Audio Crackling In Windows 10
Sound Crackling/Popping with Speakers & Headphones - posted in Windows 10 Support: Hello all, I usually dont post on these tech support forums but the problem I have is driving me crazy, and I. Hello everyone. I have recently upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7. When listening to music, I now hear popping/crackling sounds. I use my headphones to listen to music but I checked using my speakers and the same problem occurs.
I upgraded to a new desktop in April of this year. Up until a month or so ago, it had ZERO issues. But at some point (I'm assuming after a Windows update), I started experiencing crackling, popping, and cutting in and out of my audio. I went to the ol' Google machine and found this was DPC Latency.
So I downloaded LatencyMon and it tells me I have DPC Latency of course. I've scoured the web, and though it seems to be a pretty big problem with Windows 10, there doesn't seem to be any real fix. I've flashed my BIOS to the latest available for the Z270i motherboard from MSI (listed as 08/14/17 - and now strangely no longer showing on the support page). I've updated any drivers related to audio devices. I've contact MSI and their support was no help (they told me to download another application - Nahimic), and really am just annoyed at this point. The only thing I have not yet done is a Windows reset, which based on what I've read, doesn't usually fix the issue.
Are there any surefire methods to resolve DPC Latency? Thank you for your help in advance.Submitted by: Sean S. I found this a useful explanation: What they are saying is this: For certain hardware functions (e.g. Audio) to work properly the device drivers need to get an opportunity to drive the device(s) in a timely manner. An operating system must give the drivers time on the CPU(s) when needed. Usually, when you are running regular applications, the OS can interrupt them from time to time to give the drivers a chance to, well, drive.
So far, so good. The problem comes in if one driver hogs the CPU for too long while running in an uninterruptible mode, so that the other drivers get their chance too late. In the case of the audio driver the result is this form of sound distortion that you experience. So, item one: Your audio driver in all probability is not the culprit but just the most noticeable victim (because it makes a noise.) Item two: Yes, the misbehaving driver probably came in with a Windows update (what with Win10's absolute craze about everyone running all the latest bugs (and occasional improvements, I guess) from Redmont. It could, however, also be that you just recently installed some new hardware that came with new drivers and one of them is to blame. Item three: To test this you can wait for another Windows update that might replace the errant driver.
But you may also try disabling certain functions (WiFi was mentioned as a possibility) to see if you can identify the culprit. For a permanent solution you would then try to replace that specific driver - possibly with a version from a different source (hardware manufacturers usually publish their own driver versions and it is entirely possible that they handle CPU contention more cleverly than you-know-who. If you suspect a recent hardware installation (or its corresponding driver) you may need to uninstall that for a test. Hope this gets your audio back to working well. (I had another audio problem once that manifested itself in a similar fashion (snap, crackle and pop.) It was most probably due to some transients coming in via the power line during a thunderstorm, which crippled my on-board audio hardware. So I disabled that in the BIOS setup and installed a separate audio card and all was well again.). I found a latency issue on a new HP laptop and believe it or not, got HP to inform nVidia and they updated their video driver and it went away.
It caused a problem with the audio similar to yours and was mostly resolved, BUT there was also a problem with the audio circuitry that eventually required a MB replacement. Based on your description, it is not a hardware issue since it came with an update. Therefore, I would focus on drivers - and start with video. However, despite MS directives on latency, I recently found MS processes causing latency exceeding their specs. I don't think it was enough to cause your issue, but don't ignore the fact that it could be MS stuff. I just ran a latencymon home edition v 6.51 program and it showed a max 25us latency.
I then ran DPC latency checker v1.4.0, while the above was still running, and it showed a consistent 4000us latency. Shut down latencymon and DPC showed a max of about 1500us but generally around 1000 or less (yellow and green). Hi Sean You’ve received good information thus far on how to trouble shoot your problem. However, as you have probably surmised it can be time consuming to pinpoint the offending driver and/or Windows update. There is another option available in Windows 10 called Reset This PC. Actually Reset This PC gives you two options: Keep your files or Remove everything — settings, files, apps.
Whichever option you pick; you’ll have to reinstall your apps and desktop programs and reconfigure your settings. I’ve included a link on where to locate Reset This PC with step-by-step instructions. The first option (Keep your files) is less volatile. The upside is that everything goes back to Day 1 (or in your case April). After completion follow the same procedures you did before to check for driver updates and BIOs Flash As you didn’t indicate which flavor of Windows 10 you have (i.e.
Home or Pro) I recommend upgrading to Pro. The Pro version allows you to be selective about which updates install. The Home version does not (although I’ve heard that may have changed or will). Also, this time around Windows 10 will probably update with a Cumulative download versus single updates. Cumulative updates are generally more stablekey word being “generally” as nothing is perfect.
Of course before you do any of the above you’ll want to do a backup. Backups are great but most backup programs encrypt/compress the data which requires the same program to restore it. Trying to pinpoint the location of the Setup.exe for a 3rd party program from a backup can be challenging. Rarely do 3rd party programs use an installation disc unless you special order it. The majorities of 3rd party programs are downloaded and install via a Setup.exe.
I always retain the setup.exe’s in the Downloads folder. In a situation that requires a Reset or Clean Install, I copy the setup.exe’s to a flash drive. After the reset or clean install I just move the setup.exe’s back to the Downloads folder and reinstall the programs.
This trick may make re-installing your 3rd party programs a bit simpler. Caution: Running a setup.exe from a flash drive is hit or miss. This trick may make re-installing your 3rd party programs a bit simpler. I hope you resolve your audio issues.
Together Everyone Achieves More = TEAM. I'll state the punchline first. The quality control done by Microsoft and hardware vendors is simply not sufficient (I am being too kind), so you unwittingly installed a defective driver update. Can you identify it and uninstall it? Here is my Windows 10 driver problem and how I fixed it. I have an elderly Thinkpad X201 that I have been using for a couple of years with an extremely annoying and erratic touchpad, freezing, jumping, working, not working. The other day, I set up another X201 for a client to replace his netbook.
Same problem. So I took another X201, and set it up. The Synaptics touchpad driver simply does not work at all. I fixed both X201s by installing the PS/2 mouse driver in place of the Synaptics one. Now the touchpads work as they ought to. Going back to the audio problem, is it possible that a more generic audio driver will fix the problem? I have a new HP laptop which is doing the same snap, crackle pop.
I called HP and they had me update everything, restore the whole thing from the beginning (lost data) and then had me send it in to HP. I got it back about 2 weeks later and it still did the same thing. I then had to call them again, send it back again and am still waiting for them to return it. Since I've had the laptop I've had it to use for about 2 weeks of the 3 months since purchase. Hate the service I'm getting, but since it under warranty I'm stuck. It comes as no surprise that HP couldn't help you.
The tech support they provided me in 2012 when Windows on my notebook computer crashed was also worthless. Their technician recommended that I use their recovery program to back up my data before reformatting my hard disk and re-installing Windows. The recovery program ran right after the system re-booted. I did what the technician suggested and backed up my data, reformatted the HD and reinstalled Windows. Then later after Windows was re-installed, when I went to restore my data from the Recovery program backup, I discovered to my dismay that the program had only backed up files with Microsoft Office extensions, like.doc or.xls. None of the other files were backed up.
Most of my e-mail files from that year weren't backed up previously and they related to Mozilla Thunderbird, so I lost all those files. I complained about this to a senior manager or officer with HP. I even asked for a notebook computer as recompense for the invaluable files I lost because of their incompetent tech support. He told me how difficult it was to recover my data now that my hard disk was reformatted, but did nothing to reimburse me for the data loss. I read since then on a tech blog that HP's recovery program is virtually useless for backing up files.
After the update that included the new Gaming experience features in the Action Center, I started experiencing similar issues will playing games like COD BOIII and Titanfall II. I D/L new drivers for my Sound Blaster Z card, checked temperatures of my CPU and GPU.
Everything appeared to be OK. The only thing different was the recent Win 10 update and the added Gaming experience settings.
I opened it up and noticed that the Game Mode was enabled. I never enabled it? So I disabled it and the audio distortion was gone! However after another Win 10 update, it had enabled again by itself, I started having issues and I looked at the settings and disabled it. My PC is much older than yours. I have a second generation i7, Sound Blaster Z, EVGA GTX 1070, MSI X58 PRO-E. With the exception of my video card I'm way overdue for an upgrade!
Hope this helps! Whenever my PC acts flaky I first do a restart. If this does not clear it up, I run a system restore to an earlier point in time. This virtually always fixes the issue. The whole thing takes 5 minutes and does not affect personal files. Regarding your audio problem, can you identify the day or week that it started?
If yes: Go to Control Panel Recovery OPEN System Restore and then follow the panels to where you will see a list of your recent system restore points. Click on a date before the problem began.
Note, you are restoring system settings, not your personal files (which remain intact). After the restore has run, if you get an 'unsuccessful' message, see my comments in the bottom paragraph.
If you didn't get this far, instead receiving a message that system protection has never been configured, you are out of luck for the current audio problem. But now is the time to take 5 minutes to make sure your PC has system protection turned on, so that you can solve future issues easily: Go to Control Panel Recovery CONFIGURE System Restore and then check the box 'Turn on system protection' and allocate 10% disk space or greater. Once this has been done, Windows will occasionally run restore points automatically. But it is much safer to run them yourself once per week, and before every software download, and after every system restore: Go to Control Panel System System protection Create You will be prompted to include a comment such as 'everything ok' or 'before downloading xxx software'.
If you'd like an icon on the desktop, use google to find directions for this. Note re 'Unsuccessful' message After the restore has run, I often get a message that 'System Restore was unsuccessful' and that my settings have not been changed. But in practice it seems to mean that only a particular setting did not get restored, because usually whatever issue I was having has been resolved!
For some reason Win upgrades are giving yo a new driver that does not work. When I got the upgrade 2 months ago, bam I lost my Audio. It did the same thing when I had this laptop upgraded from Win 7 to Win 10 (good thing I paid my tech the $99 because my HDD crashed and would not read the recovery disks that I purchased from HP when I got the machine.) No audio after upgrading to Win 10. I had audio I just could not hear it. My solution (and it worked after the upgrade (clean install) to Win 10 and after MS pushed the upgrade down on me 2 months ago.
I went to the HP support site and looked for the audio drivers. I had to put my serial number in and I was given the correct driver. (this is why it is a necessity to register your machine when you purchase it.) Installed the HP drivers and golly be, I got sound again. Do not depend on the upgraded drivers as they do not work for specific boxes., I found that out. My tech said he could not get drivers to work for Win 10 but when I downloaded and installed the original HP drivers, I got my sound back. The same thing after the push of the new version 2 months ago, no sound and when I deleted the MS drivers and installed my original HP drivers, I HAD SOUND. Hope this helps.
First want to ask how is your audio devices connected, analog, digital, hdmi, displayport,headphones. What is the default windows sound device and does it match the sound devices software if there is any for that device. Also check device manager as to sound drivers, device manager show hidden devices, check audio inputs and outputs, sound video and game controllers. As per the system boards product page; shows there are two headphone out amps and s/pdif and jack detection, plus hdmi and displayport audio.
Some motherboards need to have onboard audio turned off in the bios for physical cards to work, may or may not be the case for yours. Win10 does like to use the most universal device for audio; analog, hdmi, digital.
Resetting audio inputs and outputs from accompanying software does not always reset the windows drivers, a clean uninstall may be needed, but first disconnect everything before the removal. There have been some reports from the feedback app on win10 and the microsoft community forums concerning this issue. I have had to fix the problem by some of the steps I outlined here on each new build of win10. After my last Windows 10 update (late September 2017) I had a problem with Outlook 2013.
Outlook failed when I tried to print an email from Outlook. Then Outlook won’t open until I restarted my computer. I spent about 10 hours on and off the phone with Microsoft to fix the problem.
It took a full Windows repair ( a several hour download because of my relatively slow internet speed) and about 10 hours of my time working with Microsoft to get it fixed. That was after several false starts with fixes that Microsoft tried first that didn’t work. I suspect that the Microsoft update when it first downloaded to my computer may have had a missing bit somewhere (a corrupted download). If that was the reason, Microsoft needs a better way to check that a downloaded update downloaded correctly and completely. If there was an error in the code of the first update, the their QA process isn’t as good as it needs to be. Maybe the update didn’t install correctly once it got sent to my computer – Microsoft needs to be able to check that, too.
I don’t know the reason for the first failure – we never do. With updates essentially being forced upon us, it’s even more important that they install correctly. Your problem is much more complicated than mine, but maybe my story will help someone else: A while back, I started experiencing crackling audio. It would happen after I had been using my computer for a little while. I discovered that the computer was very warm underneath, on the left side, and then realized I wasn't hearing much action from the fan. Rather than pay someone to take the computer apart (it is a laptop), I have raised the computer about 1/2' off my desk surface and now keep a tiny electric fan pointed at the hot area.the computer stays cool and no more crackling audio.
1) Download Solus Linux iso file or Mageia Linux XFCE iso file. 2) Burn it to a USB Flash Drive with a program for Windows called 'Rufus' or burn it to blank disc with a program for Windows called 'Active@ISO Burner' or 'IMGBurn'. 3) Install Solus Linux or Mageia Linux XFCE (or both) along side of Windows after dividing the hard drive into more than 1 partition. Just install it and completely wipe Windows off of the computer. Boot from the media you created. There you go. Problem solved.
Audio Crackling In Windows 10
In addition to solving a host of other problems with Microsoft's dirt poor operating system. This is exactly why I turned off windows update. Yes I understand it isn't really a fix. Soon after getting a W10 laptop for my son I did what little there was to slow or stop the updates. I changed what little settings there now are for consumers. Wireless to metered, install updates at a certain time or when computer is turned off bla bla. Computer rebooted in the middle of my son doing homework, lost everything, and the new updates disabled the keyboard and screen brightness.
Took me hours of finding replacement drivers to get it back working again. Cisco jabber 10.6 for mac os. There is no good way until I found how to stop updates all together. Until Microsoft gets off ther high horse and puts updates back on the consumers hands they stay off. I have Windows 10 Home, Version 1703, OS Build 15063.674, Product 0-00000-AA329, Processor Intel Pentium CPU G630 @ 2.70GHz, RAM 4.00 GB, System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor. The speakers are Realtek High Definition Audio #MS-686 and probably 8-10 years old. A year and a half ago I started getting static from my speakers when I played YouTube videos. A Google search said grounding and connections can cause static.
I finally found that lifting up the right speaker to straighten the line from the computer affected the static! So, I set the right speaker on the floor away from the numerous wires under my computer desk; now only the speaker power line is nearby.
(This speaker is six inches to the right of the desk.) Also, the (former) left-positioned speaker is at the right edge of the desk, and no other wires are nearby. A week ago I again had poor sound quality from the speakers, however that for my new transcriber's earphones was fine. So, I rearranged the wires again to separate the speaker lines from the other wires. Speaker sound quality is fine again!
Hope that helps.
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