Distorted and crackling audio

[spatt1104]

I've recently noticed that the sound coming through my speakers is heavily distorted and crackly. It's not the speakers themselves; they have been tested. I thought that the port might be loose, but it happens with anything plugged into the front jack as well. The Audio Troubleshooter from Microsoft claims no issues; I have attempted to uninstall and then reinstall the latest Realtek HD Audio drivers, and seen no improvements. I'm at a loss as to what else it could be.

A .txt file of my Speccy output is attached.

Thanks!

 

[Wordsworth]

This can be a frustrating problem to find a solution. I once had the problem with an old Creative sound card and a driver update resolved it. That was the easy solution. The harder diagnosis is with interference. You may have interference coming into your system from elsewhere, or it may be internal or coming from the motherboard itself. You can look at the problems others have had at this link to see how some found it frustrating to diagnose and solve.

I would first try removing possible sources of interference. What other devices do you have connected to the power strip the computer is plugged into? If you have a phone, printer, or scanner plugged into the same power strip, plug them into another strip or a different circuit altogether in your home. You also may try shutting down the system and making certain all internal cards and wires are firmly connected. Over time some things can work themselves loose somewhat especially if you've recently moved the system for any reason.

Hope this helps lead you to an idea that will resolve the problem. Good luck.

 

[spatt1104]

I tried unplugging the All-In-One printer from the power strip shared by the speaker system, PC tower and Monitor; this made no difference. Everything inside the tower seems secure and as it should be. I can't figure it out.

 

[Wordsworth]

When did you first notice this occurring? Can you think of anything you may have changed recently on the system, for example the graphic card drivers? Do you have access to an audio card that you could install and then disable the onboard audio to see if this would resolve the issue? Also, the simplest of things which you've probably already done, check all of your volume controls (your media player,Windows volume mixer, Realtek). I wouldn't have any of them above 75%.

I've upgraded sound and graphic cards many times and with Creative cards found that the order of installation of drivers could have this effect. Whenever installing a new audio card I'd need to do the opposite of what I considered the normal order and install the Creative audio driver before the graphic card driver (one reason I left Creative products, too many oddities and bugs). Anyway, you might try uninstalling both your graphic and audio drivers then installing the audio first, leaving the generic Windows graphic driver to do the graphics while testing to see how the sound on the system is.

 

[spatt1104]

I don't have access to a audio card to test that; I'll try reinstalling the graphics and audio drivers to make sure.

 

[fireberd]

Do you have a wired or Wi-Fi internet connection? Wi-Fi has been one of the known causes of popping and crackling audio.

 

[spatt1104]

Wifi; I unplugged the adapter to see if that made a difference, and it did not. I've uninstalled my audio and video completely, then reinstalled using the latest Realtek and AMD drivers (in that order), and still have the problem - a hissing, crackling noise in the background of videos and games, and straight up distortion on any other sounds. Short of going out and buying a sound card, I'm out of ideas.

 

[fireberd]

Although it may not make a difference, disable the Wi-Fi adapter in the Device Manager and see if that makes any difference.

Unfortunately there is no "one fix" for the problem. Drivers can be a cause, Wi-Fi can be a cause, power supply can cause this, etc.

 

[spatt1104]

The only other thing I can think of is maybe an issue with the jack port itself. I should maybe also mention that it only crackles and distorts sound coming from the right speaker, not the left one. Moving the speaker has no effect. The two speakers are connected by a wire.

 

[fireberd]

With this additional information, it would appear to be a front panel jack problem. Or, possibly the connection from the front panel to the motherboard. Reseat (with the PC powered off, unplug then plug back in) the motherboard connector for the front panel audio and see if that helps.

 

[spatt1104]

I reseated all the connectors to the front panel, since I'm not sure which is the front panel audio. That had no effect.

 

[Wordsworth]

In your first post you said that this happens with anything plugged into the front panel as well. By "anything" I take it that you plugged the speaker system into the front panel and still had the distortion. Since you've now said the distortion comes from just the one channel I would say you could have a wiring problem, or other problem with that speaker.

Where the wiring is concerned, it could be the wire connecting the two speakers, or it could be the wiring inside the speaker system plug itself. On the plug itself there would be a right channel ring, and a left channel ring, then inside the plug assembly a wire attached to a connector for each of these channels. I think it rare, but it's possible this inside connection has come lose. If you're not comfortable working with wires (to splice into and re-solder etc.) you might have someone else take a look at it who you know likes goofing around with things electronic.

 

[spatt1104]

It's not the speakers themselves. I've tried several sets (I have a few lying around, God knows why...) plugged into the rear panel connector and the front panel connector. I've also tried headphones in both jacks. It certainly seems to be coming only from the right speaker / headphone channel, but it could just be alot quieter from the left channel.

 

[Wordsworth]

Well I suspect you're like most of us around here in that many of us here have old speaker systems, headphones, and a ton of old computer parts lying about as well.

When you said "anything" I wondered if you had checked this problem with other output systems and my theory was awash. This is one of those tough ones to diagnose and I would be back to interference within the system but the single channel thing is bothersome; interference, whether coming internally or externally from the computer, in my experience, would produce distortion in all speakers (I have a 5.1 system) if they are enabled and not in strict stereo mode.

I'm out of things to look at for the moment but if I think of something I'll get back with you, and if you do find a resolution let us know here so we can mark it as resolved and perhaps help others who may be stumped.

 

[Wordsworth]

One thing more but I doubt this is the problem, in your sound software disable the Line out, mic out, and digital audio out. Sometimes any of these can cause problems.

 

[fireberd]

One thing to try, since it apparently only affects one channel. You should have a Left/Right balance control. As its coming out the Right channel, move the balance all the way to Left. You should then only get audio from the left channel. See if there is any noise there.

 

[spatt1104]

Altering the balance to the left cuts out all the crackling and distortion. I checked my settings, and everything else is disabled apart from the speakers.

 

[fireberd]

OK. That says it is internal to the PC and most likely a problem with the sound chip. If this is still in warranty, contact ACER. If its out of warranty, consider using a separate sound card and disabling the internal.