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
    2020-06-12T15:36:13+00:00

    I have tried 3 different clean installs of Windows 10 updating drivers and windows update in different orders to no avail. I have tried different SSD's for the installs to no avail. I have tried installs with and without my graphics and sound card installed to no avail. We all seem to be using different hardware so I don't see how it can be the problem anymore. As there are 2 identical computers in my home, my son built the same configuration and hardware as I did but only I am having this problem it seems very random. My computer now has gone the next set and after freezing and coming back it will do this 2 or 3 times then my monitor will go black for about 2 seconds them com back and my computer will work for a few minutes again. If I continue to use it for a little while longer I get the BSOD and my computer reboots. Although I have installed a lot of software over the years from DOS to Windows 10 I am mainly a hardware person. I am wondering if by chance we are all installing some other software program that may be causing this. The thing is what besides windows 10 do we have in common ? Or is windows 10 just detecting something incorrectly and installing the drivers wrong ?

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-06-10T20:34:47+00:00

    I've just experienced a slightly different sort of freeze. The audio went into stutter mode, which it often does but usually allows me to continue working. This time I got the blue waiting circle, which again, usually allows me to do other things while I wait for whatever is slow to respond, but on this occasion the system was totally frozen for about the usual 5 seconds.

    Viewing the performance tab in Task Manager, the CPU had been very lightly loaded, but I was showing a period of 100% activity on my USB drive on which I had tried to view the contents of a directory in a Windows Explorer window.

    USB has never worked correctly for me in Windows 10 since I had to do a clean install almost 2 years ago.

    So I don't know if that is another clue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-06-10T02:15:38+00:00

    What i do as soon as i finish installing windows and setting the hdd up to appear in the computer, is to connect the ethernet cable and let windows update do its job, if i get a message that i need to restart the pc after getting some updates, i restart the pc.  When i'm 100% sure i got the "you're up to date" in the windows update panel i continue with downloading and installing the lastest graphics card driver available and i make sure i perform a clean installation (i just click on the button that appears in the nvidia driver control panel). I once again restart my pc after installing it and until that moment i start installing the drivers my motherboard provides on the website.

    It's not a problem of overclocking, since this error still happening before when i hadn't done no overclock to the system.

    I also updated my ssd firmware where the system is installed, i have all up to date i dont get why i keep getting this freeze problem, it just doesnt make any sense..

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-06-09T00:44:15+00:00

    I don't think our problem is motherboard related. So it raises the question whether there is something that we all do in our setup that causes a problem.

    One thing I do immediately is to go into regedit and enable coolswitch for AltTab and set that matrix to 8x4.

    It shouldn't cause a problem, but we are clutching at straws here!

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-06-08T12:44:08+00:00

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