TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2026-01-08, 13:58:

I recently got a VGA splitter box and a VGA-HDMI converter which necessitated getting two power strips for the same wall socket, and after everything was setup was when the issue began.

As much work as it is, and as much loss of anticipated functionality there will be, reverting to the original configuration may be a logical step, if nothing else, to be sure it's not that the card itself has failed. If possible, test the card in a different machine.

I vaguely remember someone saying that a dual power strip setup can cause problems with cards like this?

I'm not sure I can answer as to what you vaguely remember. Sometimes, two power strips connected to the same ganged outlet may cause a ground loop, but those often reveal themselves as a hum at line frequency (like 60Hz in North America or 50Hz in the UK) rather than staticky bursts or crackling. The power strips' own ground wires may have differing resistance, which could be because of a problem with one or the other, or the quality of one or the other is bad. A new pair of power strips of the same brand and rating could resolve that. Also, verify that the receptacle itself is in good condition and both outlets are grounded. It would be extremely rare that they weren't, but it could be that wear on a receptacle means one of the ground slots isn't making a good connection to the ground pin on the power strip.

Both of the new power strips are identical and brand new, so if it’s a problem with one, it’s a problem with both, unless I got unlucky. They replaced a single 6-socket outlet thing that plugged directly into both wall sockets.

The only other two things I can think of are the card coming loose and the Y-splitter cable I use to feed audio to a capture device going bad. I’ll test both this evening, and if neither one is the issue, I’m going to revert to the original wall setup and find some other way to plug the video signal devices in.