Realtek Audio crackle/pop

[.Im#NuMBeR1]

Hey people.

 

So for the last few months I've had issues with my Realtek High Definition Audio (onboard) with it crackling/popping/scratching during audio playback. This happens on both headset and AUX. I've tried updating the driver, reverting the driver, reinstalling the audio driver completely, no help.

 

I installed LatencyMon and ran it while I had YouTube playing a song that has between 28Hz through 41Hz and through 58Hz (basically bass frequencies). As I run this I am running Firefox and YouTube listening to a bass song (31-46Hz). I have a 900W peak, 300W RMS car subwoofer hooked up to RCA to my PC so I can use my sub for bass while using my PC as the audio source. I checked the 'audio format' and it is at 16 bit, 96000 Hz (Studio Quality) on the Realtek High Definition Audio device. (My Hi-Fi) Still pops/crackles.

 

Screenshot of the result from LatencyMon:

Quote

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:01:57  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        KYLE-PC
OS version:                                           Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 18363 (x64)
Hardware:                                             ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., CROSSHAIR V FORMULA-Z
CPU:                                                  AuthenticAMD AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor
Logical processors:                                   6
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  14232 MB total

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   4154 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO DPC LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to DPC latency reflects the measured interval in which a DPC could execute in response to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution.

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       332.50
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       6.345658

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              21643.280212
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       USBPORT.SYS - USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0.023014
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   USBPORT.SYS - USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0.039832

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   31371
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              283.450169
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0.055902
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         USBPORT.SYS - USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0.245907

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   402569
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs):                1
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 system

Total number of hard pagefaults                       51
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          18
Number of processes hit:                              9

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       4.169719
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                21643.280212
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.261752
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      31324
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                283.450169
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   1.466606
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      358301
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.194975
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                23.718103
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.000172
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      24
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                113.866153
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.012099
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      1359
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.390006
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                17660.078479
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.017842
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      28
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                79.487963
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.033956
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      4067
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.147190
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                51.084497
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.013549
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      1490
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       3.795399
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 4 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs):                102.977612
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.191062
CPU 4 DPC count:                                      35856
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.218061
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 5 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs):                54.314396
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.009910
CPU 5 DPC count:                                      1497
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

From what LMon says, the USBPort.sys driver seems to be the highest and most likely(?) cause of the scratching, but how would I go about resolving this?

[talklogan]

is it the front or back (I/o) ports?

 

[homeap5]

Try 16bit 44100Hz.

[GoodBytes]

Typically, it can be fixed by uninstalling your Audio driver, and your graphics card drivers (including all its components), restart. After that, Windows will start fetching drivers upon startup, let it do its thing. Once fully completed install the latest GPU drivers. 

[homeap5]

9 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Typically, it can be fixed by uninstalling your Audio driver, and your graphics card drivers (including all its components), restart. After that, Windows will start fetching drivers upon startup, let it do its thing. Once fully completed install the latest GPU drivers. 

In case Realtek I noticed that default drivers are mostly worse than drivers downloaded from Realtek website. But also settings are important  - even if card can give specific output like 96kHz, it's not that is good for everything (system for example). It's only something like "look, we can", but it gives you nothing except possible distortions.

[.Im#NuMBeR1]

On 4/23/2020 at 5:49 PM, talklogan said:

is it the front or back (I/o) ports?

 

Back one.

On 4/23/2020 at 6:03 PM, homeap5 said:

Try 16bit 44100Hz.

Have tried that one, same result. I've also tried 16 bit 48000, same result.

On 4/23/2020 at 10:16 PM, GoodBytes said:

Typically, it can be fixed by uninstalling your Audio driver, and your graphics card drivers (including all its components), restart. After that, Windows will start fetching drivers upon startup, let it do its thing. Once fully completed install the latest GPU drivers. 

I've tried installing the most up to date driver for my audio, tried reverting back to the previous version too, same thing. I have not tried uninstalling the audio driver and GPU driver though.

[GoodBytes]

54 minutes ago, .Im#NuMBeR1 said:

I've tried installing the most up to date driver for my audio, tried reverting back to the previous version too, same thing. I have not tried uninstalling the audio driver and GPU driver though.

Uninstall potion is the important part.

[homeap5]

Long time ago that may be problem with chipset drivers or other system drivers. When VIA chipsets was still in the market, only proper installed drivers eliminate sound problems. But now cheap chipsets are gone, computers are fast enough that basic drive or graphics operations can't interrupt sound even if drivers are not perfect.

 

Try what @GoodBytes suggest. Then we'll see.

 

Of course we're talking about general sound problems, not some DAW problems or specific audio player problems?