Audio/Video Glitch During Any Kind of Playback

[TheStormPow]

Hello.

I have had this Windows 7 laptop for about a year and a half now, and ever since Monday (August 1st) I have been experiencing problems.

Basically, ever since then I have noticed a recurring problem during audio/video playback, in which it will occasionally stutter. I often listen to music while browsing the internet, and so this problem gets very noticeable.
I can determine that it is not the files I am listening to, since it seems to happen during any kind of playback - In Windows Media Player, Spotify, and even YouTube browsing.

What's even more strange is that sometimes, while recording my voice (I do so quite often) I noticed the recording becoming ruined due to this problem. Here is a small audio sample that shows what happened:
Messed Up Audio Sample
(Right about where I talk about Diablo)


However during playback, instead of a speeding up, it's more of a grinding/stuttering/slowing down in the audio and video. I can even notice my mouse stuttering and glitching when this happens.

This makes all of my recordings useless, and my job involves recording, so I simply must fix this problem. Ever since noticing the problem wasn't going to alleviate itself on August 2nd, I have been searching heavily for a solution.



Please do not suggest that my computer is not powerful enough to take playback; I have been doing this same thing ever since I got the computer (over a year ago) and have only recently been experiencing problems.



I will say this; on Monday I did have a small virus encounter with the Win 7 Security 2012 thing, the rogue antivirus. Luckily I was able to get rid of it very quickly with Malwarebytes.
I have already used CCleaner to fix any registry problems.
I only say this because I'm not sure if it will help someone figure out exactly what my problem is. However I am fairly certain that it's not another virus; I do regular scans that haven't found anything else.


I can't figure out what might be causing this, as it happens randomly. I have done countless things, including (but not necessarily limited to; I may have forgotten things):

-Updating my graphics/sound/chipset drivers
-Disabling Avast (thinking that maybe it was scanning every media file I was opening)
-Defragmenting my computer (this caused me to not be able to do a system restore to Jul31, which was going to be my backup plan)
-Getting new versions of Shockwave and Flash

If anything may be connected to it, I'm thinking possibly internet usage in general. Last night I noticed that the problem happened more often once I had Skype open, and even more often as I was loading something large online. However I of course can't guarantee that's the problem.


Please give me some guidance here. I do not have the money to buy another computer, and (as I said earlier) my job depends on this computer to be capable of watching and making media.

Thank you.

 

[TheStormPow]

Sorry, for the double post, however I think I have an update on the situation.

I disconnected my internet and watched some videos (ones I had stored on my computer, which required no active connection to view them) and had no problems. I then reconnected and watched them, and had some occasional problems.

So basically I'm saying that I am now 90% sure the problem lies somewhere within my internet, however I don't know exactly what is wrong.

 

[Gornot]

I don't know how your internet connection can influence your sound, unless you have integrated sound, then my first guess would be: the motherboard. However, that sounds a bit dramatic.

Did you try updating the network drivers, if any?

 

[TheStormPow]

As I said in the OP, I updated my chipset drivers.. Not sure if that's what you meant necessarily. And remember that this isn't just sound, it's also the video.

 

[Gornot]

I don't really know what to tell you. Perhaps the problem with this rogue AV and its removal screwed up something.

Did you notice that AV before august 1st? If not, you can try and do a system restore to a point before August 1st; so both the problem and the AV problem.

 

[TheStormPow]

I know for sure that the rogue showed up on Aug1.

And as stated in the OP, I defragmented my computer (thinking that it was possibly a RAM issue) which unfortunately deleted all of my restore points, making it to where I can't seem to go back. If you happen to know some way to go further on older points (at least Jul31) then that would help, though I don't think it's possible.

 

[Gornot]

Me neither...
Well, let me see if I can get someone else to read the thread and post; if not, you may have to resort to reinstalling the OS.

At one point I thought of sfc /scannow but I'm not sure if that would help you, as this cmd command looks for corrupted and patched system files (like the ones needed to be patched in order to use third-party themes) and tries to restore them to their previous state.

 

[MvdB]

I know for sure that the rogue showed up on Aug1.

And as stated in the OP, I defragmented my computer (thinking that it was possibly a RAM issue) which unfortunately deleted all of my restore points, making it to where I can't seem to go back. If you happen to know some way to go further on older points (at least Jul31) then that would help, though I don't think it's possible.

Please explain further. You might be using incorrect terminology and that would confuse us when we try to help.

Defragmentation is a term used for the defrag of data on the harddisk, no relationship with RAM whatsoever, other than the indirect relationship, possibly of the paging file and its performance.

Defragmentation also does NOT influence restore points. If you lost those, it must have been through some other action. Previous versions of files: frequently asked questions

Or maybe you used non standard tools to optimize your system, including defrag, that did more than they were meant to.

A bad lan connection, either HW-wise or contentwise, could cause the difference in performance or functionality that you describe however.

A next step to try to isolate that is to use your preferred method, any will do, to monitor network traffic while you play a video and see if peaks in traffic match your glitches. Same way, check CPU usage at the moment of those peaks.

If you need any help on that, please post back.

 

[TheStormPow]

At one point I thought of sfc /scannow but I'm not sure if that would help you, as this cmd command looks for corrupted and patched system files (like the ones needed to be patched in order to use third-party themes) and tries to restore them to their previous state.

I did the sfc /scannow and it said "Windows Resource Protection found some corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them".
It also said "Details are included in the CBS.log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log"

And now the command prompt is acting like I should input another command.

I tried to open the log, however I got an "Access denied" error and couldn't open it.

So should I restart it to put whatever fixes it supposedly did fix into place, or is there something I can do to fix the ones it couldn't?

Defragmentation is a term used for the defrag of data on the harddisk, no relationship with RAM whatsoever, other than the indirect relationship, possibly of the paging file and its performance.

Defragmentation also does NOT influence restore points. If you lost those, it must have been through some other action. Previous versions of files: frequently asked questions

Or maybe you used non standard tools to optimize your system, including defrag, that did more than they were meant to.

Well I used the standard "Disk Defragmenter" application that's been in my Win7 ever since I got it. Unless the virus I had deleted my restore points, I don't know what else would have.

A bad lan connection, either HW-wise or contentwise, could cause the difference in performance or functionality that you describe however.

Well, there haven't been any changes that I know of to our connection that would cause this problem. And it would be awfully coincidental if our lan somehow caused a problem on the same day that a bug on my computer came around.

Just do further elaborate on my current situation with the internet..
In one room we have our DSL modem (Motorola) and a wireless router (Netgear). There is a desktop in that room running directly off of the modem.
Then there are two laptops, one is mine and the other is my sister's. Both of our laptops have built-in wifi adapters of course, picking up on the signal. As far as I've heard, her laptop isn't having any issues, nor is the desktop.

A next step to try to isolate that is to use your preferred method, any will do, to monitor network traffic while you play a video and see if peaks in traffic match your glitches. Same way, check CPU usage at the moment of those peaks.

Well I assume that using Task Manager is sufficient for something like this?
This picture should show what's going on; I'm not really noticing any particular differences while watching video and not (during both screencaps, the only network-involved thing that was running was Firefox, but it wasn't even loading anything at the time).

 

[MvdB]

SFC should always work. I'm not sure if it should solve your original problem yet... but I am sure something is wrong if SFC cannot finish successfully. It means that basic W7 files/drivers are not fixable and that is never a good thing.

How exactly did you run SFC? As admin?

Run a system file check to verify and repair your system files.
To do this type cmd in search, then right click to run as administrator, then
SFC /SCANNOW

Read here for more information http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

If this does not work, reboot in Safe mode and do the same.

 

[TheStormPow]

Thanks for the reply.

I originally didn't run cmd as admin, but it wouldn't do the scan period and told me to try as admin. I closed it, opened as admin, it did the scan (which took a few minutes) and then gave me those results. So I should go into Safe Mode and try it?

 

[MvdB]

Yes, I would.
A second way could also be by using a full admin login: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html

Try Safe mode first though, that limits the list of possibilities to mostly W7 stuff vs third party software.

 

[TITL]

Resolved?

Was this issue resolved? I am experiencing a somewhat similar issue. My audio glitches at random, both when i use my Speakers (I have Realtek high Definition Audio (don't know what to call it)), and when i am using my USB headphones with it's own soundcard.

EDIT: I have tried updating my sound driver.

 

[MvdB]

I don't know. The OP did not post back to confirm.

 

[TheStormPow]

For people such as TILT who may be wondering, my issue is supposedly solved.

I was frustrated with spending a week trying to fix it to no avail, so I sought professional help. I took it down to a place called CPR which stands for "Cell Phone Repair". Unlike their name suggests, they fix just about anything - they fixed my iPods audio jack some months ago.

Anyway, after about a week, they claim to have fixed it. They told me they reinstalled all my codecs, and found some malware and more registry errors on my computer. I'm getting it back tomorrow.
Google search for a CPR near you - they're one of the few few tech suport/repair places that actually know what they're doing.
Though if you're determined to fix it yourself, I would do extensive scans (Malwarebytes/Spybot S&D) and possibly look at codecs.

 

[TITL]

thx for the response. i think i fixed my issue, by plugging my internet cable out and in again.

 

[MvdB]

For people such as TILT who may be wondering, my issue is supposedly solved.

I was frustrated with spending a week trying to fix it to no avail, so I sought professional help. I took it down to a place called CPR which stands for "Cell Phone Repair". Unlike their name suggests, they fix just about anything - they fixed my iPods audio jack some months ago.

Anyway, after about a week, they claim to have fixed it. They told me they reinstalled all my codecs, and found some malware and more registry errors on my computer. I'm getting it back tomorrow.
Google search for a CPR near you - they're one of the few few tech suport/repair places that actually know what they're doing.
Though if you're determined to fix it yourself, I would do extensive scans (Malwarebytes/Spybot S&D) and possibly look at codecs.

If they do not have a good story on what they did to get SFC to finish... I'd have a hard time believing them. Bad codecs cannot block SFC. If they claim it is malware.... I'd really like to know what malware they think blocked SFC from running in admin/safe mode. But of course I hope they are right and that you get a working system back....

 

[TheStormPow]

For people such as TILT who may be wondering, my issue is supposedly solved.

I was frustrated with spending a week trying to fix it to no avail, so I sought professional help. I took it down to a place called CPR which stands for "Cell Phone Repair". Unlike their name suggests, they fix just about anything - they fixed my iPods audio jack some months ago.

Anyway, after about a week, they claim to have fixed it. They told me they reinstalled all my codecs, and found some malware and more registry errors on my computer. I'm getting it back tomorrow.
Google search for a CPR near you - they're one of the few few tech suport/repair places that actually know what they're doing.
Though if you're determined to fix it yourself, I would do extensive scans (Malwarebytes/Spybot S&D) and possibly look at codecs.

If they do not have a good story on what they did to get SFC to finish... I'd have a hard time believing them. Bad codecs cannot block SFC. If they claim it is malware.... I'd really like to know what malware they think blocked SFC from running in admin/safe mode. But of course I hope they are right and that you get a working system back....

SCF wasn't their priority; they never mentioned anything about it to me. Codecs could have been related to my original problem, not the SCF thing, nor did they say it would fix the SCF thing.

And about the malware, as I said in the OP, I had an encounter with some malware right before the problem showed up.

And as for an update... After listening to some music, the problem is still here.
I've called CPR and they said they're going to be able to talk to me tomorrow (the technician isn't there), but I'm fairly angry. I will probably send it back tomorrow or Saturday.

 

[MvdB]

I would make SFC their priority... Honestly, if sfc fails.... It is absolute proof basic Windows files are messed up. That HAS to be fixed for your system to function again, either by sfc or by repair installs or by proof that some hardware is failing. In that case, after fixing hardware, SFC MUST run smoothly without error or something is still wrong.

If you've told them about sfc failing and they don't bother about it.... Start doubting their expertise. If unsure whether I'm right? Ask any MVP in the BSOD squad. Or ask Microsoft direct....

 

[TheStormPow]

I just ran Windows in safe-mode, opened the command prompt, and tried the SFC thing again, yet to no avail. I still got the same error....

So would you assume there's a hardware issue (unlikely, seeing as this problem showed up right after the virus encounter; though that could have just been all coincidental, though I would like to think it's related), or are you thinking a full reinstall of Windows would help?
I mean, I don't want to have to wipe my computer and lose my files if it's not necessary, but if that's what I have to do I'll do it.