Solved regular 1 second computer freezes - audio buzz most obvious symptom

[wonderland]

If an admin could put this in the relevant section - I'm not sure where it belongs.

Basically, I didn't do anything to my computer, I was just listening to a podcast and suddenly heard an audio stutter. I thought it was a bad recording but then noticed it happening everywhere. I thought it was an audio issue but basically, the whole computer freezes for 1 second every couple of minutes. Video, mouse pointer, everything freezes. But just for a second.

I fancy this will take some digging.

 

[MilesAhead]

I would start with a full scan using MBAM if you haven't already. The free version has the same scanner as the paid.

Edit: It sounds like there could have been something nasty embedded in the podcast.

 

[wonderland]

Hi,

I avoided doing the obvious MB scan as it seemed too easy. So downloaded it and ran a scan. Found a few things, quarantined them, restarted. Problem persists.

It won't be the podcast as it's just a load of MP3s that I've listened to before.

 

[darkcoleague]

Hello,

I experience the same problem. It started about a day ago. I tried several thing (chkdrv, scanned for malware and changed anvirus and some other things), but the problem is still here.

However, i could not observe this behavior in safe mode. Also, I tried using OpenHardwareMonitor, and found out that cpu usage (and energy consumption) spikes around these lags. However, time resolution is poor so i cant say if its reason or consequence.

It would be nice to hear some ideas what to do next.

Thanks

 

[MilesAhead]

Hi,

I avoided doing the obvious MB scan as it seemed too easy. So downloaded it and ran a scan. Found a few things, quarantined them, restarted. Problem persists.

It won't be the podcast as it's just a load of MP3s that I've listened to before.

Have you looked in Device Manager for the dreaded yellow bang character '!' ?

Also it may be useful to run some utility that shows fan speeds and temperatures. Heat can cause erratic behavior.

While in Device Manager it might be worth the few minutes to try the driver reinstall trick. Delete the audio drivers and reboot. Window will reinstall them. Many tomes this fix works for months.

Edit: It may also be useful to run some diagnostic on the audio device. It could be that it chose that moment to have a hw issue. There may be some diagnostic software on the device manufacturer's site. I'm not heavily into audio so I don't know if it's routine for them to provide that kind of tool.

 

[darkcoleague]

I found a solution that worked for me. You need to uninstall dellsupport and dellsupportassistant.

I found the solution here
Buzzing/stuttering during audio playback on xps 13 9333 - Laptop Audio Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

cheers

 

[wonderland]

Sweet lord, I think that's done it! Been listening to some audio for a while and there's been no freezing!

Again, worth noting that this issue has nothing to do with audio problems, it's the computer freezing that's the problem, but the audio is the easiest way to tell that your computer is freezing.

Thanks so much, I owe you one!