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PC Audio Cutting Out After Windows Update

RagePoweredGamer

Pretty straightforward.

I used to have this issue sporadically years ago. Sometimes hours between events. My front audio jack would "steal" the focus from my normal jack I use for speakers, and come back after a second or two. Same thing would happen if using the jack. So I never do. Disabled it entirely and no more problem. 
Today, Windows updated. Since the update, the problem seems to be back, but far worse, and not the same cause. I uninstalled the updates and it didn't help. Something about the "Windows has to revert to some retarded default settings when it updates" thing is breaking my audio. Every 20-40 seconds, my audio just stops, then 1-2 seconds later, comes back. I can tell it's happening even when nothing is playing, because it makes that little "connection" sound like plugging in something. Not the Windows notification sound. The little buzz-click, like flipping a switch on a guitar amp when you turn it on or off. 
So far, I have:

-Disabled EVERY audio device that isn't my speakers.

-Uninstalled 2 of the 3 updates (Can't access the update screen in settings now for whatever reason. Just "try again later.")

-Rebooted my PC

-Uninstalled and reinstalled my audio driver

-Ran Windows audio problems troubleshooter twice

-Unplugged and reconnected both ends of audio cable

-Screamed at my computer 3 times

-Heard the problem happen no fewer than 12 times while typing this. Sometimes twice back to back. But always the same amount of time cut out, 1-2 seconds. No cable jiggling, no scratchy audio, no one-side issues, nothing that indicates a loose connection, poor connection, bad cable, nothing.

I was able to diagnose the "old" version of the problem by just watching the Sound settings, seeing the connection switch to that front audio jack, then back. Now, I have EVERYTHING else disabled, reinstalled drivers, rebooted, everything. When I have to hit the "rewind 5 seconds" button every 30 seconds, just to hear what happens, it's more than a little upsetting, and it would force me to restart any game I try to play, which means no games for me or my son.

Attached screenshot is what I'm greeted with when I try to see Windows Update now. No idea why it's happening, either, but I don't care about Windows Update because it ALWAYS causes problems and never helps anything.

February 04 (14;48;54).png

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Is this ryzen?  If so it might just need to be bios updated.  It’s never straight forward without machine specs.

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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5 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Is this ryzen?  If so it might just need to be bios updated.  It’s never straight forward without machine specs.

Pre-Ryzen Intel system. 

Intel 4790K

Asus Z-97E

32GB G-skill Ripjaws DDR3

MSI GTX 970

Regular, cheap Logitech speakers, 3.5mm connection

EVGA 450 watt PSU

Most of it was my original build in 2015, but the PSU and 16GB of the RAM are only a couple years old.

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36 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

Pre-Ryzen Intel system. 

Intel 4790K

Asus Z-97E

32GB G-skill Ripjaws DDR3

MSI GTX 970

Regular, cheap Logitech speakers, 3.5mm connection

EVGA 450 watt PSU

Most of it was my original build in 2015, but the PSU and 16GB of the RAM are only a couple years old.

That include the speakers?  That’s an old machine.  I wonder about connector corrosion

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Just now, Bombastinator said:

That include the speakers?  That’s an old machine.  I wonder about connector corrosion

No no, it's distinctly being turned on and then off. The connectors are in great shape, as it's a desktop that's been well taken care of. If I plug in a crappy cable, it's scratchy and stuff. But this one is perfect, aside from the fact that it cuts out. Been perfect for years, and started this issue IMMEDIATELY after updating. Like, going from no issues to an issue every couple minutes, all within the 15 minutes it took to update. No physical changes to the rig or peripherals.

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19 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

No no, it's distinctly being turned on and then off. The connectors are in great shape, as it's a desktop that's been well taken care of. If I plug in a crappy cable, it's scratchy and stuff. But this one is perfect, aside from the fact that it cuts out. Been perfect for years, and started this issue IMMEDIATELY after updating. Like, going from no issues to an issue every couple minutes, all within the 15 minutes it took to update. No physical changes to the rig or peripherals.

The on-off thing is specifically why I think that.  It’s behaving like a power thing.  There’s a bajillion machines using that update.  If it was a software bug there’s be thousands of these not just one. More likely the speakers themselves than the motherboard if they’re as cheap as you say.  There are probably still fingerprints inside the speaker from the original assembler.  What does a fingerprint do to solder after seven years of the flux wasn’t completely gotten rid of?  PSU? (Not super likely) it is a fast change though.  Could still be it though if you were hanging on by a thread and the new update makes it just a bit less manageable. Might quicko check reseating the speaker connector. 

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Just now, Bombastinator said:

The on-off thing is specifically why I think that.  It’s behaving like a power thing.  More likely the speakers themselves than the motherboard if they’re as cheap as you say.  There are probably still fingerprints inside the speaker from the original assembler.  What does a fingerprint do to solder after seven years of the flux wasn’t completely gotten rid of?  PSU? (Not super likely) it is a fast change though.  Could still be it though if you were hanging on by a thread and the new update makes it just a bit less manageable. Might quicko check reseating the speaker connector. 

Happens with my other speakers (Pioneer shelf stereo) also. And yes, they're using different cables. Doesn't happen if I plug my phone into the speakers. They're a $20 pair of Logitechs from 2015. They should be good for a long time to come. I have several much older sets that are still fine, and these are great, too. 

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5 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

Happens with my other speakers (Pioneer shelf stereo) also. And yes, they're using different cables. Doesn't happen if I plug my phone into the speakers. They're a $20 pair of Logitechs from 2015. They should be good for a long time to come. I have several much older sets that are still fine, and these are great, too. 

If it were a code thing though there’d be hundreds or thousands of people with this issue not just one.  Differences between the phone and the speakers would want to be looked at.  Why are speakers having a problem but the phone isn’t?  Phone will have its own amp.  I suspect the computer speakers will too but the stereo speakers likely won’t 

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

If it were a code thing though there’d be hundreds or thousands of people with this issue not just one.  Phone will have its own amp.

The fact that I had this issue before, and managed to remove it. Also, the fact that it's been fine for like 7 years, and now it starts up after a 15 minute window where the only thing that happened was a Windows update.

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1 minute ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

The fact that I had this issue before, and managed to remove it. Also, the fact that it's been fine for like 7 years, and now it starts up after a 15 minute window where the only thing that happened was a Windows update.

So a hanging on by a thread issue that came back when machine signal was changed in some way.  Still thinking manufacturing thing based on that.  There also the cellphone vs the speakers though. There’s some ‘why’ there.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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4 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

So a hanging on by a thread issue that came back when machine signal was changed in some way.  Still thinking manufacturing thing based on that.  There also the cellphone vs the speakers though. There’s some ‘why’ there.

I'm telling you, it's a Windows Update that changed something with my audio. It set my Windows color scheme to "light" by default, and probably borked other setting that I had changed when I had this issue years ago. The fact that it's basically the same problem I had back then, after I had to change something in Windows to remove it, and now my Windows things are back to how stupid MICROSOFT wants them (like reinstalling Edge against my will. I had it completely uninstalled and all traces deleted). It's something in the OS that's grabbing my audio and stopping it randomly, then reverting a second or two later when it realizes "oh, this isn't what it's supposed to be like. Reverting."

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1 hour ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

I'm telling you, it's a Windows Update that changed something with my audio. It set my Windows color scheme to "light" by default, and probably borked other setting that I had changed when I had this issue years ago. The fact that it's basically the same problem I had back then, after I had to change something in Windows to remove it, and now my Windows things are back to how stupid MICROSOFT wants them (like reinstalling Edge against my will. I had it completely uninstalled and all traces deleted). It's something in the OS that's grabbing my audio and stopping it randomly, then reverting a second or two later when it realizes "oh, this isn't what it's supposed to be like. Reverting."

Sure, but it’s hardware specific or everyone with that motherboard and cpu would be having that problem.  There is an app called NTlight which is well thought of for that issue.  It still could be a hardware thing even if it’s a settings issue.  If it isn’t that then you’d probably have to either roll back or fix it again.

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

Sure, but it’s hardware specific or everyone with that motherboard and cpu would be having that problem.  

I'll buy that the first time was a MOBO issue, considering it was the front audio getting and losing connection or something. But disabling extra it in sound settings worked just fine. Update, BTW, I decided to "roll back to the previous version of Windows 10" and the issue went away. Uninstalling the updates didn't do it because it was a whole new build of Windows 10. Issue fixed! Through none other than Windows Update.

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3 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

I'll buy that the first time was a MOBO issue, considering it was the front audio getting and losing connection or something. But disabling extra it in sound settings worked just fine. Update, BTW, I decided to "roll back to the previous version of Windows 10" and the issue went away. Uninstalling the updates didn't do it because it was a whole new build of Windows 10. Issue fixed! Through none other than Windows Update.

That may have just rolled back to an earlier save state that includes the old settings.  Losing your settings is just something that happens occasionally with windows updates. It might not happen if you updated again.  Or it might.  It could be possible to roll back just the settings though which could also do it.  Maybe save a snapshot first though. 

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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10 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

That may have just rolled back to an earlier save state that includes the old settings.  Losing your settings is just something that happens occasionally with windows updates. It might not happen if you updated again.  Or it might.  It could be possible to roll back just the settings though which could also do it.  Maybe save a snapshot first though. 

I think I'll just... not update. I think I don't want to deal with this again. It's working for now, and that's all that matters to me.

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38 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

I think I'll just... not update. I think I don't want to deal with this again. It's working for now, and that's all that matters to me.

The thing may auto update if you don’t mess with it.  May do to check that.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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18 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The thing may auto update if you don’t mess with it.  May do to check that.

It's been on hold for months, I think. One of those "Hey, this one isn't auto because we actually need to ask your permission for this one because it's a whole new build" like the "Creator's Update" a couple years ago. When it becomes critical, maybe I'll just try again. 

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18 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

It's been on hold for months, I think. One of those "Hey, this one isn't auto because we actually need to ask your permission for this one because it's a whole new build" like the "Creator's Update" a couple years ago. When it becomes critical, maybe I'll just try again. 

Ironically I just got my machine back together again, and poof, sound issues lol.  It’s probably a messed up cable because I was just messing with it but it’s a modern machine which would mean everyone I would be having issues.

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Ironically I just got my machine back together again, and poof, sound issues lol.

Ayyyy, well, I've gone through allllll the motions if you don't have it solved by now. 

I'm thinkiiiiiiiing... connector corrosion. 😛

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10 minutes ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

Ayyyy, well, I've gone through allllll the motions if you don't have it solved by now. 

I'm thinkiiiiiiiing... connector corrosion. 😛

It would be fairly simple to check.  That stuff is usually pretty visible.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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5 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

It would be fairly simple to check.  That stuff is usually pretty visible.

So you can get why I was very positive that wasn't it. Lol.
What kinda problem?

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3 hours ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

So you can get why I was very positive that wasn't it. Lol.
What kinda problem?

Well you’ve got to actually look.  This is true of basically all potential problems.

 

as to what, the sound cutting out. Brings up a point: it was doing it in a particular app only. Haven’t done any testing yet to see if it was elsewhere. The straight windows “bong” was fine.  It’s also running 11.  More of an “isn’t it ironic” than a possible connection.  If there is one it would point to new updates being incompatible with some programs which is more likely.  More likely yet that I just thumb fingered something though.   I do have a machine of similar vintage, it’s a bit older, but that’s not the one that produced the issue (it hasn’t been turned on in months) this was a 12th gen intel machine with an rdna gpu.

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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