Realtek, Windows 7 64RTM Crackle/static/popping

[Solved]

Yup, sorry about the double post. I hadn't noticed that it needed to be screened first.

Yup, thats' all i wanted to say. This forum seems to be "THEE" lead place to go to diagnose realtek 'crackling' issues.

Thanks again

 

[AaronDude]

Yeah so I just got a new computer to replace that pile of junk acer I got late last year. Like i've said before I'm done with that machine after sending it in five times for the same problem.

Anyway because I think most of our sound problems are caused by a crappy wifi card or something of the sort(although that acer had bigger problems than that) I thought I would bring up the dpc latency thing. Now I do not exactly know what it means although when it gets in the red at 6,000 to 7,000 us(what's a 'us' anyway?) I notice that the CPU will spike at 100% when I look at it in task manager.

Let me tell you I am completely paranoid now that I had that problem with the acer. It was so bad on the acer it would be off the charts constantly until the computer just slowed to a crawl. So anywho I fire up the DPC latency checker on this new computer and look at it a lot just to see how bad it is. I found out that on my new computer a HP Compaq look here for the specs: Amazon.com: Compaq Presario CQ61-410US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black):… (although I didn't get it from amazon)the wireless card causes spikes in the 5,000 to 7,000 ranges for about four to eight seconds. However when I turn it off it stays under 100 mostly with a spike in the 1,000 to 2,000 range every 15 to thirty seconds. I have no idea what causes those little spikes however even after shutting down many processes that are not needed to run the computer.

Ok now because I'm paranoid about this I got to ask. Is this ok? I do not notice any garbled sound or major video skips. I did before when I had utorrent running (it actually brought the latency down for some reason while downloaded and uploading on utorrent) but the sound and video would skip every once in a while with utorrent running. Is this dpc latency checker program not fool proof and it's not necessarily showing what's going on? The way I understand it, this measures the traffic and load on the processor and how long it takes for something to arrive at its destination? I really don't understand how it really works even when I keep re reading the documents on that website.

Should I just forget about it and enjoy my new computer? I'm guessing there is nothing wrong with it at all and that's just the way computers are now? My other gateway laptop that I've had for about five years tends to hover around the 1,000 mark no matter what(even when doing other things although I know you're not supposed to check it like that) unless I disable wifi then it goes down to about 200 for a second and back to 1,000 every other second. In fact it stays so close I wonder if the DPC latency checker is even working on it.

the important thing is that it's not acting stupid right?

 

[Elwoodch]

SOLVED

On a gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H I disabled all my 'unlocked' cores. Ridiculously, I had tried this yesterday to no avail. But, for some reason or another, it decided to work today. I have no idea why.

My suggestion is to disable your unlocked cores and reboot several times as well as verify that they have been disabled with 3rd party software.

This had nothing to do with Realtek HD and everything to do with my unlocked core. I know when you're on the other side of it not working, you want to blame it all on realtek. That's what I did. But, now that i'm on the 'solved' side, I understand why my audio was *ucked and what the exact source was.

Hello SOLVED. Good that you SOLVED your issue SOLVED...
What do you mean by "unlocked cores" and how you did that?

 

[crypto01]

Disabling C1E and EIST solved my crackles

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'm running an i7-930 with Win7x64, GA-X58A-UD5 mobo.

Haven't changed HPET, but I did disable C1E and EIST -- the result was a reduction in average DPC latency from > 16000us to around 100us ... and goodbye crackles!

Before this, I updated Nvidia and Realtek drivers to latest and removed all Gigabyte software. Toying with the PPM setting does not seem to be a factor for me; it wasn't until I disabled those two BIOS settings that audio played cleanly.

 

[DarrylGittins]

How do you disable disable C1E and EIST?


I think I've tried everything to resolve this:

I've installed all the latest drivers for all components.
Installed the Codec lite pack .
Disabled speaker effects (enhancements).
Twiddled with every imaginable setting in the Sound panel in Windows 7
Turned off Aero to use a basic theme
Uninstalled any energy saving software by asus or any software that is made by asus
Reset the BIOS to the factory default settings.
Flashed the system BIOS to several different versions.
Reinstalled the operating system from ground up.
Tried using several different sound cards, internal and external.
Tried several different nics.
Swapped the Video Card.
I even swapped the MoBo with a similar model.

The only thing that affects the popping is a reboot, which resolves it for a few hours, or disabling the network adapter, which resolved the issue 100%, but I sort of need network access.

It sure seems inherent to Windows 7.

 

[Roberden]

I tried just about everything to get rid of the pops/crackle. I thought I had it beat a couple times only for it to come back on next reboot.

But now it all has gone away (no pops for about three months now so I assume it is for good). How?

I disabled on-board audio in the Bios and installed a Creative X-Fi sound card. Deleted all the Realtek drivers and pops no more!!!

This is an indication that the Realtek hard/software is conflicting with something I could not track down. So 'throw out the baby with the bath water' approach worked for me.

 

[penfold007]

have any of you been using the software that comes with most motherboards to check temps/CPU/memory?
Gigabytes for example is easytune 6, not sure of the names for other board manufacturers. They monitor the board/CPU/Memory ect. When monitoring they check the system every 30 secs or so, and with mine this was the popping sound heard through the Realtek Audio. Luckily on the Easytune there was an option to set the scan interval to off and it solved the problem. Also uninstalling the software solved it.
Its worth a try

 

[Lemur]

SOLVED

On a gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H I disabled all my 'unlocked' cores. Ridiculously, I had tried this yesterday to no avail. But, for some reason or another, it decided to work today. I have no idea why.

My suggestion is to disable your unlocked cores and reboot several times as well as verify that they have been disabled with 3rd party software.

This had nothing to do with Realtek HD and everything to do with my unlocked core. I know when you're on the other side of it not working, you want to blame it all on realtek. That's what I did. But, now that i'm on the 'solved' side, I understand why my audio was *ucked and what the exact source was.

Hello SOLVED. Good that you SOLVED your issue SOLVED...
What do you mean by "unlocked cores" and how you did that?

There's a CPU Core Control in the Bios. You can individually enable/disable cores. This particular mobo is capable of unlocking up to four cores.

 

[Colton]

My static / popping issue = SOLVED

I don't want to jump to conclusions here but as someone who has been at the forefront of this battle, I believe I may have solved this problem and I would like to share with you how i did it.

First off, let me stress, the solution will be different for everyone! (which is why we're seeing different **** working for different people).

The key to solving this problem is to get your DPC Latency under control. It has been mentioned in this thread before but THIS IS THE SOLUTION... the fact that different configurations worked for different people corroborates my theory. For me, it was upgrading certain drivers (chipset, network driver, and my SATA).

Anyway, here's your framework:

1) Get DPC Latency Checker
2) Narrow down which driver is the culprit by disabling a different one every time
3) Upgrade each of your drivers from the manufacturer's site
4) Once you don't have any lag -- all green -- you're good to go!

My hypothesis is windows 7 is more sensitive to DPC latency issues. GOOD LUCK

EDIT: After 48 hour uptime crackling and popping seem to have returned but not nearly at the same levels that they were before. I wish there was a way to stress test. Doesn't anyone have a recommendation on how to do so? Perhaps the best track/video to play to see how bad it is?

EDIT 2: Apparently my DPC is back out of wack AGAIN... which may explain this. Stay tuned! It's being caused by NIC.

Using the DPC Latency Checker I was able to isolate my static noise problem down to the built in wireless card as being the culprit.. Thanks!


I hope this also helps others with their static / popping sounds.. I spent 3 days trying to fix the problem until finally coming across your post; 16 pages into this thread :shock:

 

[cliche]

Agreed - it was DPC latency for me too.
I never posted my findign as I thought it was just me, but the above poster confirms that it is common

 

[Mozenrath]

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that this is Windows 7's fault. Every other operating system that I run on my computer has no crackling or problems with the same sound card. I've used both XP and even evil Vista, and neither of them have this issue. Actually, I'm running Linux right now with PulseAudio and it's working great.

Maybe it's because DirectSound is now emulated? I don't know.

Windows 7 is great, but it's useless to me if the sound is terrible.

 

[xvlvx]

OK... I sorted my stuff... and it was part magic... and part something else

what worked with me is this... my laptop screen broke! and i changed the screen to a new revision... and reinstalled new windows ultimate.. with all basic windows driver.. and it worked! no crackle.. nothing.. i think there was a power leak somewhere and with the new monitor with 59hz

 

[ZokiDame]

Now this is what I did, I realy don't know if that solve the real problem but the poppings and static cracklings are gone (for now). I had Asus tv card installed on my Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit BUT the card itself is uncopatibile with 64 bit versions of windows and in the past I suffered many crashes.However I took out the Card and i thought while my pc was still open I could clean my cooling fans cause there was so much dust on them. I did that and I have no more crackling and popping not even when I am listening (toggling) with WMP and I'm happiest about no slowing system when I watch youtube videos especially HD ones,no crackles no slowing.I don't know which one solved it but I did two things Removing the Asus TV card (for it was uncompatibile), and cleaned dust from cooling fans and thats it.

i'm using latest drivers Nvidia latest video driver 258.96
latest Realtek HD Audio driver R2.51
I had problem with them installed before but after cleaning and removing TV tuner card problem's gone....

 

[windomcat]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for this thread! I do think that it's a bit ridiculous that this thread started in Aug '09 and it's more than a year later and MS has not gotten this fixed. This certainly is not the only thread online about this problem.

I just wanted to throw this out to people. I had originally purchased an HP dm4-1060 and had the ubiquitous crackle/pop/bzzt noise. Uninstalled/reinstalled the sound driver and still had the same problem so figured it may just be bad speakers. Went back to Staples and swapped it for another of the same model. That one had the SAME problem, so I threw up my hands (wanted to throw the computer out the window :devil: but restrained myself ) and got a Dell Inspiron 14R n4010. Still having the problem.

The thing is that the HP has an IDT HD driver and the Dell has a Realtek ALC269Q-GR. Now, I'm only an intermediate techy, but that leads me to believe that it's not a driver/sound card issue. I'm betting (based on what I'm reading) that it's a x64 issue.

Through the pages and pages of this thread, there have been many "fixes" that don't seem to actually fix anything and certainly aren't consistent. For me the good news is that: 1)MANY other people are having this problem, which makes me feel a little less crazy and 2)I can swap back out to the HP which was a system that I liked better

Mostly I just wanted to vent to others who are having the same problem. Also to just throw out there that it's not just a Realtek issue. Thanks!

 

[Barthelemy]

I'm running an i7-930 with Win7x64, GA-X58A-UD5 mobo.

Haven't changed HPET, but I did disable C1E and EIST -- the result was a reduction in average DPC latency from > 16000us to around 100us ... and goodbye crackles!

Before this, I updated Nvidia and Realtek drivers to latest and removed all Gigabyte software. Toying with the PPM setting does not seem to be a factor for me; it wasn't until I disabled those two BIOS settings that audio played cleanly.

That solved the problem, thank you very much.

I still think that it's somehow hardware related.

 

[AaronDude]

I'm running an i7-930 with Win7x64, GA-X58A-UD5 mobo.

Haven't changed HPET, but I did disable C1E and EIST -- the result was a reduction in average DPC latency from > 16000us to around 100us ... and goodbye crackles!

Before this, I updated Nvidia and Realtek drivers to latest and removed all Gigabyte software. Toying with the PPM setting does not seem to be a factor for me; it wasn't until I disabled those two BIOS settings that audio played cleanly.

That solved the problem, thank you very much.

I still think that it's somehow hardware related.

I think you're right about it being hardware. At least it was for me since I even had the problem in linux mint. I'm pretty sure pretty much everyone but a select few are actually having a problem that is windows 7 related. I was unlucky with that expensive acer I bought. This cheapo compaq I bought runs windows 7 perfectly, where as that acer couldn't even handle a youtube video. There is no hiccups in sound or video at all unless I'm using something kind of crappy like VLC media player that needs a better computer. WMP actually works great for everything(and so does media player classic). Games run great too. Now I get spikes about every minute or so for a few bars when I look at that DPC latency checker but they are fairly small and don't effect the performance at all. It's in the 5,000 to 7,000 range whatever that mean. It's caused by the wireless adapter but there's no need to not use it since it doesn't cause a problem. If I'm paranoid though I could just turn it off when playing a game or watching video. I also get a 100% spike in processor useage but again I don't notice any degrading performance so who cares?

I think a lot of the builders out there that are having the problem may be unaware of a compatibility problem with some of the hardware their using. Hell the big computer manufactures even have problems(at least acer). I will never forgive acer though for that massive waste of money and their refusal to even send me a refurbished emachine. Hey that's not asking much since the computer I had was supposed to be many times better than what I was asking for. So guys, I'm warning you to stay away from that company, they'll just keep replacing parts and sending you back a lemon. No replacement policy? sounds like fraud to me.

Anywho when I bought this compaq computer I was pretty careful. I thought that it might be a problem with multi core processors or too much ram or even an nvidia graphics chip or card. So I got back to the basics a (CQ61-410US) AMD sempron processor, 2 gigs of ddr2 ram, ati radeon hd 4200 graphics chip. The specs won't blow you away but I'm glad it works and even for gaming. I'm thinking that things are just getting way to complicated anymore and are actually making computers worse. Obviously though there's millions with high end computers that work great but I'm just kind of paranoid after that bad experience I had. So when I'm shopping for a new computer in three or four years I'll just remember to get the simplest cheapest thing I can. I think it takes a while for technology to mature and a lot of what we're buying isn't needed now or might change drastically in the future anyway. So just buy it when you need it is what I'm thinking.

 

[Draex]

I signed up here in the vain hope of getting this problem rectified.. I play a lot of online games, so Mw2, Wow, Medival2 Total War etc all turn into a horrible nausciating experiance (especially wow with ventrilo working)

I get the same symptons everyone else is stating, crackling/popping/glitchy sound every 5-10 seconds or so.

My PC was built to order by a shop and I returned it and they say there is no issues at all.

I've ran the LPC latency checker and everything once ingame is 16000, but it just suggests disabling everything

My System :

- Intel Quad Core I7 930 Processor clocked at 4.00GHz+
- Corsair H50-1 CPU Watercooling Unit
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel Mainboard
- ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 Graphics Card
- 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 Memory (Triple Channel)
- 2x 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST3500418AS 500GB Configured in RAID 0
- 1x 1TB Samsung F3 7200rpm 32MB Cache Hard Disk Drive For Storage
- Sony 24x Multi-DVD
- Antec Twelve Hundred Full Tower Gaming Case
- Antec CP850W Silent Modular Power Supply Unit
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System

I'm really at a loss what to do bar buy a seperate sound card, disable all onboard sound and use that.

Any suggestions would be muchly appreciated.

 

[AaronDude]

if you're going off the charts during gameplay getting another soundcard will probably not fix your problem. Does it look ok during idleing though? I'd say with short spikes not going past 7,000 or 8,000 at idle would be ok. At least my compaq still works great even when getting those spikes from the wireless card. Personally I think you're computer is too loaded with too much expensive hardware. With all that I imagine it's a hardware problem. My only suggestion to you is to simplify. I did that and I actually got a better performing machine then one that's supposed to be many times better. To be sure try another OS like linux mint or something.

I know you probably spent thousands though. Maybe you could work out something with the builder? If they're honest and you showed them screenshots of the latency checker and explained what you think is happening to them they might be able to fix it or get you another computer. If not get a lawyer. For me I figured it would cost to much to fight the outfit that sold me mine.

 

[Draex]

if you're going off the charts during gameplay getting another soundcard will probably not fix your problem. Does it look ok during idleing though? I'd say with short spikes not going past 7,000 or 8,000 at idle would be ok. At least my compaq still works great even when getting those spikes from the wireless card. Personally I think you're computer is too loaded with too much expensive hardware. With all that I imagine it's a hardware problem. My only suggestion to you is to simplify. I did that and I actually got a better performing machine then one that's supposed to be many times better. To be sure try another OS like linux mint or something.

I know you probably spent thousands though. Maybe you could work out something with the builder? If they're honest and you showed them screenshots of the latency checker and explained what you think is happening to them they might be able to fix it or get you another computer. If not get a lawyer. For me I figured it would cost to much to fight the outfit that sold me mine.

When ideling its all sub 60 green latency, when ingame 16000+ Using another OS really isn't an option. I'll speak to the computer shop on Friday and see what they say, but they aren't exactly helpfull.

 

[Aphelion]

When ideling its all sub 60 green latency, when ingame 16000+ Using another OS really isn't an option. I'll speak to the computer shop on Friday and see what they say, but they aren't exactly helpfull.

Shouldn't be that hard to troubleshoot.

You've installed the latest Realtek audio drivers of course.
As well as the most recent Realtek Lan drivers.
And made sure the BIOS is the most recent.

Disable HPET in the BIOS. (as a test)

What is "Gigabyte's 333 Onboard Acceleration".

Ap