Help needed regarding sound crackling issues.

[Yukicore]

Hello. I am really annoyed by the sound crackling, popping I am getting on my new system.
I am using integrated audio chip of Gigabyte Z77X-D3H motherboard, and I am experiencing this issue, does anyone have this problem, or perhaps a fix for it?

I wasn't sure whether to worry until I found this video, can anyone, please, confirm whether this video audio is crackling or not, Thanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsmKHJq2aTs

 

[Cerb]

The noise in that video's background music is intentional. If that is the kind of thing you are hearing, rather than hard pops and crackles from buffer underflows and the likes, then it is surely an analog problem, and a sound card is the simplest, and maybe only, solution.

If what you have are pops and cracks like a skipping CD, instead, then my first question would be if you have a Geforce (and if so, uninstall your driver, and then re-install without the optional HDMI).

 

[Gunbuster]

Sound like a DPC latency problem. Run the checker: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

If you are spiking up start looking at drivers. The Common ones are network cards. It may also be one of the Gigabyte utility. I think eztune caused a DPC problem in some versions.

 

[Yukicore]

I hear the popping/crackling sound when changing audio sample, if I can call it that, for example, I skip a youtube video forward, or change a song, when the audio spiking (if you can call it that) is at the highest, and then drops and switches, at that drop point it pops, while it shouldn't be noticeable, but pretty lightly, but I am really sensitive on sounds + i'm using headphones.

About the video - It is like you said the video's sound problem. Not that frequently there are these pops for me. about 95% less, it's not often at all.

I have ATi card, and I chose to install HDMI audio, should I reinstall it then? I had the HDMI disabled though, trough device manager and sound options.

I didn't have any spiking, at lest not when I tested.

I had this issue really bad when I had AutoTune Utility (by Gigabyte), then I red in some forum that it might cause this issue. Then It got better, but it never disappeared completely.

Well at first install I didn't have it at all, then after some Windows reainstall I got it, and I have reinstalled Windows 2 times since, but it still exists. Any Ideas?

I am still having the issue, any help would be appreciated.

 

[Yukicore]

Does anyone else notice/have these crackles/pops when skipping a music track for example?

 

[Yukicore]

Please someone help me!!!

 

[Gunbuster]

I still think you have a dpc issue. Did you try anything I suggested? A bios update might also help.

 

[Cerb]

Also, try disabling High Performance Event Timer (HPET) support in your BIOS. And no, I have no idea why that can help for some people.

 

[Yukicore]

I tried the DPC check program, but It didn't show any spikes at all, I was doing multiple tests where I was encountering the popping, but It didn't show.

Bios update stays when you reinstall windows, right? If yes, then I did, I will try and update again, and also I will try disabling the HPET, as Cerb suggested.


Update: Neither option did help, back to the drawing-board
Hell, what could this be? I'm to totally lost. Maybe it's normal??? It's a small pop after for example playing a complicated song on youtube and closing it and then a *pop* sound. And in some games I have these pops, and if there are many together it seems like crackling, doesn't seem to be normal, but I am using headphones... Ahh, has anyone got some other probable solution? Or perhaps an explanation?

 

[Arca]

Comically enough I've had this issue repeatedly. It keeps happening rarely, but randomly. The easiest method I've foind (without rebooting that is) is to bring up Playback devices and disable then enable the speakers. For some reason that seems to flush the issue for a nother couple of weeks. Temporary solution, but the best I can give you.

 

[Yukicore]

Thanks, I will try. So this might be a Windows 7 issue?

 

[Yukicore]

Even this didn't help me. :/

 

[jolancer]

justa random thought like everyone else...

if your positive everything else is stable in your system.. -lot of not so informed ppl often underestimate the importance of a good not Cheap PSU.. and your positive your headphones arnt doing this on a known good system.. and your drivers and audio settings are set correctly for headphone use.. perhaps for the hell of it then, Move your ati card out of the top pcie slot and put it on the 2nd one so its farther away from the audio controller (i maybe wrong im just assuming its up there, you can take a close look to see), thats were your audio outputs are correct? or are you using cables connected to the front of your PC Case? if so try switching your headphones to the back first

 

[Yukicore]

justa random thought like everyone else...

if your positive everything else is stable in your system.. -lot of not so informed ppl often underestimate the importance of a good not Cheap PSU.. and your positive your headphones arnt doing this on a known good system.. and your drivers and audio settings are set correctly for headphone use.. perhaps for the hell of it then, Move your ati card out of the top pcie slot and put it on the 2nd one so its farther away from the audio controller (i maybe wrong im just assuming its up there, you can take a close look to see), thats were your audio outputs are correct? or are you using cables connected to the front of your PC Case? if so try switching your headphones to the back first

I have a nice quality PSU, as far as I know, I didn't buy a cheap one, I did some research. Not sure how PSU might interfere with audio specifically, only say a constant noise delivered to audio outputs, I checked if the problem exists on ear-buds, and it also did, It would be definitely very hard to notice with speakers, but I don't really like using my speakers.

Audio controller? I am using motherboards built in audio chip. I had it built in the shop I bought the parts from, but I checked all the cables, and everything seems at it's place, for front panel there is nothing to confuse and motherboard is feeding the audio to back panel without any additional cables.
I am using the front panel for audio, but problem exists on the back too with same intensity.

I am having some really bad crackles when quickly switching between menu options in game called ''Dead Island''

 

[thelastjuju]

and I chose to install HDMI audio,

If I had to guess, this sounds like it could be your mistake.. or at least related to it.

It sounds like its being caused by a driver issue or conflict.. make sure you have completely either disabled or eliminated any other audio drivers from the system besides the onboard sound's driver and that audio driver ONLY.

Do you have an old sound card lying around that you could try out and see if you have the same problem?

 

[Yukicore]

Nah, I don't have any sound cards. And I have already disabled all other audio device drivers trough windows sound options and disabled AMD HDMI audio drivers from device manager. I have only default Speakers with VIA HDA driver enabled and... wait a minute. SPDIF interference, is that one necessary? there are 2 of those, must have came with the VIA HDAudio driver. Let me check if that makes it disappear.

Edit: Nope, still getting occasional random crackles, well not that random. It seems to be when a sound delivered to the speakers is quickly stopped when at high frequency. And quick, rapid change of audio file played...

 

[Gunbuster]

Have you disabled your network cards to rule out their driver causing an issue?

 

[mfenn]

Lets go back to basics real quick. Are your speakers analog or digital? Have you tried plugging your speakers into a different port?

 

[Yukicore]

Without a computer restart, yes, I have tried disabling ethernet device.

I have digital, but I use headphones, I have tried using different ports, but nothing changes. With speakers the popping would be less noticeable, but I prefer headphones for sound quality, I have tried different headphones, and they do the same.

 

[Hacp]

Disable Intel SpeedStep. It may help.

 

[Yukicore]

Where do I do that, and what is it, Intel SpeedStep?

 

[Cerb]

Where do I do that, and what is it, Intel SpeedStep?

You can disable it entirely, or certain power states, in the BIOS. Also, customize your power plan, and set the CPU min and max to 100%.

 

[Yukicore]

Guys, I am really thinking that this is normal, well maybe not normal, but this problem exists for everyone. For example I took a look at the games I had sound crackling with, and googled them and many have these issues. Then about Youtube, it's probably because they use some other audio... what do you call it. filter. I don't know... and when it swithes it makes that sound sometimes.

Could this be true?

 

[Hacp]

Where do I do that, and what is it, Intel SpeedStep?

You do it in the bios. Tell us if disabling speedstep helped.

 

[Yukicore]

Guys, this is not fixable. It's not hardware related, I just confirmed that by using my other PC, which has not as clear sound and 16bit audio instead of 24. It also does the same thing, only the audio is so unclear that you can barely hear those pops.

I also found on a forum, where many people complain about Windows 7 sound crackling, poping on Windows 7 OS, while on Windows XP the issue is not present. So it's windows fault. I am absolutely sure about this, and JUST IGNORE THIS.

If you do stop listening for the cracks you will probably start noticing them, I just have (as I mentioned before) sensitive ears on audio issues, so I am quick to notice them. Well, conditionally, because at the very beginning I didn't notice anything, because I was too busy checking out the new graphics my new PC brought to me. Also there are software that interferes with the audio, like EasyTune did.

Thank you all, for your help and answers!!!