Realtek, Windows 7 64RTM Crackle/static/popping

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that this is Windows 7's fault. Every other operating system that I run on my computer has no crackling or problems with the same sound card. I've used both XP and even evil Vista, and neither of them have this issue. Actually, I'm running Linux right now with PulseAudio and it's working great.

Maybe it's because DirectSound is now emulated? I don't know.

Windows 7 is great, but it's useless to me if the sound is terrible.

OK... I sorted my stuff... and it was part magic... and part something else

what worked with me is this... my laptop screen broke! and i changed the screen to a new revision... and reinstalled new windows ultimate.. with all basic windows driver.. and it worked! no crackle.. nothing.. i think there was a power leak somewhere and with the new monitor with 59hz

Now this is what I did, I realy don't know if that solve the real problem but the poppings and static cracklings are gone (for now). I had Asus tv card installed on my Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit BUT the card itself is uncopatibile with 64 bit versions of windows and in the past I suffered many crashes.However I took out the Card and i thought while my pc was still open I could clean my cooling fans cause there was so much dust on them. I did that and I have no more crackling and popping not even when I am listening (toggling) with WMP and I'm happiest about no slowing system when I watch youtube videos especially HD ones,no crackles no slowing.I don't know which one solved it but I did two things Removing the Asus TV card (for it was uncompatibile), and cleaned dust from cooling fans and thats it.

i'm using latest drivers Nvidia latest video driver 258.96
latest Realtek HD Audio driver R2.51
I had problem with them installed before but after cleaning and removing TV tuner card problem's gone....

Hi All,

Thank you so much for this thread! I do think that it's a bit ridiculous that this thread started in Aug '09 and it's more than a year later and MS has not gotten this fixed. This certainly is not the only thread online about this problem.

I just wanted to throw this out to people. I had originally purchased an HP dm4-1060 and had the ubiquitous crackle/pop/bzzt noise. Uninstalled/reinstalled the sound driver and still had the same problem so figured it may just be bad speakers. Went back to Staples and swapped it for another of the same model. That one had the SAME problem, so I threw up my hands (wanted to throw the computer out the window but restrained myself ) and got a Dell Inspiron 14R n4010. Still having the problem.

The thing is that the HP has an IDT HD driver and the Dell has a Realtek ALC269Q-GR. Now, I'm only an intermediate techy, but that leads me to believe that it's not a driver/sound card issue. I'm betting (based on what I'm reading) that it's a x64 issue.

Through the pages and pages of this thread, there have been many "fixes" that don't seem to actually fix anything and certainly aren't consistent. For me the good news is that: 1)MANY other people are having this problem, which makes me feel a little less crazy and 2)I can swap back out to the HP which was a system that I liked better :)

Mostly I just wanted to vent to others who are having the same problem. Also to just throw out there that it's not just a Realtek issue. Thanks!

I'm running an i7-930 with Win7x64, GA-X58A-UD5 mobo.

Haven't changed HPET, but I did disable C1E and EIST -- the result was a reduction in average DPC latency from > 16000us to around 100us ... and goodbye crackles!

Before this, I updated Nvidia and Realtek drivers to latest and removed all Gigabyte software. Toying with the PPM setting does not seem to be a factor for me; it wasn't until I disabled those two BIOS settings that audio played cleanly.

That solved the problem, thank you very much.

I still think that it's somehow hardware related.

Barthelemy said:

I'm running an i7-930 with Win7x64, GA-X58A-UD5 mobo.

Haven't changed HPET, but I did disable C1E and EIST -- the result was a reduction in average DPC latency from > 16000us to around 100us ... and goodbye crackles!

Before this, I updated Nvidia and Realtek drivers to latest and removed all Gigabyte software. Toying with the PPM setting does not seem to be a factor for me; it wasn't until I disabled those two BIOS settings that audio played cleanly.

That solved the problem, thank you very much.

I still think that it's somehow hardware related.

I think you're right about it being hardware. At least it was for me since I even had the problem in linux mint. I'm pretty sure pretty much everyone but a select few are actually having a problem that is windows 7 related. I was unlucky with that expensive acer I bought. This cheapo compaq I bought runs windows 7 perfectly, where as that acer couldn't even handle a youtube video. There is no hiccups in sound or video at all unless I'm using something kind of crappy like VLC media player that needs a better computer. WMP actually works great for everything(and so does media player classic). Games run great too. Now I get spikes about every minute or so for a few bars when I look at that DPC latency checker but they are fairly small and don't effect the performance at all. It's in the 5,000 to 7,000 range whatever that mean. It's caused by the wireless adapter but there's no need to not use it since it doesn't cause a problem. If I'm paranoid though I could just turn it off when playing a game or watching video. I also get a 100% spike in processor useage but again I don't notice any degrading performance so who cares?

I think a lot of the builders out there that are having the problem may be unaware of a compatibility problem with some of the hardware their using. Hell the big computer manufactures even have problems(at least acer). I will never forgive acer though for that massive waste of money and their refusal to even send me a refurbished emachine. Hey that's not asking much since the computer I had was supposed to be many times better than what I was asking for. So guys, I'm warning you to stay away from that company, they'll just keep replacing parts and sending you back a lemon. No replacement policy? sounds like fraud to me.

Anywho when I bought this compaq computer I was pretty careful. I thought that it might be a problem with multi core processors or too much ram or even an nvidia graphics chip or card. So I got back to the basics a (CQ61-410US) AMD sempron processor, 2 gigs of ddr2 ram, ati radeon hd 4200 graphics chip. The specs won't blow you away but I'm glad it works and even for gaming. I'm thinking that things are just getting way to complicated anymore and are actually making computers worse. Obviously though there's millions with high end computers that work great but I'm just kind of paranoid after that bad experience I had. So when I'm shopping for a new computer in three or four years I'll just remember to get the simplest cheapest thing I can. I think it takes a while for technology to mature and a lot of what we're buying isn't needed now or might change drastically in the future anyway. So just buy it when you need it is what I'm thinking.

if you're going off the charts during gameplay getting another soundcard will probably not fix your problem. Does it look ok during idleing though? I'd say with short spikes not going past 7,000 or 8,000 at idle would be ok. At least my compaq still works great even when getting those spikes from the wireless card. Personally I think you're computer is too loaded with too much expensive hardware. With all that I imagine it's a hardware problem. My only suggestion to you is to simplify. I did that and I actually got a better performing machine then one that's supposed to be many times better. To be sure try another OS like linux mint or something.

I know you probably spent thousands though. Maybe you could work out something with the builder? If they're honest and you showed them screenshots of the latency checker and explained what you think is happening to them they might be able to fix it or get you another computer. If not get a lawyer. For me I figured it would cost to much to fight the outfit that sold me mine.

AaronDude said:

if you're going off the charts during gameplay getting another soundcard will probably not fix your problem. Does it look ok during idleing though? I'd say with short spikes not going past 7,000 or 8,000 at idle would be ok. At least my compaq still works great even when getting those spikes from the wireless card. Personally I think you're computer is too loaded with too much expensive hardware. With all that I imagine it's a hardware problem. My only suggestion to you is to simplify. I did that and I actually got a better performing machine then one that's supposed to be many times better. To be sure try another OS like linux mint or something.

I know you probably spent thousands though. Maybe you could work out something with the builder? If they're honest and you showed them screenshots of the latency checker and explained what you think is happening to them they might be able to fix it or get you another computer. If not get a lawyer. For me I figured it would cost to much to fight the outfit that sold me mine.

When ideling its all sub 60 green latency, when ingame 16000+ Using another OS really isn't an option. I'll speak to the computer shop on Friday and see what they say, but they aren't exactly helpfull.