Audio popping and crackling - Windows 10 Home

calebway95

calebway95

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2019
Posts
21
Played a game of R6 Siege. Few months ago had no issues with any audio but now I just get a whole bunch of crackling and popping audio which makes the game unplayable. Happens with other games that are taxing my PC.

OS: Windows 10 Home
CPU: Intel i5-6400 CPU @2.70 GHz
GPU: Geforce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6GB RAM
RAM: 16 GB

I used Latency Mon during the match I played.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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. Also one or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. At least one detected problem appears to be network related. In case you are using a WLAN adapter, try disabling it to get better results. 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 0:16:25 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: DESKTOP-90LOGC8
OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, version 1903, build: 18362 (x64)
Hardware: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., Z170-A
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz
Logical processors: 4
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 16299 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 2712 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.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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): 13723.60
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 32.356202

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 13717.90
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 26.419370


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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): 12379.194690
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 6.492685
Driver with highest ISR total time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 6.856452

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 914956
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 306196
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 19892
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 14432
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): 10155.202434
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 431.60 , NVIDIA Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.624321
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 1.391504

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 3765632
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 25191
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 3196
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 3311
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: beservice.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 38836
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 18490
Number of processes hit: 59


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 423.905691
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 12379.194690
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 268.813034
CPU 0 ISR count: 1172567
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 10155.202434
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 51.446908
CPU 0 DPC count: 3575878
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 44.275050
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 1453.995575
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 1.247058
CPU 1 ISR count: 42046
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3027.878687
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 1.434130
CPU 1 DPC count: 86519
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 25.144245
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 209.916667
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.088245
CPU 2 ISR count: 42871
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 4034.948009
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 1.625763
CPU 2 DPC count: 88025
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 19.407383
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 2504.389749
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.319287
CPU 3 DPC count: 47560
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Hi calebway95 - welcome to Sysnative :)

It does look like you're having DPC latency issues. The version of Windows 10 you're using comes with a somewhat less functional version of Windows Performance Recorder built-in but it should do the job of getting a relevant trace. You'll need to open an elevated command prompt and run the command:
Code: 
wpr -start GeneralProfile
That should start the trace. Leave the elevated command prompt window open and do what's needed to cause the audio glitches. When you've recreated the problem switch back to the command prompt window and execute the command (change the path to whatever is appropriate for your system):
Code: 
wpr -stop D:\trace01.etl
It may take a minute or more but eventually it should finish and create the file in the path entered in the command. The trace may be fairly large but they zip quite nicely so please zip the trace, upload the zip to a cloud drive or file sharing service, and then provide a download link to the zip so we can have a look. Let me now if you have any problems/questions.
 
Last edited:
Oh, don't sweat it. Swink is probably a better username, anyway.

Can you tell me about your audio configuration? For some reason many of the HDAudBus.sys ISRs are taking much longer than they should.
 
I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for so I am likely going to overshare information. I am using the back port on my desktop for my audio. I have speakers plugged into that has a dial and then my headphones can plug into that. When the issue first started occurring I tried new headphones directly plugged in to the port so I did not think it was my headphones.

My sound settings have the level set to 100 with no Enhancements enabled. It is also set to 24 bit, 48000 Hz studio quality buy I have also adjusted this in the past to the lowest option of 16 bit 44100 Hz and had no changes.

If there is anything else that you need on this subject please let me know.
 
I'm mainly interested in the audio devices you're using and the type of connection (USB, analog, etc.) for those devices. Also, any software you're using to encode audio/video (streaming tools, Discord, etc.)

The trace suggests your motherboard is using a UEFI/BIOS version (1902) which is quite outdated. I'd suggest updating to the latest from here, assuming your system is stable while in the UEFI/BIOS settings menus. After updating I'd then go back into the BIOS settings menus, load default (or optimized) settings, and then Save & Exit. That should get rid of any bad settings that might survive the update.

Are you using the latest driver audio driver available from your motherboard product support site or those provided by the Windows 10 installation media and/or Windows Update?
 
Okay I was able to update my BIOS to the current version which was 3802. I went back to default settings in BIOS as well aside from Boot Order. This seems to have helped a little but the problem still persists. I tried another match and had the trace running as well at Latency Mon. Below is Latency Mon printout and this is the new link for the trace. trace02.zip

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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. Also one or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. At least one detected problem appears to be network related. In case you are using a WLAN adapter, try disabling it to get better results. 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 0:07:57 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: DESKTOP-90LOGC8
OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, version 1903, build: 18362 (x64)
Hardware: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., Z170-A
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz
Logical processors: 4
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 16323 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 2712 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.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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): 11064.20
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 45.923316

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 10982.30
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 27.165459


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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): 9874.898230
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 4.620198
Driver with highest ISR total time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 5.048429

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 407972
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 119988
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 7653
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 3545
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): 9118.293142
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 431.60 , NVIDIA Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.242789
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: rspLLL64.sys - Resplendence Latency Monitoring and Auxiliary Kernel Library, Resplendence Software Projects Sp.

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 1.053509

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 1651526
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 6132
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 939
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 359
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: rainbowsix.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 11320
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 2501
Number of processes hit: 94


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 160.527099
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 9874.898230
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 95.970992
CPU 0 ISR count: 489262
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 9118.293142
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 17.848881
CPU 0 DPC count: 1537636
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 23.547786
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 3148.712758
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.299896
CPU 1 ISR count: 25229
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3734.690634
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.976590
CPU 1 DPC count: 50041
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.293689
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 139.605826
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.053132
CPU 2 ISR count: 25376
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 713.266593
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 1.122390
CPU 2 DPC count: 49064
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 11.581140
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 560.796091
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.153089
CPU 3 DPC count: 22361
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Please uninstall or disable LatencyMon while we're troubleshooting. It simulates media playback in the background which just adds unnecessary noise while trying to do an analysis in WPA. It even flags itself (rspLLL64 .sys) as "Highest reported total DPC routine time" in your latest reply.

I'd like to see what drivers you have loading and have a look at event logs so please follow steps 1 and 2 at this link and attach the resulting zip to a reply in this thread. It will gather often useful system information which isn't included in traces.
 
Please try capturing another trace after having uninstalled LatencyMon. It could just be a coincidence but so far all of the long running DPCs I've looked at in the 2nd trace were directly preceded by a DPC from that LatencyMon driver. I haven't looked at them all but it's an interesting pattern so far.
 
Also, I know this isn't your motherboard, but I'd be very tempted to try the version 6.0.1.8339 Realtek audio installer from this support page.
 
It still seems like the audio driver is taking more than its fair share of CPU time. I recall there were some issues with Realtek audio when upgrading from 1709 to 1803, if I remember correctly. You're currently on 1903 and using drivers for 1709. Can you create a restore point and try installing the 6.0.1.8339 driver package I mentioned above?
 
Okay I am now on driver 6.0.1.8339 its not as crackly but now it sounds like all my speakers are blown out when the CPU is high. Link to another trace while playing R6 Siege. trace04.zip
 
It's still showing HDAudBus.sys as the main culprit. There are a few other drivers which have long running DPCs but I suspect it's because HDAudBus.sys interrupts are pre-empting those DPCs. For some reason many of the HDAudBus.sys interrupt service routines are taking way too long.

Do you only experience these problems in Siege? To get a baseline of sorts, please capture about a 60 second trace while only playing an HD video on Youtube and running a Windows Defender quick scan.
 
The main problem seems to be the number of ISRs being generated by HDAudBus.sys. The Youtube trace shows it generating around 403 ISRs per second. That driver on my system only generates about 14 per second while playing an HD Youtube video. The trace data would suggest you were not having audio glitches while playing the Youtube video but the amount of time processing ISRs is still higher than it should be. Not high enough to prevent DPCs from being processed in a reasonable amount of time but still too high, I believe.

Have you tried uninstalling the Realtek software/drivers and letting Windows Update download and install whatever drivers it makes available, if any?
 
I believe I tried uninstall the drivers then installing a newer version from the ASUS site but That was awhile ago. I can try uninstalling the current drivers but I do not know how to get Windows Update to download the new drivers.
 
If Windows Update has drivers available for your audio components they will either automatically install or you can run Windows Update manually. They may not have any available but it's worth a try. I'd just make sure to uninstall any Realtek Audio related software in the Apps & Features list, reboot, and then run Windows Update and click the Check for Updates button.
 

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