Solved WMC Audio dropouts

[Mikesin]

Built my replacement MC PC January this year having retired my original ageing setup.

Asrock H77M i5 with 4GB memory, 500GB SSD for o/s and 500GB sata drive for data (Recorded TV/Music/Photos). Win 7 Home Premium with no non-Microsoft add ons

PC is only used for FTA TV and recordings - does have a large music library and photo library but these are not showing any problems. No sure when this problem started buthave had it for a couple of weeks at least.

After MC has been loaded (even if left in stop status i.e. not doing live TV or anything) it will start having 0.5 second audio dropouts but they are at randoms intervals - i have counted 20 secs, 40 secs and even longer between occurenceswhen I start watching TV. This can happen on playback of recorded TV but it has not been recorded with the problemr because a rewind/replay does not have the hiccup in the same place. A restart of Win 7 will clear the problem - just restarting WMC will not - but at some stage it returns.

CPU utilisation is around 6%, has about 66 processes running which seems normal. Apart from Win 7, I have Teamviewer for remote control and PLEX but neither of these are being used when the problem is active - have never noticed problem when watching internet TV through the PC i.e. football on SKY via IE or Chrome.


All drivers are up to date - sound is via integrated audio with microsoft drivers. SFC /scannow no errors found and CCleaner used on registry to eliminate errors.

PC is connected to Samsung smart TV via HDMI and am using TV speakers.

I did have AVG installed but removed it as the likelyhood of getting a virus is low as I do not have email on the setup and internet is only used for SKY footy.

I have tried watching Task Manager process monitor for CPU , Memory and disk when problem is occuring but cannot see any glitches.

Have thought about installing codecs from another source but not sure which to install.

Anyone with ideas on what to try next ?

Thanks

 

[rvcjew]

Install Latency mon and see if your DPC latency is very high. And also install the drivers for your motherboard sound.
http://www.resplendence.com/download/LatencyMon.exe
Latest Realtek HD Audio Driver Version

Malcolm

 

[fireberd]

Along with what has been suggested,

sound is via integrated audio with microsoft drivers

says you only have the generic, basic function, Windows installed sound drivers, not the correct sound hardware drivers.

Only 2GB of RAM potentially can be an issue.

If you are connected wireless that is a common source of audio dropouts.

 

[Mikesin]

DPC latency checker shows green with "absolute maximum" of 440us but average is below 100us - no visible increase when dropout occurs.

Will dig out Asrock disk to see if it has audio driver. No wireless adapter

thanks

 

[rvcjew]

Along with what has been suggested, says you only have the generic, basic function, Windows installed sound drivers, not the correct sound hardware drivers.

Only 2GB of RAM potentially can be an issue.

If you are connected wireless that is a common source of audio dropouts.

Oh yeah did not catch that 2GB could definitely be bottle necking that system.

Also Mikesin what model is your OS SSD?

Malcolm

 

[Mikesin]

Installed Realtek audio driver for Win7 64bit - think this may be solution - will know by end of day. I actually have 4GB memory - my mistake (thinking of old system) - using a Crucial CT525M SSD .
I uninstalled Realtek after fiddling with setup to try and get 4 CH stereo working to my analogue hi fi system - forgot I had done that- doh !

 

[rvcjew]

Installed Realtek audio driver for Win7 64bit - think this may be solution - will know by end of day. I actually have 4GB memory - my mistake (thinking of old system) - using a Crucial CT525M SSD .
I uninstalled Realtek after fiddling with setup to try and get 4 CH stereo working to my analogue hi fi system - forgot I had done that- doh !

Let us know how it goes with the right drivers then, best of luck.

Malcolm

 

[Mikesin]

Installed realtek this morning but still had problem -just been into control panel and changed default devicein sound managr from Speakers to top TV icon and will monitor behaviour

 

[Mikesin]

Still getting dropouts - frequency variable. Have uploaded system specs and have a .csv file from hardwinfo - what to do with it ?

Thanks

 

[rvcjew]

Is your power profile in windows set to high performance, I would check that first.

Malcolm

 

[Mikesin]

Was set to power saver - changed to high perf - however haven't had any dropouts for several hours so may take a while before I post result -thanks

UPDATE - no problems for 24 hours so think this is a result. I think I changed the power profile because I was concerned about temperatures of processor etc and didn't realy know if I had enough cooling - as a byproduct of this problem resolution I now have HWINFO that lets me see in realtime what is happening as regards core temperatures etc - double result
Many thanks Malcom

Mike

 

[milafiero]

cool.... any update?

 

[rvcjew]

Was set to power saver - changed to high perf - however haven't had any dropouts for several hours so may take a while before I post result -thanks

UPDATE - no problems for 24 hours so think this is a result. I think I changed the power profile because I was concerned about temperatures of processor etc and didn't realy know if I had enough cooling - as a byproduct of this problem resolution I now have HWINFO that lets me see in realtime what is happening as regards core temperatures etc - double result
Many thanks Malcom

Mike

Glad to hear it. What were the temps you think were to hot?

Malcolm