PC audio problems - buzzing noise through headphones, audio cuts out, volume changes, LEDs on case flicker

d3mueller · April 30

Hey,

I have a problem with my PC. It's not easy to describe but the entire audio from my system is broken. I hear constant, kind of "electric" buzzing through my headphones (it's quite loud) and whenever I launch a game, every few seconds the audio cuts off entirely for half a second and then returns at 100% volume (even though Windows still says it's only at 20% or so). It fixes itself when I change the volume up and down again but then it starts happening again 10 seconds later.

Sometimes, it stops happening after 10 minutes or so, and sometimes the audio breaks completely (i.e. it goes completely quiet) and I have to restart my PC (when this happens, my PC also partially freezes for multiple seconds at a time, until I restart it).

Additionally, I've noticed that every time the audio acts up, the LEDs on my PC case start to flicker. Like, it coincides absolutely perfectly, so I guess it's related? Could this be the power supply?

I've attached a video of it. The LEDs pulsate slowly, that's normal, but now they additionally flicker.

What I've tried so far

Multiple headphones (3.5mm jack connectors). Buzzing happens with all of them
I tried using the headphone jacks from the mainboard, the PC case and I tested two separate USB sound cards in different USB ports. The problem occurs the same with all of them
I checked for driver updates, disabled the audio devices, restarted, enabled them again
I also checked for Windows updates
I played with every audio setting I could find, including disabling Windows audio enhancements, "exclusive access" and basically all other stuff I could find in the properties
I opened the PC and checked every single connection and cable I could find, there's nothing loose
I completely reset the SSD and reinstalled a fresh Windows

My PC (it's a pre-built system I bought ~4 years ago. Had not problems until now)