Sound skipping/stuttering

[roachcraft]

I was hopeful, but CrashPlan was not the issue. No change in sound drop-outs or latency problems. Aargh.

 

[Lottiemansion]

My driver is version 6.0.1.6316.

model: HP a6200n

Hi,

The original drivers for the sound system should only be updated through the HP update software. The ones you have installed are "Non-specific" & HP is "Specific" & they need to be "Down graded".

Therefore I would recommend you un-install all the sound devices & install the "Specific" drivers from HP: -

Software & Driver Downloads HP Pavilion a6200n Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (Canada - English)

Give it a go & see if that works.

Please note:-
When I had this issue (Driver update software warned me but I ignored the message), I had to recover the system to back to "Day one" to prevent random BSOD.

 

[roachcraft]

Hi Lottie--

The thing is, when this all started, I had ONLY updated through automatic HP and/or Windows updates. I only tried the RealTek driver update in RESPONSE to the problem, as I've already explained at least once, and there's been no change.

Also, if by "BSOD" you are referring to blue screen, I have not had that problem at all.

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

The thing with my system started because of a Windows update... Do not install Windows Drivers for
non-Microsoft hardware, they do not always work. It's a hard leason but true.

So ,go back to HP drivers & try again.

If I had tried that I might have saved two weeks work in rebuilding my PC etc. etc.

If that fails, I don't know what else to suggest other than start again & yes, BOSD is Blue screen of death.

 

[roachcraft]

Okay, I just don't understand what you're getting at, maybe. Or maybe I'm not making myself clear. I had the HP-prescribed driver for my Realtek HD Audio installed when this started; that's the only device listed under "Sound, Video and Game Controllers". What other audio devices are you referring to? Under System Devices, I have the "High Definition Audio Controller", which is a Microsoft device, whose driver was provided by Microsoft. I don't see how it could have anything to do with the speakers--is that possible? Otherwise, I don't have any other audio devices that I know of.

 

[Lottiemansion]

OK, I understand that.

I am just advising you of the issue I had, explaining what the fix was for me & how to prevent a re-occurrance.

To explain: -

HP issues specific drivers for their sound (Audio) hardware that is "not always" fully compatible with "standard" audio drivers from the "Sound device manufacturers website".

Therefore I have suggested you revert to the HP drivers sent with your computer when new.

You run the show & have all the choices. This is obviously just advice & not instructions.

 

[roachcraft]

So, what I am asking, then, is this: aside from the Realtek HD Audio "device", are there any other devices I should look for to get HP drivers for?

 

[Lottiemansion]

Hi,

Not sure about your system but I do!

 

[roachcraft]

Just wanted to update: this problem has not been solved. I reverted to the recommended HP driver for Realtek, and there has been no change. I've tried everything that's been suggested here. I would really appreciate any help or suggestions that anyone can give here.

 

[roachcraft]

One more thing: not sure when this started, but now I have a "System" process with the description "NT Kernel & System" that is using around 50% of my CPU at all times. What the hell is that? I don't know for sure it this is related or not.

 

[MrNeeds]

that doesnt sound good roach, i suggest a full antivirus scan, the only process that should be using your process usage up should be "system idle process", see below.

 

[ilikefree]

Have you done a system file check yet?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html

Tutorial:Thanks to Brink

 

[roachcraft]

Geez, isn't there anybody here who can follow up on all the stuff I've BEEN discussing over the course of five pages?? Since I started this process this problem has gotten much, much worse and I feel no closer to solving it. It has gone from occasional sound dropouts to frequent freeze-ups.

MrNeeds: after a re-start, the NT Kernel thing seems to have gone away, but the computer is running worse than ever. Windows Defender and Norton full system scans both yield a total of zero risks detected.

ilikefree: "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."

Note: just throwing out random possible factors, but I will say that Word seems to be the most-affected program the past few days. I always have multiple Word documents open. Also, I recently decided to try Google Chrome, didn't like it, and am back to Firefox again.

 

[ilikefree]

Sorry mate, but if your drivers are up to date, the ram is not maxed out, and your system files are not corrupted. I am unable to think of what you could try next.
Maybe go to device manager and remove the sound controller and reinstall it.
Hopefully someone else has also had this problem and found a solution for it.


EDIT:Always make a restore point before making changes to your system then you can never be worse off than you already are.

 

[ilikefree]

Have been thinking more about your problem.
I had a sound issue once where sound dropped off or went really fast spluttering
and it was triggered by a background program running or starting.
A driver update fixed my problem but if you check in Task Manager,Processes,Memory and click the memory it will tell you what is using it all.
Another possible fix could be to use Process Lasso to control background services. With Process Lasso you can also set your music player to play in gaming mode. I have a licensed version but the free version will allow you to do that. Though I think free versions get some nag messages, I don't know, I could ask the forum there as I am a member and get back to you about this last point. Get it here

Bitsum Technologies

 

[whs]

Here is a sensible answer I found:

The kernel is the most basic instruction set in the computer. In a nutshell,
it handles all of the communication between all of the software and hardware in
your system. It will always be running and will be higher when background
processes are running (indexing, defrags, virus scans etc), but if it is always
running that high, then it could be anything from a bad driver to a bad program.
Your best bet is to think of when the slowdown began and think of anything you
changed in your system (driver update, new software, new games, trial programs
etc). Keep an eye on what other process are running.

Source...

 

[roachcraft]

Okay, I give up. Like I said, the "kernel" issue was resolved after a restart. Until the last couple of pages I thought we were onto something with the whole DPC/hard page faults thing but apparently that was a dead end or there's just no way to determine the cause of those, eh?

The problem has actually subsided somewhat; for the past few days everything's back to normal except for the very occasional stutter or skip when I'm listening to music. Since I've just spent a month on this and all that happened is it got way worse for a while, I'm going to assume it's beyond what anybody here can help me solve.

Thanks for all the input. I understand that trying to solve my problem without actually being here to look at everything is probably more than I should've expected. Best wishes!

 

[Perks]

Hello Guys.
I'm experiencing this exact same issue for a while now. I switched recently to windows 7, so complete clean setup and the occasional stuttering still persists. So I concluded that this can't be a software ore driver issue. My guess is that it has something to do with the hardware or bios-settings. I had some issues with hardware failing (just recently my video card, I realize that this is nothing out of the ordinary, but I think it could have something to do with unusual hardware behavior).
Oh yeah and I also experiencing these red bars when running DPC Latency checker, while the sound stuttering occurs. I hope this is any help, and I certainly hope that there is anybody out there who can help, because if this issue is due to a bad hardware setup and is damaging the parts of the system, I'd like to finally solve that problem.
My system.
Windows 7
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0Ghz 3.0Ghz
6 Gb DDR ram (MDT)
ASUS P5k-E Motherboard
AMD Radeon HD 6770
HD: Samsung HD501LJ 500 Gb

P.S.: Sorry for my bad English, i'm not native.