System Freeze and Audio Problem

Anonymous

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

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102 answers

Anonymous

2020-08-10T21:54:43+00:00

I can't believe it but after having to reboot daily since March and spending about $2500 on a new sysem with no positive results KevinBarlage just may have solved my issue!!! I wish I knew which driver it was that caused the issue but it was worth the $22ish cost for IObit Driver Booster. It identified 8 drivers that were out of date (I had gone to the websites of Asus and Intel and Realtek myself before looking for solutions to no avail). After installing the recommended drivers and rebooting I waited for the problem to reappear...I'm still waiting 3 days later. No problems so far. I have watched every YouTube video I wanted as well as played games and done other graphics intensive things trying to get the issue to reappear. So far so good (looking for wood to knock on). I also had drivers for PCIe M.2 and SATA included in the updates. So far I'm ecstatic! Next I will try it on the original build to see if that now works as well.

Thanks for the proposed solution.
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Anonymous

2020-07-31T16:40:14+00:00

i have an amd cpu. a ryzen 2700 with an asrock x370 taichi motherboard. i do not have crashes, but i have the stutter on sound problem and then the sound goes deaf, to fix it i have to restart all my programs, and i gett a blinking in the sound control panel of my active sound drive, where i am notified that my audio driver is the default audio driver. basically something is accessing the driver/hardware (sound) and it is resetting it for 1 second and then everything freezes and the sound does not work anymore.
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Anonymous

2020-07-31T16:35:40+00:00

I experienced also the keyboard malfunctioning even in 2019. when i was typing in Photoshop my screen would freeze and the cursor would actually stay still, on the keyboard i would continue to write a full sentence and then after 3 seconds delay i would see the letters appearing on the screen
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Anonymous

2020-07-31T16:26:30+00:00

that is really bizarre, because i started to have my problems in june with a fresh install of my windows 10. i never updated my last install of windows, and it remained with windows 10 with no updates. but when i installed the fresh version i updated to the latest update pack and then the problems started to appear. somewhere in june 2020. i also have built my own pc for 2 decades and i am pretty thorough with what i install.
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Anonymous

2020-07-31T16:20:37+00:00

Hello. I have the same problem like you describe, but mine it is a little bit different. I am using the browser to watch a video and lets say that i also play a computer game that uses my microphone and headphones. at some point in time, it stutters but what i have noticed, is that when i open sound control panel, the speakers (where i have my high definition audio device enabled as playback) is blinking for 2-3 seconds, and then i get an message in the middle of the screen that my sound device is now the default device. I will post a printscreen with the error if needed. Have you guys figured out what is going on? i've tried everything, reinstalling drivers, reinstalling windows, reinstalling antivirus, hence i am using bitdefender, looked online for this issue, and noone lese has it, made the whole list of suggestions that the moderator said. nothing works. it is from windows, i am pretty sure of it and it has to do with something that triggers it... either an update or something else.

and to finalize how it manifests after the stutter, it makes all my applications that were using sound silent (everything is on mute) and i have to restart all programs in order to have sound again.

this is really annoying for me.
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