Alienware 15R3 laptop: Windows 10 audio stuttering on Seinheiser SC60 headset

elennaro · Mar 20, 2021

It (audio stuttering) was previously on Bluetooth speakers (EDIFIER R1280DB), event fresh install of windows didn't help, but then one day I've checked and it started to work by itself.
Then recently with Feature update to Windows 10, version 20H2 and NVIDIA driver update to 461.92-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whq it started but nowy on Sennheiser SC60 headset (USB\VID_1395&PID_0035&REV_0073&MI_00) only, Bluetooth audio seems to be OK now.
On laptop's native audio (Intel Skylake PCH-H - High Definition Audio Controller = RealTek ALC298) it was and is OK.

I tried to:
* Change power profiles to performance
* Unistalling NVIDIA, Realtec, Intel drivers (using DDU and without) and installing latest version from vendor's site
* Uninstall/reinstall/downgrade all drivers related to Sennheiser SC60 headset and disabling power saving for them:

* Unplug all USB hubs, external monitor etc
* sfc /scannow, checkdisk c: /F, uninstalling all applications, running antivirus, windows memory diagnostics - nothing shows error
* A lot of other stuff found in the internet (I don't remember)

OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (x64) Build 19042.868 (20H2) OEM
Original OS: Windows 10 2004
Hardware is being actively used from: April, 2017
Os has been re-installed on: October, 2020
Model: Alienware 15R3 laptop 5QY5VF2
Chipset: Intel CM238 (Skylake PCH-H)
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ
RAM Slot1: HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH SK Hynix (2016-38) 8 GBytes DDR4 SDRAM SO-DIMM 1200.0 MHz (DDR4-2400 / PC4-19200)
RAM Slot1: HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH SK Hynix (2016-38) 8 GBytes DDR4 SDRAM SO-DIMM 1200.0 MHz (DDR4-2400 / PC4-19200)
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8192 MBytes of GDDR5 SDRAM [Micron]
Driver verifier: enabled
Antivirus: Windows Defender
No proxy, vpn, ipfilters or similar software
No Disk Image tools
No under/overclocking
Lisk to speccy: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/2nv3vGmtQI5dfuLXu3tGety

Link to zipped trace.etl and the SysnativeFileCollectionApp.zip: SysnativeFileCollectionApp.zip and 1 more file

elennaro · Mar 20, 2021

CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:07:39 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: SAN-PC
OS version: Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19042 (x64)
Hardware: Alienware 15 R3, Alienware
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz
Logical processors: 8
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 16254 MB total

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 2808 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 2887.80
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 12.422221

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 2863.80
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 6.889857

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 131.126425
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.009422
Driver with highest ISR total time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.013461

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 488385
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 3933.839387
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 461.09 , NVIDIA Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.262508
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 461.09 , NVIDIA Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.720610

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 1166989
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 7054
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 25
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 4
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: msiexec.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 63149
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 33269
Number of processes hit: 66

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 36.148711
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 130.684473
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.357479
CPU 0 ISR count: 403071
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3933.839387
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 15.779651
CPU 0 DPC count: 570054
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.854633
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 131.126425
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.116304
CPU 1 ISR count: 74141
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1009.035256
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 6.278861
CPU 1 DPC count: 239172
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 7.698061
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 48.713319
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.017549
CPU 2 ISR count: 10639
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 2643.616453
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 1.657039
CPU 2 DPC count: 119831
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.507010
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 78.213319
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.003206
CPU 3 ISR count: 534
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3933.274573
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.41450
CPU 3 DPC count: 39729
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 6.065455
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 490.298077
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 1.053291
CPU 4 DPC count: 85573
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 3.621925
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 444.072650
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.223713
CPU 5 DPC count: 23193
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 5.078140
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 416.579060
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.687972
CPU 6 DPC count: 54592
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.407878
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 576.815883
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.379318
CPU 7 DPC count: 41928
___________________________________________________________________

xilolee · Mar 21, 2021

Hi!

Disable verifier.

zbook · Mar 21, 2021

Please comment on licensing graphisoft.com and Anti-license checks by Up7.

elennaro · Mar 21, 2021

xilolee said:
Hi!

Disable verifier.

Thanks, I did.

zbook said:
Please comment on licensing graphisoft.com and Anti-license checks by Up7.

To my knowledge, no related soft was used on this laptop, Thanks for the tip: I managed to find the solution in the Internet and clean up.

Also in Hard Disk Sentinel, I've found that there was several bad sectors on SDD (that is used for system drive), I've run disk repair and after whole night working it was able to repair.
Apparently, this solved the problem for now... It's being a couple of hours since there is no cracks, pops and stuttering.

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Alienware 15R3 laptop: Windows 10 audio stuttering on Seinheiser SC60 headset

elennaro

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elennaro

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xilolee

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zbook

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elennaro

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