Sound skips snaps crackle and pop

[johngalt]

Forget the ASUS website driver and get the driver from nVidia- and don't get Beta drivers, get the latest official WHQL driver.

 

[rive0108]

have you updated your storage controller? (RAID/SATA)
There was a known issue with the original Vista storage controller drivers causing Audio/video skipping and popping.

VIA had this problem in particular.

 

[WildEagle]

I've noticed lately that this issue pops off, if the SATA controller is set to RAID/ACHI mode, the motherboard is one of those ATI/ULI chipset boards running native SATA mode drivers. I've noticed this with the stuttering/popping and crackling with the latest Intel Matrix Storage drivers.

What fixes it in some cases, is setting the SATA controller to IDE mode, and leaving it be. NCQ isn't worth it to me, as I wind up with stuttering sound, crackling and so on.

The worst soundcard for this issue, and I tried one earlier this year, is the Creative X-Fi soundcard. I ended up taking that thing back to the store I bought it from.

 

[FUNKist]

I can confirm that since I re-installed the Driver of my GTX 8800 the sound is now working perfectly even after few restarts

 

[Neceros]

Go into Vista's Control Panel and open the Sound applet
Select your output device in the list that appears
NOTE: the default output device is commonly labeled Speakers
Right click on the device and from the context menu click Properties.
Click on the Enhancements TAB.
Then CHECK the box [x] for Disable all enhancements.

Registered to say that this mostly worked for me. It was really bad, but now it's barely noticable. I happen to have 4GB ram, had this issue, just updated BIOS (Which made it worse, but now it's better...)

Next to upgrade nForce drivers. Shew.


Thanks!

 

[rosthorn]

I got a complete and total resolution.

I pulled the Nvidia graphics card and replaced with a compatable ATI.

Not a hint if a problem the second the ATI card was in place

 

[johngalt]

If any of you all are using the nTune software - ditch it and see if that helps as well.

 

[mattsdad03]

the newest creative driver helped a lot but not completely. i am getting less static but not enough to put it back in permanently.

i do have an ati x1800xt card. i might try putting that in and see what happens.

 

[nsymons]

Just wanted to let you all know how I fixed this problem:

Had awful crackles and pops especially when there was high disk activity or when scrolling mouse wheel. Tried all usual driver upgrades and bios fiddles, even putting in an old creative audidgy but I then relised that I had no problem with my speakers that had the same sound input but an independent power input. Fortunatly my headset had a USB adapter to use mains power and hey presto: perfect sound.

It seems that the interferance is coming from the USB power supply and not the sound inputs at all!!

Hope this helps any who are still struggling.

Nick

 

[frjoethesecond]

Just signed up to say this. I had this exact problem with my GTX 260. Only way to fix it was removing the driver and gaming was imposible. I fixed it permanantly by disabling my realtec on-board audio in the bios. Took me 4 days of constant messing before I tried this. Anyway, this thread was most helpful and I doubt I would have fixed it if it wasn't for the suggestions I heard here. Thanks everyone. Ye saved me goin mad.

 

[MrNeeds]

Just signed up to say this. I had this exact problem with my GTX 260. Only way to fix it was removing the driver and gaming was imposible. I fixed it permanantly by disabling my realtec on-board audio in the bios. Took me 4 days of constant messing before I tried this. Anyway, this thread was most helpful and I doubt I would have fixed it if it wasn't for the suggestions I heard here. Thanks everyone. Ye saved me goin mad.

Indeed! We have a brilliant team who try and replicate the problems experienced by the thread starters and best advise them what to do, I too have had this issue with my G35 USB headset and solved it by browsing this massive database of information, I'm glad it's helping others too :-) if you have any issues that are not covered by us then don't hesitate to create your own thread and we'll try our best to solve any issues you are having.

MrNeeds