Audio drop outs on a known latency issue system

[madbadger]

Hi I am experiencing audio clicks and pops on a frequency of about 1-2 every 30 seconds when I play back music through any playback software.
I dutifully took to the forums to see if there was anyone that knew how to solve this. That is how I found this website.
The posting by niemiro was great after I figured out I had to run command as an administrator D'OH! But it didnt solve the problem
I am surprised I am having issues with a new build as I have never had them before. So I am asking for help.

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This is a fair representation of what the latency looks like on dpclat so good for 2/3 of the time

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This is what I got when I ran to the end of niemiro's instructions. I checked ndis.sys. And the computer is updated as fully as I can update it.
The problem and latency still persists.

The hardware specification is
AMD FX 6300 (CPU), Gigabyte78LMT-USB3 (motherboard), ATI radeon HD5400 1gb (video card), Soundblaster Audigy 2 (Sound card), Corsair Vengence 8gb DDR3 (RAM), 2 samsung HDD (3Tb), 1 sandisk SSD (64Gb)
Running windows 7 professional (OEM) updated recently
Virtually no software on as of yet.
I have tried disabling all non essential devices in device manager so USB, Audio etc
I have tried to install the latest drivers.
I have tried with the sound card in and out. I have uninstalled the onboards audio driver.
I have tried to disable the onboard audio in BIOS but there is no option to do so.
I have tried updating the BIOS using @BIOS and it says I have the latest version.
Nothing has made the slightest bit of difference to the problem.

I have now run out of ideas. Please some kind knowledgeable person, put me out of my newly constructed misery.

Thank you

 

[Digerati]

I am surprised I am having issues with a new build
I have tried with the sound card in and out.

So you get this with both the integrated sound and the sound card?

I think I have seen this problem a couple dozen times, and no solution worked for more than machine. And sadly, it seems you have done everything I can think of - new drivers, BIOS, swapped cards and more. But I don't see you tried a different graphics solution or new graphics driver as there are some reports of problems with NVIDIA software.

Have you tried a Clean Boot to see what happens?

BTW, my DPC latency charts look similar to your, but I don't have drop out problems. ???

 

[madbadger]

So you get this with both the integrated sound and the sound card?

I think I have seen this problem a couple dozen times, and no solution worked for more than machine. And sadly, it seems you have done everything I can think of - new drivers, BIOS, swapped cards and more. But I don't see you tried a different graphics solution or new graphics driver as there are some reports of problems with NVIDIA software.

Have you tried a Clean Boot to see what happens?

BTW, my DPC latency charts look similar to your, but I don't have drop out problems. ???

I do get this with or without the sound card, but the effect is more noticeable when I use the sound card.

I havent tried the graphics card yet. But I will give that a go as soon as I get home.

I also havent tried a clean boot. I had never heard of that. So thank you very much for the heads up.
If the clean boot does work, how do I find the misbehaving driver? xperf (or rather my interpretation of the data generated) couldnt find the driver that seemed to be causing the issues.

Thanks for the leads Digerati

 

[timmgarcia]

I also encountered this problem after reformatting a certain unit. One of my friend suggested to update the drivers or change the sound card, I go with the first choice because getting new sound card could cost money, somehow it solves my problem hoping that it will never encounter the same problem again.

 

[usasma]

Although you're not experiencing BSOD's, please provide these reports for us to have a look at: https://www.sysnative.com/forums/bs...d-posting-instructions-windows-8-7-vista.html

To find the problem if a clean boot solves it:
- I'd start by re-enabling the disabled services (but not the Startup Items) to see if the problem returns
If the problem comes back, try disabling the services in groups of 5 to see if you can narrow it down.
If the problem doesn't come back, then try enabling the startup Items in groups of 5 to see if you can narrow it down.
- Reboot between each change of settings.

 

[madbadger]

Thank you for all of your support and help.

I tried disabling the video card. I removed the driver. I physically removed the card from the board.
I tried a clean boot.
I set about removing all of the peripherals in my system till it was just a motherboard (RAM etc) with a SSD and a PSU...
AND IT STILL HAD THE AUDIO DROP OUTS!

So weeping into my brand new keyboard I decided that enough was enough. I was going to start again.
I reasoned that the computer may (for some very strange reason) just have this issue for the start.

So on went Windows 7 again and DPClat and winamp and to my amazement it seems that the computer was not born with the latency issue. Something that I had missed caused it. I was hooked (Its worth mentioning that this was my saturday off) I had to find out what it was. I put on the Gigabyte Chipset drivers without thinking. I couldnt get online so the driver disk looked appealing. DISASTER! The latency started. I was gutted.
Then a thought occurred. What about rollback? Couldnt I just rollback and it will be all ok. I checked the restore points. I restored back to first point...

The latency issue was gone. What was it on that disk??? I had to know. I put the Gigabyte disk back in and it auto ran. I was horrified, then I noticed something I hadnt the first two times that disk went in. I selected yes to the Gigabyte utilities. This time I selected NO. And the dreaded latency issue was gone. I decided to play with fire and selectively add @Bios. The latency issue still wasnt there. I had found it.

The program that caused all my problems was Gigabyte's Easy Tune 6.

With that off my system the latency checker is consistently under 200 micro seconds.

I am a happy bunny now. And I restore before every computer change now.

Thanks for letting me air my story with the world. I hope that it helps someone somewhere reclaim their weekend. :thumbsup2:

 

[Digerati]

Interesting find there. I use ET6 as well, but as noted above, did not notice any problems. I will have to play with ET6 to see if it affects my charts.

Thanks for posting your findings!