Audio Stutters and Buzzing Caused by DPC Latency

[IanEvs1979]

The problem came back again after a restart, so I uninstalled all the Dell programs and once again, all is good. Fingers crossed that it holds this time!

 

[Driver64]

I've read all the posts and I must agree with this method.
Totally solved the problem for me.

Glad to hear it. It seems to have solved the problem for me, too. I just watched a 30 min. documentary on YouTube. No drop-outs or audio buzzing. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[mschilm]

Thank you

I too just obtained this account to thank you. You saved me days. Is someone in touch with Dell? If not, I could start a campaign.

Very Best,
Michael

 

[RandyGibbons]

Same here

Just adding another confirmation of the problem and the solution (thanks!). I have a Dell XPS L502X Windows 7 Home Premium laptop. In the last couple of days, all audio recording and playback exhibited the stutter and drop-outs reported above. Dell SupportAssist and Dell SupportAssistAgent were automatically installed on my machine February 10 and 12 (2015), respectively. Uninstalling those programs removed the culprit system device Dell Diag Control Device (file DDDriver64Dcsa.sys - the file itself actually remains) (also removes system device Dell System Analyzer Control Device). I see today many people are reporting the same problem and solution on the Dell Support Forum (Laptop Audio Forum).

I called the Dell 817- support number to try to report the problem, in hopes they will acknowledge it and not simply reintroduce the defective software to machine again. You can imagine how productive that conversation was.

 

[dj39]

Registered just to say Thanks!

Dell is Trash. DDDriver.sys also disabled keys 's,x,caps lock' on my keyboard.

Disabled in Device manager. Keyboard is now fully functional and most important the stutter is gone.

THANKS AGAIN!!!

 

[MrHassanSan]

Registered entirely just to say THANK YOU and also WTF? I was honestly just about to give up and start looking for a new laptop. I work with audio and this has been making it impossible to get any work done. Thank you so much.

 

[mike313]

The latency issue started on my laptop about 3 days ago too, and it's taken me most of this evening to get to the bottom of it! I tried updating most of my drivers and disabling network and sound drivers, without success, but after a google search of latency (I had a similar problem when I first got the machine), I came across a webpage that suggested using Windows Performace Analyzer, followed by cmd and then xperf, which did take awhile. Eventually, the program showed that the driver that was causing the spikes was called 'dddriver64dcsa.sys'. I then did a quick google search of that driver, which brought me here, so I tried what you all suggested and disabled 'Dell Diag Control Device' and 'Dell System Analyzer Control Device', and all is well again. I can again listen to my vast music collection on iTunes without and dragging.

My laptop is the trusty XPS L502X.

I have exactly the same laptop model and issues. and disabling 'Dell System Analyzer Control Device' worked for me too.
Also, uninstalling Dell Assistant-something (can't remember what its called now) removed the driver. For anyone with the know-how to get this far, it's probably a useless program anyway.

I suspect a recent Windows 7 update is responsible for issue.


We're all gonna make it.

 

[Catpawn]

It started again for me after a couple of days of rest disabling the Dell Diag Driver! I tried to disable the other Dell driver, but no improvement this time. Hoping for some pros to find the root cause and solution.

 

[Driver64]

It started again for me after a couple of days of rest disabling the Dell Diag Driver! I tried to disable the other Dell driver, but no improvement this time. Hoping for some pros to find the root cause and solution.

Catpawn,

Disabling the "Dell Diag Control Device" in and of itself only solved the problem temporarily. It wasn't until I uninstalled ALL Dell Support software did the problem go away. This solution has worked for me and a number of other people as well. Hope it helps!

 

[Bunsnpigs]

Thank you, kind souls. My Dell Inspiron started doing this I think after the last system update. I followed your instructions and voila! It is fixed. I also registered specifically so I could post that you fixed my dilemma also.

 

[Wardo]

Worked for me THANKS a million!

Thanks you guys!! This problem has been bugging me for about a week. So glad I found this thread before I formatted and reloaded Windows.

I have a Dell L702X and I was at my witts end with this annoying issue. The steps I followed are pasted below:

Device Manager->System Devices "Dell Diag Control Device" - Right click - Disable. Done!

 

[dorong]

F'ing Dell

So my suspicion already arose when I saw that the buzzing noise appeared exactly every 60 seconds...
That led to the fact that this was surely a software issue.
So first I disabled the Diagnostics. This seemed to do the job until my next update.
Then I followed the detailed instructions with dpclat and Windows Performance Analysis... and... drumroll please... Dell Data Vault is the culprit. Only Dell software engineers would do something that every minute runs a check and in the process increases the latency...
Disabled that and all started working well.

 

[nigelhs]

Like others in this thread, I have registered simply to congratulate all contributors who narrowed the stuttering to the recent Dell updates. Having removed the offending driver/software I can now listen without jumping out of my seat.
No other website that I have trawled before finding this one (after using LatencyMon) came anywhere close to helping. The only good thing to come out of that frustration is a slimming down of Start Up items as I sought to identify the culprit.
So, thank you.

 

[nathanwhite00]

Disabling the Dell Devices under "System Devices" worked for me. Thanks so much Johnmoo!

 

[swamoe]

Amazing, guys. Same problem, took same steps, first ran dpclat to see i have a driver latency problem, then Windows Performance Toolkit (as per How to Diagnose and Fix High DPC Latency Issues with WPA (Windows Vista/7/8) - Sysnative Forums - just remember to use "wpa" for viewing the perf results instead of "xperf". DDDriver64Dcsa was the culprit, disabled "Dell Diag Control Device" in Device Manager under "System Devices" as @johnmoo says, and boom! problem gone. Thank you all!!! Just registered to say thanx
.

Awesome! That just fixed it for me too! It ended up being the Qualcomm Killer e2200 Ethernet causing the DPC latency. Getting rid of its driver and reinstalling it from the official MOBO's site finally fixed it for me!

 

[RollinRobie]

Thank you all! Solution worked (deactived all dell-programs in the device manager under system devices; then deinstalled all dell programs) . Same problem with win 10 (alienware 13 notebook). I still have some buzzing (the stuttering was mind-f*cking), but it's very regular and i think it may be because of the cable (although i firstly realized it, after i got the dell-update-problem here).

 

[ndru virus]

I literally JUST registered on this forum to THANK ALL OF YOU FOR THIS THREAD!!

I am running a brand new Windows 10 Dell G5 Laptop with Traktor 3 DJ Software and a Traktor Audio 2 soundcard/interface and was running into the exact same problem ya'll ran into with Windows 7. Googling on the DDDriver64Dcsa.sys driver lead me here, which lead me to uninstall anything and everything containing the word "Dell". And now my rig FINALLY works in time for a gig on Friday!

Leaving this post here, just in case someone else runs into the same issue on NEWER hardware, because apparently the problem still hasn't been addressed by Dell itself!