Realtek, Windows 7 64RTM Crackle/static/popping

[nonews]

Thanks to the contributors on this forum I was able to get the cracking to go away on my Win7x64 system with the Realtek HD audio. This also cured another symptom that I had with playing video in Itunes in which the audio would get further and further behind the video.

After trying several drivers this one change worked for me:

Control Panel --> All Control Panel Items --> Power Options
Select "Change Plan Settings" on the power plan you are using will take you to

Control Panel --> All Control Panel Items --> Power Options --> Edit Plan Settings
Select "Change advanced power settings" which will bring up a Power Options settings box

Expand "Processor power Management"
Expand "Minimum Processor state"
Set to "100%"
Apply That is all.

That worked for me. I later used the DPC Latency Checker tool (mentioned a couple of pages back) to verify that, on my system at least, any setting below 70% caused high DPC latency and a return of cracking and delays.

This issue came close to making me ditch Win7 and go back to XP. This thread lead me to the solution.

Thanks

Using realtek R2.34 drivers C2D E8400 on G31 gigabyte MB

 

[DBruce49]

BIOS change worked

I had the static/scratching sound whenever IE opened a new window and the sound didn't work at all or produced non-stop scratching. What solved the problem was setting the internal sound card to ENABLE from AUTO. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[octane097]

Expand "Processor power Management"
Expand "Minimum Processor state"
Set to "100%"
Apply That is all.

I'm really glad to hear this worked for you. For me, this is not the case. The only way to make the popping disappear is to exit uTorrent and restart it. My DPC Latency will stay in the green, and I won't have popping, for a few hours. It will come back, and I'll have to do the same thing again. ****ty workaround but it will have to suffice.

 

[nonews]

Expand "Processor power Management"
Expand "Minimum Processor state"
Set to "100%"
Apply That is all.

I'm really glad to hear this worked for you. For me, this is not the case. The only way to make the popping disappear is to exit uTorrent and restart it. My DPC Latency will stay in the green, and I won't have popping, for a few hours. It will come back, and I'll have to do the same thing again. ****ty workaround but it will have to suffice.

Yes is a just a work around as is my solution. Even is I eliminate Processor Power Management as a source of problems, some other condition that I haven't encountered yet may still cause DPC latency issues.

As a follow-up I discovered I can also LOWER the Maximum Processor State to equal the Min Processor state and still get no DPC latency issues. On my setup, at least, Windows 7 Processor Power Management is triggering or causing the latency issues that I assume is causing the audio problems. (Does everyone with the cracking audio problem have DPC latency issues?)

I don't recall having this problem on the Beta or RC. So what changed? Are more things causing latency problems or is the audio system (Windows or Realtek parts) now just more susceptible to the latency problems?

 

[belikexp]

After trying several drivers this one change worked for me:

Control Panel --> All Control Panel Items --> Power Options
Select "Change Plan Settings" on the power plan you are using will take you to

Control Panel --> All Control Panel Items --> Power Options --> Edit Plan Settings
Select "Change advanced power settings" which will bring up a Power Options settings box

Expand "Processor power Management"
Expand "Minimum Processor state"
Set to "100%"
Apply That is all.

Interesting. All I see on my system is System Cooling Policy. I'm curious how to see the two seetinngs you have "Processor power Management" and "Minimum Processor state".
(I have no issues just curious)

 

[nonews]

After trying several drivers this one change worked for me:

Control Panel --> All Control Panel Items --> Power Options
Select "Change Plan Settings" on the power plan you are using will take you to

Control Panel --> All Control Panel Items --> Power Options --> Edit Plan Settings
Select "Change advanced power settings" which will bring up a Power Options settings box

Expand "Processor power Management"
Expand "Minimum Processor state"
Set to "100%"
Apply That is all.

Interesting. All I see on my system is System Cooling Policy. I'm curious how to see the two seetinngs you have "Processor power Management" and "Minimum Processor state".
(I have no issues just curious)

Did you turn off Cool'n'Quiet in the BIOS?

 

[nonews]

Other data points

My old Venice Core Athlon64 system running Win7x64 RC has no DPC latency issues with Windows 7 Processor Power Management changing the CPU clock and voltage.

On my C2D systems running Win7x64, only disabling C1E did not stop the DPC latency problems. Disabling EIST did prevent DPC issues no matter the windows 7 PPM setting. Disabling HPET lowered latency a small amount but by itself did not prevent latency issues.

I looked at a fresh install of the RC on the C2D system. The latency was just as high but there were fewer cracks in the audio using the audio driver included with the Win7 RC. They were there still. Again. not allowing windows PPM made the DPC latency reduce to the sub 100uS level where there were no problems.

The DPC latency does seem to be the main issue but some audio drivers are more forgiving than others.

 

[belikexp]

Yes I did. I've had Cool'n'Quiet turned on in the past but I didn't notice any problems.

 

[SethG911]

Realtek just pushed some new drivers for their NICs to Windows 7 Update this morning. I suggest running windows update, they will be under the "optional" section, look for Realtek - Network - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. Like I mentioned in my last post, it seems to be a conflict between NICs and other hardware that causes the high DPC latency. Download and install these drivers to see if it helps.

 

[octane097]

Realtek just pushed some new drivers for their NICs to Windows 7 Update this morning. I suggest running windows update, they will be under the "optional" section, look for Realtek - Network - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. Like I mentioned in my last post, it seems to be a conflict between NICs and other hardware that causes the high DPC latency. Download and install these drivers to see if it helps.

Don't see it. I updated mine manually a few days ago to 7.11.1127.2009 (11/27/2009). What version is this one?

I agree with you 100% it's definitely a conflict with the NIC. I did buy a standalone Rosewill NIC (which uses a Realtek chip) and had the same high DPC Latency problem!!

See this thread

I found that restarting utorrent is a quick temporary fix.

 

[AaronDude]

I've tried it all, uninstalling programs, terminating processes, reinstalling windows 7 and disabling devices. I've learned that disabling usb devices can really mess up your computer to where you can't use the usb ports anymore and the disable and enable disappear in the menu. Yes, I've tried reinstalling and uninstalling the drivers for them(and everything else for that matter in hopes to fix the DPC Latency issue). Thankfully a restore to an earlier point worked and the usb port now works again but I can't disable it now still though(not that I would want to now that I know what happens).

Acer really has me boiling. After all the trouble of packing up the computer and sending it to them and when I get it back the only thing they did was test it? I think it's their problem now (not windows 7). There is definitely something wrong with how they built this computer. It's an Aspire M3802 desktop. I spent 700 bucks on this darn thing a couple months ago just so I could enjoy music, videos and the occasional game and this can do none of it well because of this stupid dpc latency problem. Here's how it looks after about an hour of use just surfing the interweb with firefox or listening to music. When I first start up it hovers around the 200 to 450 mark usually but it gets worse. Any other ideas? should I just file a complaint with the BBB? I guess I will have to keep this junky machine because no one will take it back or fix it. I could just use my laptop if all I wanted to do was microsoft word and web surfing. Didn't need to buy this machine if I knew that's all I could do with it.

 

[Frostmourne]

Probably why you should also build a new PC - it would have been cheaper. Can you check msinfo32.exe and the IRQ's - from IRQ 1-24 are there any devices that are sharing the IRQ with your audio controller?

 

[AaronDude]

You should of built me one. Seriously, I do not know how to build computers. I can't even install a pci card right. that's why I got one of these cookie cutter ones. No one in my family knows how to build computers and I don't have friends that can build them or any friends for that matter. I was considering cyberpowerpc and ava direct but they get a lot of bad reviews and the computers supposedly often arive in not working condition and not fully assembled. I was also considering maxforcepc but the unprofessional website made me think twice. I was talked out of dell and hp and I kind of wish I went with my gut and got an HP. Someone just said to me though get something with the specs you want and you'll be ok with any brand. I took that and that's what I did and this is what happened

 

[Frostmourne]

You should of built me one. Seriously, I do not know how to build computers. I can't even install a pci card right. that's why I got one of these cookie cutter ones. No one in my family knows how to build computers and I don't have friends that can build them or any friends for that matter. I was considering cyberpowerpc and ava direct but they get a lot of bad reviews and the computers supposedly often arive in not working condition and not fully assembled. I was also considering maxforcepc but the unprofessional website made me think twice. I was talked out of dell and hp and I kind of wish I went with my gut and got an HP. Someone just said to me though get something with the specs you want and you'll be ok with any brand. I took that and that's what I did and this is what happened

Well, can you check the IRQ's?

 

[AaronDude]

Here's what it says, I don't have a clue what it means.

 

[Frostmourne]

Its sharing the GPU and is also on another IRQ. YOu could try disabling the onboard sound in the BIOS, rebooting, then reboot back into the BIOS and reenable sound - this may force 7 to reassign the IRQ.

 

[AaronDude]

Hey thanks for helping me out . I've tried disabling the onboard sound in the BIOS(I forget how to even access the bios though I think it's either del or f2) before I sent this to acer and used a external creative usb sound card and it still did that after about an hour. Heck, I'm using the creative sound card adapter thing now and it still has those latency issues(however I didn't disable the onboard sound like I did before). Should I give it another go anyway?

 

[Frostmourne]

Unplug all cards, disable sound, reboot, then reboot and enable sound.

 

[AaronDude]

ok, I did it wrong the first time. This time I unplugged all the cards(the creative) entered that boot software and disabled sound, restarted and enabled the sound. It looks like it didn't change. Anyway this is how the DPC latency checker looks on a fresh restart and here is also the IRQs after doing that

 

[Frostmourne]

I'd return the PC - I have Realtek onboard for my desktop and laptop - both fully updated and both work fine. I only some corruption in one level in Bioshock for a few min. Never again though. Have you updated your other drivers? I'd return the PC.