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Win7 Audio Pops/Clicks/Dropouts (PLEASE HELP)

Trips

Trips

Contributor
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Posts
6
Location
ATL, Ga
First let me say, this forum is such a great resource. I have been reading around for over 2 weeks now struggling with my own issue, and the support I have seen others receive here is nothing short of amazing! There are some great ppl here! I have finally broken down and felt it necessary to ask for help, so thanks in advance for all of your assistance.

My problem, like others I have read around here and online, is with Audio performance(pops,clicks,dropouts).
I will attempt to be brief, but as thorough as possible to better equip whomever may help me.
I have been building computers for over 15 years, and just recently (4/14) built this current specifically for Audio. The Specs are as such:

OS: Win 7x64 (Fresh install 3months ago)
CPU: Intel i7 4770K (Corsair H105 CLC)
MOBO: AsRock Z87 Extreme 4
RAM: Corsair 16GB (8gbx2) DDR3 PC1866
STOR: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD (OS/PRGMS/PLUGINS), Seagate 2TBx2 RAID0 array (AUDIO DRIVE), Seagate 2TB HDD (DATA BU) (More storage, but likely irrelevant)
VIDEO: Integrated Intel HD4000 x Samsung 23"LCD
AUDIO:
1) Akai MPC Renaissance (USB) which has a built in Audio Interface that utilizes a Ploytec USB ASIO driver (currently updated and current)
2) Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 Interface (FIREWIRE)
b) SIIG 2 Port Firewire PCI-e Card w/ Texas Instruments Chipset (using Legacy driver)
MIDI:
1)Maschine MKI (USB)
2)Akai MPK49 Controller(USB)
OTHER USB devices
Mouse: Kensington Expert Mouse
KeyBd: Logitech K800 Wireless
WIFI: REMOVED.. (Connected Ethernet to NIC instead)
Audio Software: Mostly Akai MPC 1.6 (and 1.7 Beta), Native Instruments Maschine 2.0, and Presonus Studio one 2.6.0.24200

If I left anything out, please let me know. I do have other devices, but have made it a point to MINIMIZE what it is use to narrow down the cause of the problem. As for the audio artifacts/pop/clicks.. They happen regardless of which Audio Device or Audio application I am using(even just watching youtube in chrome). I get random pops and clicks all the time, and often(every few seconds). I have run DPC Latency and LatencyMonitor. DPC looks fine. However it gets really severe very quickly when running LatencyMonitor. Even at my highest buffer settings on my interfaces (1024/2048) the issues persist. The drivers that seems to be getting reported the most are USBPORT.SYS and wdf01000.sys and Hal.dll. I have installed the ADKsetup, but get the error mentioned here when attempting to run xperf, so I have been unable to compile a trace file for anyone here thus far.

Its also worth mentioning that I have my Intel USB3.0 controller disabled in the BIOS, as well as SpeedStep, Turbo Boost, ACPI, and other a few other settings that shouldn't but could cause problems.
I have attempted troubleshooting this with just one device or the other connected (Maschine or MPC) and have tried both through each interface in Presonus S1. In MPC, Maschine or S1 I can choose between the MPC ASIO driver or the Focusrite Saffire ASIO driver. Either exhibit issues. The audio issues do NOT appear specific to any of my Audio devices or programs, but rather an issue with WINDOWS itself. I have taken some screenshots of a couple Latency Monitor tests I ran, and will upload and attach the results here.

PLEASE, PLEASE... Please help guide me to rectify this!! Its been a real challenge for me:banghead:, but hopefully won't be for some of the experts I have seen here!
Thank you for your time!
Trip
 

Attachments

Forgot a couple details worth mentioning.

I have tried every win7x64 USB hotfix I can find.. none work. All display "this update is not applicable to your computer".

I have also updated my system specs under my avatar, and corrected my GFX to HD4600, win7x64 to PRO SP1.

Seems to me the next logical step is getting XPERF to run so I can upload the findings here. Can someone please help with that?

THANKS
 
Okay.. did some digging and finally got XPERF to run. Here are the results. https://copy.com/blWeFInB7IzN

Really crazy whats going on. There has got to be something global with the computer that is causing issues with MULTIPLE drivers. I say this because when I reboot and sit idle and Run LatencyMON.. Its the wdf01000.sys thats goes crazy. When I use Maschine with the Focusrite Saffire Asio its the 1394ohci driver that goes crazy. When I run the MPC software with the MPC ASIO driver, its the USBPORT.sys that goes crazy.

It doesn't make sense for ALL of those things to be problematic. There must be one thing causing ALL of these drivers to go nuts. And furthermore, while I do get pops and click and dropouts under normal usage with any of my audio software, if I run LatencyMon in addition to an audio application it is literally CRIPPLING my system so severely that the audio will just slow to a crawl and stop playing. Stop LatencyMon, it starts again. Also, I can run DPCLat (at the same time) and it runs smooth as silk compared to LatMon.

VERY STRANGE! Please help!!
 
Hey Trips, I just wanted to thank you for your post as I am experiencing the exact same scenario as you, almost down to the letter. And like you I am at my wits end. Two solid weeks of digging with no results. Praying someone can help you with your issue because it sounds like it may fix mine as well.


First off, I don't want to hijack this thread, just wanted to add my info for troubleshooting perspective. Hopefully some of the work I have done will give you some insight into what you are dealing with yourself. If anyone is reading this, please address Trips' scenario.


The reason I think my info may be helpful is that I am using an older mobo yet experiencing the same issues, and as you deduced, I believe my issue is also a global problem as opposed to specific to any one device or piece of software. Also, my last ditch solution was going to be to build a new machine almost exactly like the one you have built (I'm very jealous by the way! Nice rig! :) But seeing you are having these issues gives me hope that a solution will give me a few years of work out of this old rig of mine.


*********************


My Symptoms:
The core of the issue seems to show itself most clearly in the following scenerio - I plugin my Focusrite, set it as default audio (ASIO), get sounds out of the speakers (from an mp3 or internet), everything seems fine, until I open Maschine or Pro Tools. Only then does Task Manager show CPU spikes at regular intervals. This is without any audio playing in either Maschine or PT11. When audio plays, the baseline CPU usage increases only slightly and the spikes remain. This happens with Pro Tools 11 open (no session open, nothing playing) and with Maschine open (again nothing playing.) Close Maschine or Pro Tools and the spikes disappear, turn off the Focusrite and the spikes disappear. This happens at any buffer setting although the CPU usage baseline and peak height change with different buffer settings but only slightly. This tells me it is not specific to Maschine or Pro Tools (as it happens with both open separately), or the buffer settings.


As with you, the culprits seem to be USBPORT.SYS, ATAPORT.SYS, HAL.DLL (among others in a minor way) all causing system interrupts. This info comes from running DPCLAT, LATMON, and xperf.


Troubleshooting done so far:
1. Disabled Ethernet, Floppy Drive, Firewire, other audio engines, DVD drive, all to no avail.
2. Disconnected my RAID drives and rebooted to see if anything changed. No joy.
3. Disconnected my Focusrite and set my Eleven Rack as the default audio, no change. (This tells me also that it is not specific to the Focusrite or Eleven Rack)
4. Updated BIOS, updated Ethernet, Graphics drivers, and Chipset with no change. Also updated USB drivers (I had to manually go in and update the USB drivers as they were all stuck on version 6.1.7601.18328 with a date of 6/21/2006. I have been able to update my Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller to version 9.0.0.1005 with a date of 2/25/2008 but my USB Root Hub remains at the older version/date and I can't seem to find a way to update these.)
5. Physically removed my graphics card and switched to internal graphics. No change.
6. Reinstalled all Maschine drivers/software, reinstalled Pro Tools. No change.
7. Ran System File Checker - came back clean.
8. Ran a Memory Test - came back clean.
9. Disabled Microsoft Security Essentials - no change.
10. Plugged my front panel USB hub into a different socket on the mobo, plugged the Focusrite and Eleven Rack into different USB ports, etc - no change.


*********************


Here are my basic specs: (just switched my rig to a new SSD with a fresh install of Win7x64 SP1 hoping to get some more life out of this rig)


OS: Win 7x64 SP1 (Fresh install 3 weeks ago on a brand new SSD)
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (2C 3GHz, 6MB L2)
MOBO: GigaByte EG45M-UD2H
RAM: 4x G.Skill F2-6400CL5-2GBPQ 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (Total 8GB)
OS Drive: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB (250GB, SATA600, SSD)
DATA Drives: 2x Seagate ST3640323AS (1.3TB, RAID0/SATA300, SCSI-4, 3.5", 7200rpm)


VIDEO: Integrated Intel Graphics


AUDIO:
1) Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Interface (USB2)
2) Avid Eleven Rack (USB2)


MIDI:
1)Maschine Studio (USB2)


OTHER:
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Gigabyte TSB43AB23 1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/link-layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus


Audio Software: Pro Tools 11


*********************


So I am curious Trips, when you have Maschine or your DAW open and your Audio Interface on and connected but not playing anything, do you see these intermittent, regular CPU spikes too? Mine are timed about 5 or 6 seconds apart and go from 0-1% to 60-80% CPU usage, and last for about 2-3 seconds. Oddly enough, I can play an mp3 or wav file in Windows Media Player or a hidef video with audio in chrome (through the Focusrite) and I don't see any spikes or weird behavior. Very strange.

I find it interesting that you are using Firewire and I am using USB with similar issues. We do both use an SSD and a separate RAID array. Not sure what that means though...


Anyway, I hope this helps you in some way with perhaps some more perspective on your issues. And again, thanks for taking the time to post. I eagerly await a solution or it's off to the insane asylum for me :)


And to anyone with thoughts or solutions, thank you in advance for your time and any help you can provide.
 
Sorry, guys, but I'm not sure I will be able to help you on this, as I see both of you are using external audio controllers. I've seen many cases like this and the issues are usually pointing to USB/Firewire drivers (it's ohci1394.sys in your case, Trips) in these cases, making them extremely difficult to troubleshoot. In cases when the computer has very specific hardware configuration (i.e. it is used for audio editing/mastering), I would strongly recommend to start from the forums dedicated for people using similar configuration, as there are usually quite a lot of tips on improving the latency (usually involving custom audio drivers or tweaking buffering settings). Few examples:

 
Thanks for the response TomasD!

Until Trips responds to you, I have a quick question: Doesn't the fact that the CPU spikes occur when there is no audio playing (only the software is open) point to it being an underlying computer issue though? Your point is well taken regarding optimizing buffer settings but I'm not trying to dial in the audio latency, I am trying get rid of System Interrupts that happen even when there isn't even a file open in Pro Tools or Maschine (no audio is playing). Does that make any sense?? Thanks so much for your time.
 
LGee said:
Thanks for the response TomasD!

Until Trips responds to you, I have a quick question: Doesn't the fact that the CPU spikes occur when there is no audio playing (only the software is open) point to it being an underlying computer issue though? Your point is well taken regarding optimizing buffer settings but I'm not trying to dial in the audio latency, I am trying get rid of System Interrupts that happen even when there isn't even a file open in Pro Tools or Maschine (no audio is playing). Does that make any sense?? Thanks so much for your time.
Click to expand...

I was assuming the audio is playing when you have issues. If that's not the case, I would need to have XPERF trace to see what's going on.
 
TomasD said:
I was assuming the audio is playing when you have issues. If that's not the case, I would need to have XPERF trace to see what's going on.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will get a fresh trace and upload it but I want to give Trips a chance to jump in here first as he is the OP. Hopefully he is experiencing these same spikes with no audio running too. Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone. Trips, if you open Maschine or your DAW with your Audio Interface on, connected and engaged but with no audio playing, do see CPU spikes in Task Manager?
 
LGee said:
TomasD said:
I was assuming the audio is playing when you have issues. If that's not the case, I would need to have XPERF trace to see what's going on.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will get a fresh trace and upload it but I want to give Trips a chance to jump in here first as he is the OP. Hopefully he is experiencing these same spikes with no audio running too. Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone. Trips, if you open Maschine or your DAW with your Audio Interface on, connected and engaged but with no audio playing, do see CPU spikes in Task Manager?
Click to expand...


Yes I do.. I dunno why I am not getting updates via email from the forum, and just been busy this weekend and haven't checked here. So I have not had a chance to read your monster post LGee.
But yeah, my issue is not specific to my audio devices. I can turn both off and still get spikes.

Tomas.. I uploaded my XPERF above, here is the LINK again for your convenience. It took some work to even get it created, so yes please if you can look at it that would be great. I would be happy to run another one with the audio devices completely disconnected if that will help. I have little doubt that the issue with my PC is something global that is in turn affecting my audio device drivers and daw programs.

LGee, I will check out your replies and hit ya back.
 
hey guys,

i have the same problems as yours (my audio device is Komplete Audio 6). There is a long thread on their forums and it definitely sound like these are audio interface driver problems. But i think the issues can be solved by disabling IEST/Turbo technologies in BIOS and checking what causes the spikes in Performance Toolkit.
I would recommend disabling Network Controllers as they are usually part of a problems (as i said along with poorly written audio interface drivers). At least you will know something if the problems stop.

Tomas - could you please check my traces ? i posted here w hile ago but sadly didnt get an answer - https://www.sysnative.com/forums/wi...x64-high-dpc-audio-stuttering-or-cutouts.html


thanks and good luck
 
Yes Please, Tomas!! I have been patiently waiting for a read of my XPERF. Already made a donation to the site. Will gladly donate more if I can get my XPERF read.
Please Obi Wan, you are my only hope!
But in all seriousness, this is about the only card I have left to play here.
PLEASE, Tomas!! Here is the link to my XPERF trace. I even compressed the crap out of it to make it a fast DL for you.
https://copy.com/blWeFInB7IzN
THANKS
 
Trips said:
Yes Please, Tomas!! I have been patiently waiting for a read of my XPERF. Already made a donation to the site. Will gladly donate more if I can get my XPERF read.
Please Obi Wan, you are my only hope!
But in all seriousness, this is about the only card I have left to play here.
PLEASE, Tomas!! Here is the link to my XPERF trace. I even compressed the crap out of it to make it a fast DL for you.
https://copy.com/blWeFInB7IzN
THANKS
Click to expand...

Could you please attach the CPU.etl file instead of kernel.etl?
 

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