect scaling on so it will run the game (like stronghold for example) at the resolution I put it to (in this case, 1024x768) and then put black bars on the side to keep it's aspect ratio normal.
I tried on/off with it and no difference.
As far as programs, yes I have off everything I can take off, I've tried playing them after a fresh boot and no change.
Can you give me a link to this? I tried searching but the asus site is slow and never seems to find anything for bink or .bik when I use it.
Thanks.

Are you running the game from a laptop or a desktop? It sounds like a desktop from what you have mentioned so far but just asking to be sure.
Infact your complete computer specs and/or a dxdiag would help alot.

If it's the guy with the similar problem then it's here:
[url=]http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20080919110730218&board_id=1&model=P5Q+PRO&page=1&SLanguage=en-us[/url]

These sugestions are just shots in the dark before I have seen your specs but try them anyway perhaps one of them solves it.
Make sure Write Combing is on in your Video Properties. Right click desktop --> properties --> settings tab --> Advanced --> Troubleshoot tab.
Try forcing V-Sync off in your video card control panel. For Nvidia right click the Nvidia settings icon on your task bar and click Nvidia control panel. --> manage 3d settings, scroll down the list and force vertical sync off.(not sure how to do that on a radeon card)
It appears alot of people have bink video problems and there doesn't seem to be a one fix solution to everyones problem.

Desktop.
Asus p5q deluxe
evga 9800GX2 w/newest drivers (tried older ones as well, no change)
2gb Corsair PC2 8500 dominator (dual channel mode)
Windows xp w/sp3 and current updates
Write combing is on, vsync is off (tried it with on as wlel, no change. I usually leave it to let the 3d app decide).

One more thing - have you tried fiddling with the Radtools Player settings?:
[url=]http://www.radgametools.com/binkhbap.htm[/url]
Just wondering if the "summary" mentioned on that page might reveal something...

Yep, tried bout everything I could in the advanced play with radtools, no change in it.
I'm starting to wonder if it might be my processor? It runs at 1999.0ghz idle unless it's being put under load and then t goes up to it's normal clock speed (thus it doesn't use as much power/add unneccesary heat to the case), will have to try it at full clock and see if that has any affect.

The processor is as good a guess as anything right now, so by all means go ahead and try.