Windows 7: Cracking Popping audio. DPC latency checked. Atheros AR5B87.

I just bought a new Acer Laptop.
I have been experiencing audio issues in the form of random cracks and pops, its really annoying and a relatively powerful computer like this shouldnt be having just simple issues.



I have read a few threads on here with similar issues.
i downloaded DPC latency and was able to isolate the problem to the ATHEROS AR5B97.
I have two atheros devices on my computer (see screenshot)
i frist tried disabling the second one (Atheros AR8151 PCI-E Gigabit ethernet controller NDIs 6.20), no change.

I disabled the first one (Atheros AR5B97 Wireless Network Adapter) and i got no red lines on DPC latency!
now that i have found the problem, what do i do?
Thanks in advance! this forum really is a godsend!

I can provide any information you guys need.
please help!

Hey Karnage,

I have the exact same problem as you. Let me guess: Acer Aspire 7750G-6634?

You are on the right track to solving this problem. I too have isolated the cause to the Atheros Wireless W-LAN adapter. I've been troubleshooting this issue for a few weeks now and I thought I had it resolved when I updated the PCI-E Ethernet controller. For a few days there was no poping or latency that I could hear. But then it started up again.

I am in the process of tracking down the latest drivers for the Atheros AR5B97 Wireless Adapter. I found some on a Czech site, but they're not signed so I'm a little hesitant about installing them. If I don't find anything better, I will probably try them out tonight.

ATHEROS drivers for Microsoft Windows

The specific drivers are here:

Drivers for Atheros AR5B97 and Windows 7

yes! same laptop.

i installed a program that scans my computer for drivers and auto updates them. this fixed the problem.

Really? You mean like Driver Doctor or something like that? I always thought those things were not that great to use, and carry spyware.

Which one did you use, and do you know which drivers the program updated to solve the problem? I'm thinking the W-LAN drivers confilct with the Realtek Audio Drivers.

driver genius professional edition.
highly recommend it.

Thanks for the info. But I'm going to try to do this the old-fashion way and pin-point the exact driver to install. Any info you can provide would help alot. If I get it fixed I'll make sure to post the exact cause and solution here.

Hello, can you say driver version that fix dpc problem?

Sorry for not getting back here on this sooner, had a crazy few weeks of work.

I installed only the WLAN Atheros 9.0.0.202 W7x64 drivers. Latency still occurs but much much less than before. These are the best drivers for the W-LAN card so far.

DPC Latency still has spikes, but not enough to cause repeated stuttering or popping in the audio or video. The sound glitch will only occur if DPC latency spikes to or above 16000us. I have been testing the laptop extensively and it has been running beautifully.

I had the same problem with AR5B97, I am not sure when this started but it was annoying, finally I was able to solve it completely, I installed a modded AR9287 driver from a post in MODDED ATHEROS DRIVERS TO ENABLE ALL KNOWN SETTINGS 8.0.279 x86 & x64-IMPROVES PERFOR. Windows showed a warning before installing it but after that eveything worked like charm, WLAN speed is same but I think that signal strength is improved. I registered to share this, hope it helps.