8.1 audio popping, new system, possibly related to high DPC

advocation · Jan 17, 2014

Hello everyone,

You guys seem to be the kings of fixing high DPC issues, and I was hoping you might be able to figure out mine. I have a new build (parts list at bottom), as well as a fresh install of windows 8.1; however, right before sounds start (for example clicking the sound icon over and over in the taskbar), i have been noticing a popping noise coming out of my audio. After reading all your forum issues as much as possible, I haven't been able to narrow down exactly where my issues is coming from. I have links to my latencymon stats, as well as drivers when last ran. I don't seem to be having the USB issues other's have. I have tired zero overclock, setting power manager settings to performance, as well as disabling turbo boost in my BIOS. I have not completely ruled out the possibility of a bad motherboard either, but when booting into a linux distro...I was not able to replicate the popping noise.
i.imgur.com/NFQOics.png
i.imgur.com/7agGDhr.png

Specs:
i7 4770k
MSI Z87-GD65
ASUS R270x
16GB RAM

Thanks in advance for your help!

advocation · Jan 24, 2014

No one has any ideas or suggestions? It's definitely software related...just replaced mobo and it continues.

bassfisher6522 · Jan 24, 2014

OK...I'll have a go at it. Let's start with the basics first.

Do you have all the latest drivers installed? Do you have the latest BIOS installed? I see the latest date for your BIOS as 2013/12/06.

MSI USA Z87-GD65 GAMING

advocation · Jan 24, 2014

bassfisher6522 said:
OK...I'll have a go at it. Let's start with the basics first.

Do you have all the latest drivers installed? Do you have the latest BIOS installed? I see the latest date for your BIOS as 2013/12/06.

MSI USA Z87-GD65 GAMING

Yes. As well as fresh install of windows 8.1 with latest drivers (including AMD Catalyst for video card). Have also tried realtec's HD audio driver instead of the MSI one.

bassfisher6522 · Jan 24, 2014

Does the popping sound happen all the time or just sometimes? Is it happening with a certain program software your running?

I've noticed on my system, with my Razer DeathAdder 3.5G gaming mouse, when I change the DPI settings to the maximum (3500 dpi) and change the polling rate setting from 500Hz to 1000Hz I get that same popping sound when I change my volume level with my keyboard (Logitech G510) volume wheel. I keep the 3500 dpi and change the polling rate back to 500hz and popping goes away. If you have a mouse with settings like mine, might be worth a look. Other than that I'm out of ideas....

TomasD · Jan 25, 2014

Hi,

For starters, we need more information about your system. Could you please download and run Sysnative jcgriff2 BSOD File Collection app, attaching the ZIP file it generated here?

Next it might be a good idea to have xperf log. Could you please run Windows SDK setup and select to install "Windows Performance Toolkit"? Once it's installed run the following command from elevated (Run As Administrator) command prompt (if the command asks you to modify the registry, please do that, reboot your computer and re-run the command):

Code:

xperf -on PROC_THREAD+LOADER+PROFILE+INTERRUPT+DPC+DRIVERS -stackwalk Profile -BufferSize 1024 -MinBuffers 256 -MaxBuffers 256 -MaxFile 256 -FileMode Circular

Now, try starting/playing some audio, until you experience the lag issues you mentioned. Once you do, run the following command to stop the logging:

Code:

xperf -stop -d C:\CPU.etl

Compress C:\CPU.etl log file and attach it here.

Thanks.

advocation · Jan 25, 2014

TomasD said:
Hi,

For starters, we need more information about your system. Could you please download and run Sysnative jcgriff2 BSOD File Collection app, attaching the ZIP file it generated here?

Next it might be a good idea to have xperf log. Could you please run Windows SDK setup and select to install "Windows Performance Toolkit"? Once it's installed run the following command from elevated (Run As Administrator) command prompt (if the command asks you to modify the registry, please do that, reboot your computer and re-run the command):

Code:

xperf -on PROC_THREAD+LOADER+PROFILE+INTERRUPT+DPC+DRIVERS -stackwalk Profile -BufferSize 1024 -MinBuffers 256 -MaxBuffers 256 -MaxFile 256 -FileMode Circular

Now, try starting/playing some audio, until you experience the lag issues you mentioned. Once you do, run the following command to stop the logging:

Code:

xperf -stop -d C:\CPU.etl

Compress C:\CPU.etl log file and attach it here.

Thanks.

Popping happens at the start of audio when none is playing. For example, the easiest way to test it is to simply hit the sound icon over and over in the taskbar. Everytime, right before the sound plays, it will make a popping noise.

TomasD · Jan 25, 2014

OK, the issue is not related to high DPCs for sure. Anyhow, I'm not sure what else could be causing this (knowing the fact that you already tried updating audio drivers). Maybe someone else on the forum will have ideas.

advocation · Jan 25, 2014

TomasD said:
OK, the issue is not relate to high DPCs for sure. Anyhow, I'm not sure what else could be causing this (knowing the fact that you already tried updating audio drivers). Maybe someone else on the forum will have ideas.

Please take a look at this:

http://i.imgur.com/NFQOics.png

You are saying it's not high DPC's..even though this is? I've tried roughly 4 different drivers, including the previous realtek HD audio driver versions.

TomasD · Jan 25, 2014

The thing is that % of CPU usage by DPC is relatively small. On the systems that I saw issues, DPCs take 10%-90% of a single CPU (core), while in your case that's less than 5%:

Additionally, when there are audio issues related to DPCs, they continue during whole playback, not just before starting a playback, as it is in your case. If DPCs would be causing your issue, that would probably mean there was some DPC which took long (in contract to DPC storm), and both LatencyMon and XPERF shows that max time spent in a single DPC is relatively small.

Few ideas to avoid a dead-end for this:

Have you tried completely removing ALL audio drivers and allowing Windows to installing a default ones?
Do you have any devices connected via USB? If so, could you try removing all of the to see if the issue persists?
Could you run FLTMC command from administrative command prompt and paste the output here?
Could you download Autoruns, run it as administrator, let it scan the system, save the result and attach it here? It would help to better understand what drivers you have (especially after you completed the #1 step)
Could you download Process Monitor, run it (it will start capturing activities), click on the sound icon to reproduce the audio issue, click magnification icon in Process Explorer (to stop capturing), click File->Save->All Events->PML and attach the file here?

jcgriff2 · Jan 27, 2014

Is the firmware on your OCZ-VERTEX3 SSD up-to-date?

http://ocz.com/consumer/download/firmware

Patrick · Jan 27, 2014

In addition to the great recommendations from Tomas and John, I would like to just chime in and say due to the fact that you're not having an issue in Linux, this is very likely a software and/or device driver conflict in your current Windows installation. We'll just have to find out exactly what's causing it.

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8.1 audio popping, new system, possibly related to high DPC

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8.1 audio popping, new system, possibly related to high DPC

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BSOD Instructor/Expert
Microsoft MVP (Ret.)