[stumbler]

I've got a really weird problem -- I have XBMC installed on a Windows 8 htpc, and whenver I boot or shutdown my homegroup-connected laptop (also Win8) the volume in XBMC drops of by about half, but there is no indication of change in the XBMC volume control. If I stop the video and restart, the volume goes back to normal. I've also noticed that if I start up my laptop (or shutdown) when I'm using Windows Media Player to watch something on the htpc, the video will pause, but there is no change in the volume.

Any thoughts on what might be happening? Videos are shared from a Windows 7 computer, and all computers are on the homegroup. My HTPC is outputting video via HDMI and stereo audio through the analog jacks of an Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card.