Mic randomly stops picking up sound on a (cold) boot

[Drewsha]

Every time I start my pc for the first time of the day, my mic will randomly stop picking up sound. I found I can get it to work by plugging out the usb and plugging it back in. I also have a dongle for the headset where I can enable "7.1". Clicking that also makes my mic work. But both of theese are temporary, about 5-10 min until it mic stops working again. What works is to restart the pc using the reset switch on the front panel, or restarting within windows, this makes my mic work for the rest of the day.

 

* Have tried another headset, same as I use (hyperx Cloud II) that works on another pc, yet I still get the issue, my headset worked flawlessly on the other pc.

* Did a SFC scan that found corrupted files, this fixed the "levels" tab in sound control panel for the mic which was stuck at zero, now I can change the slider but no effect on my issue.

* Uninstalled and reinstalled a bunch of drivers (usb, sound, hyperx), nothing seems to work.

Seems to be happening while in game only, but then again I havent really been in discord outside of gaming to notice mic issues.

 

Specs

• Windows 10 Pro 64
• z690 Aorus Elite DDR4 (Current BIOS version F21. F23 is latest)
• Intel  i5-13600k (stock)
• 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM (3600 MHz XMP)
• RTX 3090 TI FE (stock)
• 2 x  Kingston NV1 1TB (One of which is boot drive)
• Crucial MX 500 1TB Storage
• Random Intel SSD 250GB storage (Dont know exact name)
• Corsair RM850X (2021) (850W 80+ gold)

 

Its been a while since I started getting this issue, have tried a lot of things and its driving me insane. Open to any and all suggestions, will go through all of them even if I already have tried in case I missed something.

[Agall]

1 hour ago, Drewsha said:

Every time I start my pc for the first time of the day, my mic will randomly stop picking up sound. I found I can get it to work by plugging out the usb and plugging it back in. I also have a dongle for the headset where I can enable "7.1". Clicking that also makes my mic work. But both of theese are temporary, about 5-10 min until it mic stops working again. What works is to restart the pc using the reset switch on the front panel, or restarting within windows, this makes my mic work for the rest of the day.

 

* Have tried another headset, same as I use (hyperx Cloud II) that works on another pc, yet I still get the issue, my headset worked flawlessly on the other pc.

* Did a SFC scan that found corrupted files, this fixed the "levels" tab in sound control panel for the mic which was stuck at zero, now I can change the slider but no effect on my issue.

* Uninstalled and reinstalled a bunch of drivers (usb, sound, hyperx), nothing seems to work.

Seems to be happening while in game only, but then again I havent really been in discord outside of gaming to notice mic issues.

 

Specs

• Windows 10 Pro 64
• z690 Aorus Elite DDR4 (Current BIOS version F21. F23 is latest)
• Intel  i5-13600k (stock)
• 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM (3600 MHz XMP)
• RTX 3090 TI FE (stock)
• 2 x  Kingston NV1 1TB (One of which is boot drive)
• Crucial MX 500 1TB Storage
• Random Intel SSD 250GB storage (Dont know exact name)
• Corsair RM850X (2021) (850W 80+ gold)

 

Its been a while since I started getting this issue, have tried a lot of things and its driving me insane. Open to any and all suggestions, will go through all of them even if I already have tried in case I missed something.

Demons.

 

 

Another option would be to remove your RTX 3090ti and game on the iGPU, see if its repeatable without a huge source of potential interference. Could also try a USB extension cable otherwise.

 

An 850W is sort of skimp for an RTX 3090ti, the minimum recommended is 850W, but the GA102 cards were known for power spiking. You could otherwise try to set the TDP of it in an application like MSI Afterburner or Asus GPU Tweak III to <75% and see if that changes anything. Possible you could be getting weird magnetic interference with the nearby USB ports that your headset is sensitive to. That could even include the extension to the front panel that usually is sandwiched between the PSU and GPU.

[Drewsha]

On 3/22/2023 at 3:15 PM, Agall said:

Demons.

 

 

Another option would be to remove your RTX 3090ti and game on the iGPU, see if its repeatable without a huge source of potential interference. Could also try a USB extension cable otherwise.

 

An 850W is sort of skimp for an RTX 3090ti, the minimum recommended is 850W, but the GA102 cards were known for power spiking. You could otherwise try to set the TDP of it in an application like MSI Afterburner or Asus GPU Tweak III to <75% and see if that changes anything. Possible you could be getting weird magnetic interference with the nearby USB ports that your headset is sensitive to. That could even include the extension to the front panel that usually is sandwiched between the PSU and GPU.

Thank you for replying.

 

Removing GPU did not work unfortunatley. As I was removing it I also remembered that I had been getting this issue previously, with an RTX 2060. As far as I remember, no major changes were made when I started getting issues that I could pin the problem to. 

 

I am wondering however, how would hardware act differently on a restart compared to a fresh start? 

And how would software act differently?

Hibernation is disabled, so a "cold" start should be the same as a restart, but somehow they are not?

 

I am starting to convince myself that demons are ineed to blame. 

[Agall]

On 3/26/2023 at 12:00 AM, Drewsha said:

Thank you for replying.

 

Removing GPU did not work unfortunatley. As I was removing it I also remembered that I had been getting this issue previously, with an RTX 2060. As far as I remember, no major changes were made when I started getting issues that I could pin the problem to. 

 

I am wondering however, how would hardware act differently on a restart compared to a fresh start? 

And how would software act differently?

Hibernation is disabled, so a "cold" start should be the same as a restart, but somehow they are not?

 

I am starting to convince myself that demons are ineed to blame. 

Did it start with your 13600k upgrade and/or did you reinstall windows on your boot drive or just transplant it from another install?

[Drewsha]

On 3/27/2023 at 3:50 PM, Agall said:

Did it start with your 13600k upgrade and/or did you reinstall windows on your boot drive or just transplant it from another install?

I got the 13600k along with the 3090Ti, as far as I remember, I had been getting the issue before that upgrade. But I did get a 12600k about a year before I switched to the 13600k, the 12600k replaced my ancient i7-3770. The issues could have started with the 12600k.

 

When installing Windows I usually just install it fresh on a new drive when I start running out of space on the boot drive. I do not remember if I did that for the 12600k. Definetly did not do it for the 13600k. 

 

I have tried reinstalling Windows and "keeping personal files" recently in an attempt to fix the issue, but no luck.

 

I do have a new 1TB NVMe that sits almost empty. Could a fresh install of windows on a new drive be a potential solution? 

[Agall]

50 minutes ago, Drewsha said:

I got the 13600k along with the 3090Ti, as far as I remember, I had been getting the issue before that upgrade. But I did get a 12600k about a year before I switched to the 13600k, the 12600k replaced my ancient i7-3770. The issues could have started with the 12600k.

 

When installing Windows I usually just install it fresh on a new drive when I start running out of space on the boot drive. I do not remember if I did that for the 12600k. Definetly did not do it for the 13600k. 

 

I have tried reinstalling Windows and "keeping personal files" recently in an attempt to fix the issue, but no luck.

 

I do have a new 1TB NVMe that sits almost empty. Could a fresh install of windows on a new drive be a potential solution? 

If its a deep software issue from a reused windows reinstall, then yes. If it happens to be some hardware anomaly, then that'd be the way to half split between the two.

 

If a fresh install doesn't fix it, you might just have to do some funky things with the motherboard's sound device which could be causing issues, even for other sound devices. Something that disabling it might also resolve if that's the case.

[Drewsha]

On 3/30/2023 at 6:10 PM, Agall said:

If its a deep software issue from a reused windows reinstall, then yes. If it happens to be some hardware anomaly, then that'd be the way to half split between the two.

 

If a fresh install doesn't fix it, you might just have to do some funky things with the motherboard's sound device which could be causing issues, even for other sound devices. Something that disabling it might also resolve if that's the case.

Hey, did a fresh windows install, issue is still persistent. Also updated BIOS. Sadly no effect.

 

Since its a fresh install I started thinking about hardware. Then I remembered, when I got the 13600k I built my PC with new parts. Only reason I upgraded to 13600k from the 12600k was because the 12600k system was going to my partner. Only thing I kept was peripherals, and drives. I believe I had issues before the 13600k, but I am now questioning my sanity because that means I've had the issue on 2 systems. Must be the headset? When I switched headsets between the 12600k and 13600k systems, my headset worked flawlessly on the other PC (The pc that I previously had issues on), and yet I still got the issue on my PC with the other headset.

 

Four possible alternatives: 

1. My memory has failed me and in reality I started getting issues when I built the 13600k system in which case its most likely a hardware issue?

2. I've had issues on 2 systems and different Windows installs. The issue is probably caused by something that is common between these systems - Drives, Peripherals, Power strip?

3. The floor upon which my PC stands is cursed.

4. I missed something and there are other alternatives. 

 

Anyway, I did figure out a few things the past couple of days which might give some clues.

 

Disconnecting and reconnecting to a discord call will make the mic work again (for some time). Same as reconnecting the USB, and enabling and disabling 7.1 on the dongle. Changing the audio input device in discord to something else then back to my headset mic also makes it work. I do not believe it is a discord only issue however, as when the mic stops working it stops working everywhere, even in sound settings under "test your mic" no input is registered. What is interesting is when I change something in discord that makes the microphone work again, it also starts working everywhere else like in sound settings of windows.

 

Disabling and enabling the mic under Recording tab in "Sounds" used to fix it temporarily. Just now my mic cut out again and I went into sound to disable and enable it again. However since I am on a fresh install I saw sound devices under the playback tab that were enabled but I never use. So I disabled "Realtek Digital Output" and my microphone started picking up sound again. Realtek digital output used to be disabled previously when I've had issues, so I dont think that has anything to do with the issue directly, but disabling it somehow caused my mic to work again.

 

Could it be that my microphone somehow loses connection without windows realizing, until some sound setting somewhere, whether in discord or in windows causes windows to "refresh" the sound devices and reconnecting to the mic? 

What could be causing it and why does it only cause issues in certain bootups of windows.

 

I am at a loss. Any ideas?

 

Also, Thank you @Agall for sticking with me for this long. Would not have gotten this far into troubleshooting alone.

[Agall]

5 hours ago, Drewsha said:

Hey, did a fresh windows install, issue is still persistent. Also updated BIOS. Sadly no effect.

 

Since its a fresh install I started thinking about hardware. Then I remembered, when I got the 13600k I built my PC with new parts. Only reason I upgraded to 13600k from the 12600k was because the 12600k system was going to my partner. Only thing I kept was peripherals, and drives. I believe I had issues before the 13600k, but I am now questioning my sanity because that means I've had the issue on 2 systems. Must be the headset? When I switched headsets between the 12600k and 13600k systems, my headset worked flawlessly on the other PC (The pc that I previously had issues on), and yet I still got the issue on my PC with the other headset.

 

Four possible alternatives: 

1. My memory has failed me and in reality I started getting issues when I built the 13600k system in which case its most likely a hardware issue?

2. I've had issues on 2 systems and different Windows installs. The issue is probably caused by something that is common between these systems - Drives, Peripherals, Power strip?

3. The floor upon which my PC stands is cursed.

4. I missed something and there are other alternatives. 

 

Anyway, I did figure out a few things the past couple of days which might give some clues.

 

Disconnecting and reconnecting to a discord call will make the mic work again (for some time). Same as reconnecting the USB, and enabling and disabling 7.1 on the dongle. Changing the audio input device in discord to something else then back to my headset mic also makes it work. I do not believe it is a discord only issue however, as when the mic stops working it stops working everywhere, even in sound settings under "test your mic" no input is registered. What is interesting is when I change something in discord that makes the microphone work again, it also starts working everywhere else like in sound settings of windows.

 

Disabling and enabling the mic under Recording tab in "Sounds" used to fix it temporarily. Just now my mic cut out again and I went into sound to disable and enable it again. However since I am on a fresh install I saw sound devices under the playback tab that were enabled but I never use. So I disabled "Realtek Digital Output" and my microphone started picking up sound again. Realtek digital output used to be disabled previously when I've had issues, so I dont think that has anything to do with the issue directly, but disabling it somehow caused my mic to work again.

 

Could it be that my microphone somehow loses connection without windows realizing, until some sound setting somewhere, whether in discord or in windows causes windows to "refresh" the sound devices and reconnecting to the mic? 

What could be causing it and why does it only cause issues in certain bootups of windows.

 

I am at a loss. Any ideas?

 

Also, Thank you @Agall for sticking with me for this long. Would not have gotten this far into troubleshooting alone.

I have a friend who runs into similar issues with Discord and his headset, where intermittently, his headset will just stop receiving sound inputs. He fixes it by disconnecting and reconnecting. What microphone are you using?

[Drewsha]

4 hours ago, Agall said:

I have a friend who runs into similar issues with Discord and his headset, where intermittently, his headset will just stop receiving sound inputs. He fixes it by disconnecting and reconnecting. What microphone are you using?

Headset mic, Kingston HyperX Cloud 2 

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, Drewsha said:

Headset mic, Kingston HyperX Cloud 2 

I'd say its quite easily and issue with the onboard sound device, since analog 3.5mm either work or don't, so intermittent disconnects are usually different.

 

My buddy uses a USB wireless headset and has this issue, so its on the other end of the spectrum. I imagine it still has to do with an intermittent loss of connection to the sound device, in this case, it would be your motherboard.

 

 

Seems like you're not the only one with said issue, supposedly their latest patch was supposed to resolve it. Trying a few different versions of the sound driver and/or disabling the digital output should be the play.