Fridge motor turning off causes no sound from external sound card

[eighthcircuit]

This was touched on in a different post of mine, but i want to dedicate an entire post to it cause i can't figure out what to do. When my mini-fridge turns off, the sound coming off my computer through my M-Audio Audiophile USB external sound card and out my speakers on my home stereo actually stops until i turn the Audiophile USB's power button off (it has its own power supply) then on again and replay the song. The fridge motor turning back on however does not stop the sound. I don't understand this. This doesn't happen with my stock internal sound card. I've tries using all of the outlets in my room for both the fridge and external sound card, and nothing has helped. I even used an extension cord to plug the fridge into an outlet in my bathroom inside my bedroom and that didn't sove the problem either. All my electronics are on two different surge protectors and i've tried different combinations for hooking up the fridge and sounds card. None of my other electronics are affected by the fridge motor turning off. I just hear a popping sound through my speakers but thats all, nothing stops working. It's weird because the external sound card is still on and the music is still playing on winamp on my computer, its just that the sound dissapears until i wait a few seconds, turn off and then turn the card back on and re-click on the song playing through winamp. I've been thinking maybe there is some kind of voltage spike that might be causing the problem, but i don't know much about this stuff. I use surge protectors, but maybe they are not good enough. Is that why there are some surge protectors that are really expensive? I just use the cheaper ones. What should i do?

[Guap]

Yeah, I would say you probably need a better surge protector cause obviously there is a fluctuation in your power setup when the fridge turns off........either that or you have a poltergeist

[Davey]

You might wanna try a couple different USB cables to see if it's a shielding problem. They are all shielded but some might be more effective than others. When that motor relay closes it can send out a pretty hefty EMI spike that could be picked up in the cable. Try a shorter one too if it's not already. If not that then maybe a better plug in type surge suppressor on the refrigerator plug that has some extra capacitance?