Whenever I start the game, the copyright crap displays. As soon as the Bethesda logo displays, I get popping/static for sound.

I'm running on a Vista 64 machine. I've tried running in compatibility more, admin and normally. I've tried the d3d9.dll fix. I've tried uninstalling and installing from steam ( I have a retail disk, but it still uses this steam crap ). Once in, I can play the radio. I hear dialog. I hear weapon sounds. But, underneath it all is this popping / static. It's extremely annoying and is making the game unplayable. I have no issue with performance or frame rate.

I've been playing Fallout 3 without any issues on this machine.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've e-mailed Bethesda, but not received any response. So much for their promised 48-hour turn around.

Thanks for the help!

I was having the same problems as you with popping sounds and the like. Turns out my Sound card drivers were horribly out of date. Once I upgraded to the recent sound card drivers the problem went away.

Thanks, Stickfaz. Unfortunately, I just reinstalled my sound drivers with no success. Very frustrating to not be able to play the latest Fallout.

check sound quality, sound settings like if its stero 5.1 7.2 head phones and so on. Also go back on drivers get all the drivers that have been released since FO3 for your sound card and go though each one.