DPC issues, crackling sound, not sure if solved

tsoutherland

New Member
Messages
11
Hello all,

My sound had recently become stuttery, crackling, and sort of metallic sounding, maybe 'tinny' is the word. This is an issue both through HDMI and headphones. I've tried reinstalling and updating my drivers, I've cleaned a fairly nasty bit of dust from between the heatsink and fan, I've ran LatencyMon which prompted me to try DriverBooster which installed things I was sure I already had, and finally I've flashed the BIOS to the latest version. I'm not getting immediate audio issues at the moment but LatencyMon still reports in the 'red' on 'process latency', ISR and DPC 'routine execution times'. When idle I still get high 'hard pagefault resolution time'. Among the culprits, according to LatencyMon, are USBPORT.SYS, tcpip.sys, ndis.sys, ataport.sys and HDAudBus.sys. I did read that some of these monitoring programs incorrectly report activity on Windows 8 so maybe I HAVE fixed it? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
Stuttering, crackling, etc has been an issue in Win 7 and to a lesser degree in Win 8, from posts I've seen. There is no "one fix" for the problem. Drivers are one area that has helped, both the Sound drivers and Video drivers. Wi-Fi connections are another known cause. Another issue is that sound is considered a "low priority" Interrupt device and is placed on a Shared Interrupt (IRQ) with a higher priority device. The sound can be "interrupted" by the higher priority device and thus stuttering.

Latency Mon is supposed to work in Win 8, but DPC latency may or may not show sound problems. The DPC Latency Checker is NOT Win 8 compatible. I have a recording studio and very attuned to audio latency problems, not "system" latency problems that the DPC latency programs address.

Finding the problem will take a bit of time. First issue is the sound driver. You should have the correct sound driver supplied by the Motherboard vendor (preferred driver).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
Hi fireberd, thanks for replying,

I've run the MSI LiveUpdate utility and have installed everything essential, such as the outdated video and audio drivers.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
If that doesn't help uninstalling/reinstall the sound may help. Go to the Device Manager. RIGHT click on the entry for your sound device and the LEFT click "Uninstall" DO NOT uninstall the drivers. Then restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the sound. Sometimes Windows will put the sound on a different shared IRQ and help the problems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
I have both the generic Windows 'High Definition Audio Device' and a 'Realtek High Definition Audio' under 'sound, video and game contollers'. I'm assuming that's to be expected.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
Depends on what the High Definition Audio Device is. RealTek is your PC sound card.

If the High Definition Audio Device is also for your sound card, you need to uninstall that. If its for the HDMI audio, only use that if there is no AMD driver.

Generally, High Defintion Audio Device or "Codec" means a generic driver and not the actual device's driver.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
Yeah, Realtek installed with the software for my Radeon card, which also has the HDMI out. I was wondering why I would need the other, generic driver.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
That doesn't sound correct. I had an AMD video card with built in audio for HDMI and the AMD Catalyst Control Center/drivers installed the AMD High Definition Audio Codec, for the HDMI sound.

The RealTek, which is the sound on the motherboard would be for the PC sound only.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
I downloaded a Realtek driver earlier to see if it would help in any way, labeled 'ATI HDMI Audio Device', I must have confused myself. I want to say I did have a driver under the sound controllers that was specifically 'AMD High Definition Audio' but I've tried to remove and reinstall so many drivers I'm not even sure.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
Your getting the "RealTek and "AMD" confused. RealTek is the PC sound chip, for regular PC sound (speaker, headphones, etc). AMD is ONLY for HDMI audio.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
I'm sure you're right, I'd just confused myself. I uninstalled the generic Microsoft HD audio driver and restarted but it immediately restores itself once I have. How do I prevent this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
It sounds like there is a third audio device present ??

"Normally" if the HD Audio Codec is installed, when the correct device driver is installed, such as RealTek, it removes the HD Audio Codec and it doesn't come back when you reboot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
I also tried uninstalling the Realtek drivers, they reinstall themselves as well. Both drivers also re-enable themselves if disabled on reboot, is that normal?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
No, not normal, assuming you have the AMD HD Audio drivers installed for the Video Card's HDMI Audio.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
I'm not completely certain but I believe before I started trying to sort this out I had a specific AMD audio driver, but reinstalling Catalyst Control Center did not, evidently, restore that particular driver, not that I can see anyway.

Edit: Catalyst does list my AMD Audio Driver Version as being 9.0.0.9903, for some reason I can't actually see it
Edit 2: Tried an older version of Catalyst, I now have 'AMD HD Audio Device' listed above 'Realtek HD Audio'... I'll wait to do anything else until I know what you recommend.
Edit 3: Just for the heck of it I tried unplugging all of my USB devices, ending with my Wacom tablet (it was a bit tricky to click the 'start monitor' button and then immediately unplug it) but to no avail.
Edit 4: You mentioned 'shared IRQ', how many different devices should be sharing one IRQ? One has 5 different devices on the same IRQ. All of the 'guilty parties' here are also sharing the same IRQs but I assume that's to be expected.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
I don't know how many devices can share an IRQ.

If all the video functions you need are working OK, I would just stay with the "older" version of the AMD Catalyst/drivers. Check later to see if a newer version has been issued and then try that. If it doesn't work, you can roll back to the version that does.

The tablet shouldn't be causing any problems. But if you want to disconnect it, power the PC off, disconnect it and then reboot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
Video hasn't had any problems at all that I've noticed, it's still audio that isn't cooperating. Right now the sound is fine but that was also the case the other day, then eventually it started crackling and popping again.

I didn't think the tablet had issues, I unplugged all my USB devices to test if anything changed, that was just the last one before I clicked LatencyMon.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
Wait and see if the problem comes back.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
It already has, I start to get little pops and distortion after ten minutes or so
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Motherboard
    P67A-G45 (B3)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6800
I was looking over some of the popping and crackling reports on the Windows 7 forum and the fixes there have been mostly what I originally stated (drivers), Wi-Fi. USB was mentioned as a fix for one person. Another found a hardware problem on his motherboard.

I used to work the Dell users forums and Dell had a problem with one model of noise being introduced into the audio from the cabling to the front panel headphone and mic connection. That one turned out to be how the cable was routed between the motherboard and the front panel.

Another problem that has been found is power supply. This was reported by RealTek as causing the popping and crackling. If there were a certain problem with a power supply it could cause the problem. Unfortunately the only way to test the power supply is to replace it with a known good power supply.

Many possibilities for the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    i7 6700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero
    Memory
    16 Gb G Skill TridentZ DDR4 3400
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel (i7 CPU)
    Sound Card
    RealTek Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27" Dell SE2717HR
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    500GB Samsung 850 SSD, 3TB for backups
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 750 G2
    Case
    BeQuiet Silent Base 600
    Cooling
    Deepcool Captain 120EX
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Cable - 100MB Downlink
    Browser
    Edge/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Sonar Platinum 64 bit recording studio software with MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit.
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