Audio Skipping With Google Chrome/Mozilla Firefox

[pegritz]

Heya, folks--I've got a weird little issue here that's been bugging me for a while now, and I just cannot figure out what's going on! Maybe y'all can help me here....

First of all, I'm running Windows 7 x64 on an HP Pavillion (hardware details available in my profile).

When I'm listening to music (mp3s, FLAC, CD, anything) using either MediaMonkey or J. River Media Center 14 and surfing the web using either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox (any version), my sound output skips whenever either browser is rendering a page.

I have a SoundBlaster X-Fi Platinum sound card and an Edirol /Cakewalk UA-25EX USB audio interface: the skipping happens regardless of which I use. The two devices are not both installed at the same time: I removed the SoundBlaster card and drivers before installing the Edirol. All sound drivers are up-to-date.

Also, all video/motherboard/hardware drivers in general are completely up-to-date as well, as are all Windows updates.

I do not experience ANY audio skipping problems in ANY other software. My computer is stuffed full of audio software for studio production, and I haven't noticed any problems whatsoever in other apps--just the mp3 players, and only when either Chrome or Firefox is rendering.

I've checked my system resources to make sure neither browser is spiking my CPU, which could cause audio drop-outs, and that's not happening: whenever a browser is rendering, the CPU barely takes a hit. I've used every possible sound output option in both MediaMonkey and J. River Media Center--MS waveOut, Direct X, ASIO--and it doesn't matter which output method I'm using: they all skip whenever a browser is rendering a page.

Just to reiterate, I've updated ALL of my hardware drivers to the latest available as of 2/28/2010. All audio and browser apps are updated to the latest stable versions as well. The audio-sputtering issue ONLY happens with a media player, and only when Chrome or Firefox is rendering a page. I haven't noticed any audio drop-outs when working in IE8 or Opera, but I only keep them around for site testing.

Any ideas, folks? I've prettymuch exhausted the limits of my knowledge here, so....

D. Pegritz

 

[pegritz]

Some further information:

I've now tested all the browsers on my system--Mozilla Firefox 4.6, Google Chrome 5.0.335.1, IE8, and Opera 10.50, and they all cause the audio to skip. I've also started up and used Microsoft Outlook, Word, and OneNote 2010, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Drewamweaver CS4, and burnt three CDs and one DVD using either Win7's own CD burning utility and Ashampoo Burning Studio 9 while listening to music in, alternately, MediaMonkey 3.0.2.1294 and JR Media Center 14.0.50, and none of them caused any audio dropouts even when processor usage jumped to nearly 80%.

I'm now officially stumped. While just typing the above information the audio skipped several times. I verified that no other pages were loading (I'm using Chrome right now, and this is the only tab open) and all other applications were closed. I started up Microsoft Word while playing some audio and typed at least a page of random text, and the audio played flawlessly. The problem has to be somehow connected to browsers, but I cannot even begin to figure out what could be going on.

D.

 

[Aphelion]

I'm now officially stumped. While just typing the above information the audio skipped several times. I verified that no other pages were loading (I'm using Chrome right now, and this is the only tab open) and all other applications were closed. I started up Microsoft Word while playing some audio and typed at least a page of random text, and the audio played flawlessly. The problem has to be somehow connected to browsers, but I cannot even begin to figure out what could be going on.

D.

For one, the Browser's are hitting your Network card which has been a constant thorn in the side of many.

Are you wireless or ethernet?

Ap

 

[pegritz]

For one, the Browser's are hitting your Network card which has been a constant thorn in the side of many.

Are you wireless or ethernet?

Ethernet, though my computer does have a wireless card in it as well. I just disabled the wireless card to see if that has any effect.

I haven't noticed any other issues with network connectivity, though.

D.

 

[Aphelion]

For one, the Browser's are hitting your Network card which has been a constant thorn in the side of many.

Are you wireless or ethernet?

Ethernet, though my computer does have a wireless card in it as well. I just disabled the wireless card to see if that has any effect.

I haven't noticed any other issues with network connectivity, though.

D.

I don't know if the Network adapter is your problem but there's been several long threads regarding different audio problems related to interference between the network adapter and the audio system.

I just reread your original post... sound skips when rendering a page, two things happening, your graphics card working and the network adapter also transferring data.

Have you checked your DPC latency.

DPC Latency Checker

This is a great little tool for audio/media users.

Ap

 

[pegritz]

Ah, thanks. I just downloaded the DPC latency checker and it's running currently. I'm getting massive red latency spikes, but they seem to be happening completely at random and do not seem to correlate with any system activity or events. It will take me longer than the usable life of the computer to disable/re-enable every device trying to isolate a driver, though, so whatever's causing the spikes is just going to have to remain a mystery. I will try disabling my ethernet adapter and/or re-enabling the wireless adapter to see if those two are at fault (which seems most likely), but if either is the culprit, there isn't much I can do, as they're integral parts of my motherboard.

Fortunately, like I said, the drop-outs only happen when playing mp3s. None of my other audio apps--Acid 7, Renoise 3.5, SoundForge 10, Cakewalk Sonar 8, or Ableton Live 8--are affected, so I guess I'll just have to live with the constant skipping.

Incidentally, I have been digging through all the other audio issue threads around here and haven't yet seen anything that seems to be applicable to my problems. I'll check out the ethernet/wireless adapters and drivers and report the results!

D.

 

[PipoDC]

Same problem on Vista

I've got the exact same problem over here on Vista 32-bit. Never had problems until after my recent reinstall. Vista 32-bit fresh install, all updates, latest drivers for every component. I also came to the conclusion that the skipping only happens when I play music while having a browser running. And it does often coincide with a browser rendering (e.g. changing tab in FireFox), but not always.

Also couldn't find a thread about this anywhere else. So I hope we can crack this issue together right here. I'm getting nuts over here, not being able to listen to some decent music while working online. By the way, I also run music production software over here. Maybe a coincidence, but might be worth telling.

--Added--
I don't run the same music production suites as you. I only run Propellerheads Reason 4.0.

 

[burbank53]

Audio Skipping with Chrome, FireFox, IE

Fixed by uninstalling audio driver and restarting PC. Driver was automatically re-installed on restart.
Initially I didn't see the fix in my search.
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I'm getting audio skip or drop out only when a browser is open.

This is a new post for what, apparently, is a old problem. It's a new problem for me and I'm not seeing a fix.

As stated in this thread, I too have determined a direct correlation between browsers and audio output. Browsers: Chrome, FireFox, IE. Audio outputs tried: pls files, mp3 files and ripped CDs. Running mp3s on Windows Media Player, VLC, and Nero results in the same audio skipping when reloading/rendering a browser tab. My desktop PC has an Ethernet connection and no wireless. This seemed to start in August or September 2014. I'm not certain what updates or configuration changes could be the cause.