Sound distortion, tried lots

This is a common problem and definately relates to a problem with the sound drivers. About all you can do is look around for more compatible sound drivers and try them out.

vpwin7 said:

I'm using an A505-S6960 and recently, about 2-3 weeks ago, have been experiencing increasingly annoying distortion and crackling sounds merged with my normal audio. It occurs during youtube videos, welcome screen, and even stuff as simple as changing the volume level. It is not consistent but occurs when I least want it to.


I have tried the following:
-Disabling devices one by one to see if the latency load drops using dpclat.exe, no positive results (lat remained high).
-Reinstalling video drivers, which also contained high def sound drivers.
-Installed realtek sound drivers, which seemed to overwrite high def sound drivers.
-Uninstalled recent security updates, no luck, reinsalled them.
-Tested if problem could be in relation to overheating, still occurs after first start, and being off for 8+ hours.
-Ran dxdiag, though should not relate to normal sounds, checked out fine.
-Let laptop sit overnight in case it was a heat issue.


I see no reason or evidence to suggest it's damaged hardware. If anyone has any suggestions that I have not already tried please do tell. Thanks

-Just to be clear, you've disabled both the network controller (Ethernet) and the wireless and then rebooted?

Also:

-Control Panel/Power Options/ then select "Change Plan Settings" then select "Change Advanced Power Settings" scroll down to "Processor Power Management" and set Min/Max processor power to 100% (when running off external power) There should be a separate adjustment for running on battery power, leave it. Reboot, see if that makes any difference.


-Update motherboard drivers.

Other things to look for.

A conflicting background process.

What's your process list look like in Task manager, anything using an abnormal amount of CPU. Can you post the list?

pancenter-

I had tried disabling the lan/wireless drivers and restarting, as well as raising cpu power to a constant 100% with no luck.

Is there a way to export the list of the task manager or would I have to type it out manually?
Either way though, I have looked at the list and generally there's nothing suspicious, until now...
http://i40.tinypic.com/qznqr5.jpg
While viewing this list the computer was idle, with just taskmaster open. 1 firefox with 3 tabs, aVast, and the other misc stuff like itunes drivers and such. As I said this only occurs when it feels like it, and the sound was indeed distorting at this time.
CPU use dropped to < 10% and the popping is gone...for the second any how.

As far as sound drivers, I've tried lots.
As far as mother board drivers, not sure where to look.

vpwin7 said:

I had tried disabling the lan/wireless drivers and restarting, as well as raising cpu power to a constant 100% with no luck.

Is there a way to export the list of the task manager or would I have to type it out manually?
Either way though, I have looked at the list and generally there's nothing suspicious, until now...
http://i40.tinypic.com/qznqr5.jpg
While viewing this list the computer was idle, with just taskmaster open. 1 firefox with 3 tabs, aVast, and the other misc stuff like itunes drivers and such. As I said this only occurs when it feels like it, and the sound was indeed distorting at this time.
CPU use dropped to < 10% and the popping is gone...for the second any how.

As far as sound drivers, I've tried lots.
As far as mother board drivers, not sure where to look.

No need to type it out, a graphic is fine.
I think what's happening is aVast is tying up the CPU while keeping track of what Firefox is receiving, I imagine CPU use would go down when Forefox is closed.

Run a Google search using this: avast using CPU

The other thing is... the Network adapter shouldn't need that much CPU to do it's job. Have you tried updating both the Network adapter & wireless drivers through Microsoft using "update drivers" in Device Manager, each device should have an update button.

Ap

I have tried updating all important drivers using the update feature within the device manager. I disabled the real time shields on avast and the cpu use is still spiking. I haven't had problems with avast in the past but I will try uninstalling it temporarily to see if the condition changes. Also it doesn't seem it would make sense to distort at the welcome screen if a program was causing it, as other than core drivers nothing loads until you log on to your account.

vpwin7 said:

I have tried updating all important drivers using the update feature within the device manager. I disabled the real time shields on avast and the cpu use is still spiking. I haven't had problems with avast in the past but I will try uninstalling it temporarily to see if the condition changes. Also it doesn't seem it would make sense to distort at the welcome screen if a program was causing it, as other than core drivers nothing loads until you log on to your account.

Not only core drivers are loaded, parts of a Virus program will load before Log-on also "Services" will load.

Are you running any kind of peer to peer network?
And your processor both Min & Max is set to 100%.

-About the only things I can think of are BIOS update/BIOS settings.

-The hard drives not being set to the fastest speed. (Ultra DMA mode 5)

-Either a Service or Process being loaded at startup that's interfering with the
audio.

This machine has Intel graphics? Have those drivers been updated?

Things I would do...

Open msconfig either from the Run command or a command shell, go to the startup tab and begin by disabling anything related to the anti-virus, Intel Graphics or anything else that looks like it might cause interference. You can also get to Services from msconfig but I use Services found in Administrative tools.

I always disable graphics services and other 3rd party services, at least for testing.

The latest Realtek driver 2.47 is working perfectly here so if you're using that I don't think you can blame the audio driver.

Ap

my bios are up to date. I disabled the anti virus from services and startup with no luck. I couldn't find documentation on how to verify hard drive speed, although I doubt this is the problem. I actually didn't see any intel graphics services...but it is using "mobile intel(r) 4 series express chipset family."

I think I may just call it quits, either that or result to dual booting xp for media / streaming purposes.

vpwin7 said:

my bios are up to date. I disabled the anti virus from services and startup with no luck. I couldn't find documentation on how to verify hard drive speed, although I doubt this is the problem. I actually didn't see any intel graphics services...but it is using "mobile intel(r) 4 series express chipset family."

I think I may just call it quits, either that or result to dual booting xp for media / streaming purposes.

Understood, I'd probably do the same, a shame though, I wonder if other HP users with the same model are having these problems, it should be something they attend to. Shipping a machine with subpar audio performance can't be good for PR.

Ap

I'm actually on a Toshiba. But my girlfriends HP has the same problem, same OS, go figure.