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Crackling & Popping Sound Problem (Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit)

N

Nelman

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2018
Posts
10
Hi there,
My old Asus x59sl laptop produces pops with every audio output (through speakers and headphones)
After searching the internet for an answer I've concluded that it's a latency issue due to the high records of LatencyMon, then I tried disabling the drivers one by one to detect the faulty one, but the sound kept crackling after disabling almost all the drivers, and so I was left with no fix. Of course all drivers are updated to the latest version.

What I've tried so far:
  • Updating all drivers
  • Changing the sample rate and bit depth to 16bit & 44100Hz (it reduced the crackles a bit)
  • Disabling all "Audio Enhancements" (changed nothing)
  • Changed processor power management settings by raising the minimum state to 100% (it improved the sound allot temporarily until the problem returned)

It's worth mentioning that updating the sound driver to the latest Realtek version made the things even worse, therefore I made a roll back to the original Microsoft drivers.
I read about many similar problems posted on Sysnative but unfortunately non of them was able to help me solve the issue.
 

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Thanks for the reply :wave: The crackling now is much smoother (if I didn't raise the bit depth/sample rate) and there're only some pops while playing video/audio over the internet (tested on Firefox & Chrome) but anyways, when it gets unbearble again I'll make a post. Here's some info about my system and also the trace file:

Laptop Asus X59SL-AP266
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1 (the previous OS was Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 and the laptop had the same sound problem)
Installation Date: 24/08/2018 12:01:51 PM
Laptop Manufacturing Date: August 2008
CPU: Intel Pentium T2390 Dual Core @ 1.86GHz with Merom 65nm Technology
RAM: 3GB divided on 2 slots; Samsung 1GB DDR2 & Samsung 2 GB DDR2
Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series 256MB ("Total Memory" is 1.5 GB)

I'm only using Windows Firewall as a security software.
And Daemon Tools is between the installed programs.
Speccy snapshot: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/GHqwPpm0fJACWoqbieJAsyk
Trace file, msinfo32 and DxDiag link: AsusX59SL.zip - Google Drive
 
From an elevated command prompt launch
Code: 
chkdsk c: /b
Reboot needed.
After it finishes its check, download this file View attachment ChkdskResult.ps1.zip, rename it removing the .zip extension, right-click it, run with powershell, type Y to the question, and you'll find CHKDSK_SCAN.txt on your desktop: post its content here.

Then download Seatools for windows (click), run the long generic test and report the result here.
 
After the check finished, I tried running that file with powershell, but it displays a message in red and quickly closes (I couldn't be able to read the message)
 
The problem with powershell was that scripts execution was disabled..

Containts of CHKDSK_SCAN.txt :


TimeCreated : 15/09/2018 09:55:54 PM
Message :

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
150784 file records processed.

File verification completed.
132 large file records processed.

0 bad file records processed.

2 EA records processed.

44 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
203962 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.

0 unindexed files recovered.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
150784 file SDs/SIDs processed.

Cleaning up 307 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 307 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 307 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
26590 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35133656 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
150768 files processed.

File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
13256135 free clusters processed.

Free space verification is complete.
Adding 2 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

83886079 KB total disk space.
30543192 KB in 110384 files.
64388 KB in 26591 indexes.
8 KB in bad sectors.
253955 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
53024536 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
20971519 total allocation units on disk.
13256134 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 4d 02 00 1a 17 02 00 14 dd 03 00 00 00 00 00 .M..............
9f 01 00 00 2c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....,...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.



However, SeaTools' Long Generic test failed at 26%. Does that mean that the HDD is behind sound problem?
I've performed a S.M.A.R.T test and it passed (if that matters at all..)
 
"Short drive self test" fails at 10% with the following fail info:

Now is a good time to make sure you have a current backup of your important data.
Unfortunately, your Seagate product has failed an important diagnostic test, possibly caused by problem sectors which are difficult to read. Seagate recommends that you run SeaTools for DOS, which has the ability to repair most problem sectors. SeaTools for DOS may be able to save you from the inconvenience and down time of exchanging the drive.

"Short generic" test pass.
 
SeaTools fixed the bad sectors and now HDD pass all tests, But that didn't affect the sound, it's still crackling
 
Let's try something simpler:
  • Go to Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options and select High performance.
  • right-click windows start
  • click command prompt (admin)
  • launch the following command:
    Code: 
    cleanmgr /sageset:1
  • a window will be presented in which you can choose the items to delete and click ok, then cleanmgr will start to clean the drive/partition.
    I'd select them all, but you can choose to avoid some options.
  • launch the following command:
    Code: 
    cleanmgr /sagerun:1
    And the cleanup will start: wait until it finishes.
  • set the "clean startup" (or "clean boot"):
    • Start, searchbox, type msconfig, press enter.
    • In the new msconfig window, in General tab (default opened tab), click Selective startup and untick/deselect Load startup items.
      Only that one should be unticked, the other two must be ticked.
    • Go to Msconfig Services tab, tick/select Hide all Microsoft services.
      Don't forget to hide them!
      Disable the remaining NON-windows services.
      I.e., DON'T disable windows services!
    • Click ok
  • launch the following command:
    Code: 
    defrag c:
    Wait until it finishes then reboot. Or... It maybe needs a reboot to defrag...
  • Verify if the problem persists (in the "clean startup" mode/status).
 
That didn't solve the problem :thud:
What do you suspect to be the cause of the problem in general? some service/process?
 
My suspect was the hard drive failing... Now, I don't know.
I saw quite high temperatures in speccy log: have you ever removed the dust inside the laptop (especially fans and "air slits"/"air vents"/"breathers")?

To clean the interior of your machine and its components (short list... If you need more information, google is your friend):
  • If you're not handy when handling electrical components, ask it to a friend of yours or bring your machine to the Computer Repair Workshop (they won't do it for free, as you know...).
  • If you have a laptop: it could be difficult to open it. See previous point.
  • Unplug the machine from the mains (and remove the battery from the laptop).
  • "Touch bare metal of the case interior before reaching in" (I quoted Digerati, given that his English is better than mine :smile9:).
  • "Never, as in NEVER EVER, touch the electrical contacts of the RAM sticks" or every other contacts (I quoted Digerati).
  • You can use brushes, hair dryers, Compressed Air Dusters, to remove the dust (gently and carefully). It seems vacuum cleaners shouldn't be used because they could damage the electronic parts.
  • You shouldn't spin too much the fans: keep them blocked.
  • Check How to Remove & Apply Thermal Paste on CPU - YouTube (click) about thermal paste or thermal compound.
    But be careful: there's the risk to bend the cpu socket pins.
  • :shame2: Don't open the PSU! Death danger! :shame2:
    Don't try to open the PSU (power supply unit) to clean it: it could be dangerous given that capacitors , inside it, still hold voltage (aka potential difference, electric tension).
    Thegnomesdidit said (here (click)): "a lot of PSU's i've taken apart in the past few years have a drain resistor wired in parallel to the capacitors that discharges them to safe levels within a few minutes. I would advise however, that whenever you open up any equipment that is mains powered, you assume the capacitors hold a charge".
    Hence, be always very careful with it, if you open it.
 
Last edited:
I've cleaned the easy-to-reach components some days ago, now I'll do a more thorough cleaning.
Thanks for the detailed instructions!
 

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