System Freeze and Audio Problem

Anonymous
2020-02-11T18:37:30+00:00

I have just purchased a new computer but as i installed programs, a problem was introduced. I think I had seen the same problem on my previous computer, but that is a long story!

The effect is that the computer freezes for about 5 seconds and then continues. Associated with that is a message from the Realtek Audio informing me I have just plugged a device into the audio input. It does not require there to be any audio playing at the time this happens, though if there is audio, then that either goes silent or issues what can best be described as a buzz until the system resumes. The audio can also go into a state which i can only describe as like a stutter, where maybe it freezes for a few milliseconds at a time over a period of about 5 seconds. Sometimes this produces the Realtek message, though not always.

It seems that sometimes this can be triggered by activity, e.g calling a new web page in the browser. Often on returning to the machine after a period away, where the screen has blanked, waking the system up causes the Realtek message, but no obvious freezing of operation.

But the problem can also occur when the machine is not being used. I can be in the next room eating lunch and hear the audio freeze for the period associated with the problem.

With the new system, I started by sequentially installing the programs I required. This was a processed performed over several days as I was also working on the machine as well. Among the programs I had always installed was OpenOffice, I had been using this since it was first available, though I think generally LibreOffice now does better. But as I installed OpenOffice after several days without a problem, I heard the quality of the sound change and the problem started. On average, the problem manifests itself about once an hour, so i think the initial trouble free period up to the installation of OpenOffice identifies the culprit, but uninstalling it did not help. Windows repair tool claims to identify a problem and to have repaired it, requiring a reboot, but the problem still returns, so something somewhere is damaged. Google does nothing but confuse attempts to find the Realtek drivers which could be reinstalled.

I don't know where to go. I can't believe I am the only person suffering from this problem, yet I cannot find reference to such a problem on Google. So this is my last ditch effort to solve the problem before resorting to a clean install.

Regards, Paul Dixon

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-04-27T17:10:58+00:00

    Hi Paul, I am getting very similar issues to you and just wondered if you had managed to find a solution?

    Unfortunately I have not found a solution so far, just many changing ideas about the cause!

    It has to be something I have installed or so many other people would have the problem. I thought initially it was OpenOffice that caused the problem as the problem seemed to appear as I installed it on a new machine.

    But I have reinstalled the operating system without OpenOffice and I still have the problem.

    I have found I can make changes that make it better or worse, but not eliminate it.

    It is a long story how I got here!

    Previously I had a Windows 7 system, which worked fine, but which updated to Windows 10, which also worked as well as Windows 10 does! Then I started to get intermittent crashes, at times the system would struggle to restart. Then it wouldn't restart, so I presumed my disk had died, I bought a new one and did a totally clean install. It was after this install that I started experiencing poor sound quality.

    Still intermittent crashes, which I then narrowed down to a faulty memory module, which I removed. Still some crashes, but now it would not restart immediately, reporting CPU over temperature, which I had seen occasionally before, so I cleaned the CPU fan. No more over temperature issues, but still poor sound and the system freeze, which I had also experienced while fixing the other issues.

    With that machine, when it froze, it never returned, and I did leave it once for over an hour, so I had to power down.

    I thought with an older machine, it was nearing the end of its days, getting unreliable, so I bought a new computer and relegated the old machine to my media server.

    On the new machine, the sound issue occurred within the first day and seemed coincident with installing OpenOffice.

    The freezes still occurred, though now cleared after about 5 seconds and did not require a power down. It was only at this point that I realised that the freeze problem on the old machine was probably not hardware, but the same issue I was seeing on the new machine.

    Changes to drivers and KBs would alter the severity of the problem but never clear it.

    In frustration, I did a reinstall, keeping data to save having to verify absolutely everything was backed up.

    Same sound problem after I had started installing programs.

    The media server, although I installed only a small set of programs, appears to have audio problems. The sound will not stay in sync with the video.

    So it is must be something I install every time I start a new OS build.

    My current suspect in Microsoft Office 2003. This is the latest copy I have and I need it for many things, initially for my install instructions which guide me through the various setup steps.

    But beyond that, I am totally stumped.

    Anything familiar in what you have done on your machine?

    Regards, Paul

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-04-23T19:58:31+00:00

    Hi Paul, I am getting very similar issues to you and just wondered if you had managed to find a solution?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-03-24T02:22:09+00:00

    Hi Greg

    An update.

    It performed much better with KB4534132 removed, but eventually exhibited the problem once.

    Looking more closely at what updated, i noticed the audio driver had been updated, so I rolled that back and we need to see how that goes.

    there definitely seems to be some interaction between the driver and KB4534132 since it was so noticeably better with the KB removed, but that clearly wasn't the root cause.

    I'll keep you updated.

    Regards, Paul

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-03-23T17:27:32+00:00

    Hi Greg

    It has taken a while as I have been busy with visitors before things started to get crazy with the virus.

    My main reason for not wanting to do a reinstall of Windows was the time it would take to reinstall all the programs.

    But i was having no success with the suggestions above, so I finally realised that I was spending more time trying to fix the problem than a reinstall of the OS would take, so I finally got everything backed up and created a time slot for an install, which I did on Thursday last week.

    Things were fine on Thursday. Automatic update overnight and things were still fine on Friday.

    Automatic update overnight and on Saturday morning the problem was back immediately.

    The culprit appeared to be KB4534132. I uninstalled this and all was fine again.

    Overnight last night, Windows automatically installed KB4534132 again and immediate problem this morning.

    I have once more uninstalled this so we are fine at the moment. I am now looking at what I need to do to prevent this particular KB from installing in the future.

    I'm puzzled why this should be happening to me but doesn't appear to be a common problem for other people!

    Regards, Paul

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-02-12T02:01:44+00:00

    I am glad to help, Paul.

    Keep me posted on your progress as I will be here to help until the case is resolved.

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