I recently started having an audio issue a few days ago, where when I have music playing (either on Spotify or Youtube) and I open the Windows Explorer to view files, open an application, hover over buttons or folders in the Explorer, or do anything on my computer, the audio sometimes pops and crackles, reacting to my mouse movements/actions. It also happens when I'm only listening to music and not moving my mouse. It will crackle maybe once every 2-3 minutes. I've gone through several websites and conducted steps to diagnose my problem, such as: updating my audio drivers (no new updates found) removing any sound effects on my playback device changing the default format on my playback device (tried most options) turning/replugging/cleaning/fiddling with the output jacks (I have a front and a rear 3.5mm jack and both of them crackle through my speakers and headphones) reviewing DPC latency/audio processing latency checks via LatencyMon (no issue, got the green light) reviewing overall CPU/memory/GPU usage (CPU and GPU are single digits and memory is around 30% because of browsers and other caches) moving any possible interfering tech out of the way (closest objects are my monitor and keyboard + mouse) "power drained" my computer (shut down, turn off PSU, unplugged everything, hold down power button for 20 seconds) The only thing I can think of that changed with my computer is that I swapped out my graphics card (from a GTX 980 TI to RTX 2080) about a month before the crackling started. I didn't touch anything around the audio jack pin connectors and the PSU supports the increase in graphics processing power. I'm out of ideas to try, so I'm hoping someone can give me some further advice.

Hi, I have encountered this same problem on my machine a couple of days ago. In my case the sound started crackling after I installed ubuntu on another drive. I recall when finished installing ubuntu I tried to get back to windows, so I changed the boot option to the windows drive, and while waiting for windows to start, it crashed and basically I had to force reboot three/four times before it worked again. And now I'm facing the crackling audio, which is extremely annoying. I hope it is fixable, because if it is a problem related or caused to those infinite reloads and those forced reboots I think this is beyond my experties

Aaaaand the problem is back. Knew I spoke too soon! :( Was after computer came out of sleep. Going to reboot and see what happens.

I've been suffering with popping/crackling audio for a few weeks now too, whenever I do anything in Windows 11. Have you found a solution yet at all?

Audio crackling/popping when I interact with Windows10

Anonymous

I recently started having an audio issue a few days ago, where when I have music playing (either on Spotify or Youtube) and I open the Windows Explorer to view files, open an application, hover over buttons or folders in the Explorer, or do anything on my computer, the audio sometimes pops and crackles, reacting to my mouse movements/actions. It also happens when I'm only listening to music and not moving my mouse. It will crackle maybe once every 2-3 minutes. I've gone through several websites and conducted steps to diagnose my problem, such as:

updating my audio drivers (no new updates found)
removing any sound effects on my playback device
changing the default format on my playback device (tried most options)
turning/replugging/cleaning/fiddling with the output jacks (I have a front and a rear 3.5mm jack and both of them crackle through my speakers and headphones)
reviewing DPC latency/audio processing latency checks via LatencyMon (no issue, got the green light)
reviewing overall CPU/memory/GPU usage (CPU and GPU are single digits and memory is around 30% because of browsers and other caches)
moving any possible interfering tech out of the way (closest objects are my monitor and keyboard + mouse)
"power drained" my computer (shut down, turn off PSU, unplugged everything, hold down power button for 20 seconds)

The only thing I can think of that changed with my computer is that I swapped out my graphics card (from a GTX 980 TI to RTX 2080) about a month before the crackling started. I didn't touch anything around the audio jack pin connectors and the PSU supports the increase in graphics processing power.

I'm out of ideas to try, so I'm hoping someone can give me some further advice.

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46 answers

Anonymous

2023-03-22T13:03:26+00:00

Hi, I have encountered this same problem on my machine a couple of days ago. In my case the sound started crackling after I installed ubuntu on another drive. I recall when finished installing ubuntu I tried to get back to windows, so I changed the boot option to the windows drive, and while waiting for windows to start, it crashed and basically I had to force reboot three/four times before it worked again. And now I'm facing the crackling audio, which is extremely annoying. I hope it is fixable, because if it is a problem related or caused to those infinite reloads and those forced reboots I think this is beyond my experties
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Anonymous

2023-02-16T04:06:06+00:00

Aaaaand the problem is back. Knew I spoke too soon! :(

Was after computer came out of sleep. Going to reboot and see what happens.
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Anonymous

2023-02-15T13:40:39+00:00

I've been suffering with popping/crackling audio for a few weeks now too, whenever I do anything in Windows 11. Have you found a solution yet at all?
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Anonymous

have the same issue.

My setup has run silk smooth since jan. 2022.

Not sure wether it began when i installed asus dual OC 3060 TI

or if there can be as simple as 1 connector that is a liuttle lose or anything HARDWARE related, as i just switched cabinet

(all same components xept GPU)

is there any solution????

Summary

	Operating System 

		Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 

	CPU 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

		AMD K19 

	RAM 

		40,0GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 1199MHz (16-18-18-39) 

	Motherboard 

		ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF GAMING B550-PRO (AM4)	36 °C 

	Graphics 

		LC32G5xT (2560x1440@144Hz) 

		4095MB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (ASUStek Computer Inc)	54 °C 

	Storage 

		3726GB Western Digital WDC WD40EZRZ-75GXCB0 (SATA )	27 °C 

		1907GB Patriot P210 2TB (SATA (SSD))	23 °C 

		465GB Western Digital WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 (SATA )	27 °C 

		232GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (SATA (SSD))	28 °C 

		1907GB Patriot P210 2048GB (SATA (SSD))	30 °C 

		7452GB Seagate ST8000DM004-2U9188 (SATA )	36 °C 

		3725GB Western Digital WD My Passport 25E2 USB Device (USB (SATA) (SSD))	27 °C 

		7452GB Seagate Backup+ Hub BK SCSI Disk Device (USB (SATA) )	41 °C 

	Optical Drives 

		No optical disk drives detected 

	Audio 

		NVIDIA High Definition Audio

Operating System

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 

Computer type: Desktop 

Installation Date: 22.01.2022 09:46:39 

Serial Number: TY4CG-JDJH7-VJ2WF-DY4X9-HCFC6 

	Windows Security Center 

		User Account Control (UAC)	Enabled 

		Notify level	1 - Rare Notify 

	Windows Update 

		AutoUpdate	Not configured 

	Windows Defender 

		Windows Defender	Disabled 

	Firewall 

		Firewall	Enabled 

		Display Name	Bitdefender Firewall 

	Antivirus 

			Bitdefender Antivirus 

				Antivirus	Enabled 

				Virus Signature Database	Up to date 

			Windows Defender 

				Antivirus	Disabled 

				Virus Signature Database	Up to date

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