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.

I am having this exact same issue pretty much 1-1 carbon copy. Audio is horribly poppy and cracky and its unbareable, but the issue goes if I restart and then comes back if I shutdown. Massive bets that this is a Windows issue, however I literally just reinstalled windows 10 on a new drive and the issue persists. Hmmmmm. Could you share your computer specifications if maybe there are some hardware similarities? i5 8600k Z370P HD3 Gigabyte Motherboard GTX 1080 Zotac Mini Windows on NVME M.2 WD Black 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Corsair Vengeance 750W Cooler Master PSU Not sure if most of that is relevant but I have also tried every """solution""" under the bus and its like shouting into a wall, nothing works, and restarting the computer is the only (temporary) solution I can find to the issue. Its honestly infuriating. EDIT: I even purchased a separate sound card, which flags to me that this is some kind of software issue, likely Microsoft or Realteks doing somewhere.

Message to everyone here: attempt turning off "Windows Fast Startup" The fact that my audio worked after a restart wasnt a coincidence. It turned out this garbage windows option decided to check itself on after an update and was the absolute villain responsible for the months of irritation. Turning this off has 1000000% fixed this disgusting issue permanently and it has not made an appearance since.

Me too! When I'm running Audacity (for audio recording) and its set back my work considerably. I've tried going into the HP site to download the Realtek audio drivers and High Def, then restarting. But no change. Grrr! I have Latency Mon. and notoriously records each session as Audio or Hardware failures conflicting with card or graphics DPC. I am at a loss! Any solutions???

Just wanted to add my own voice to this problem, running Windows 11 with the exact same issue. I note that for me when windows starts if I hear a pop at the start of the Windows startup, then it's a good sign that audio is going to be a problem today. Question for everyone: Are you all using Realtek sound controllers and drivers? Things I have tried that don't fix it: Disabling Fast Start (it's still off but the problem persists - I double checked after reading above that someone had this turn back on. Installed latest updates. Rolled back my ASUS MB bios to previous version (this actually helped with a sleep crashing issue, but not the audio problem). Updating Windows audio drivers Rolling back Windows audio drivers Updating and rolling back ASUS/Realtek drivers Removing all signs of Sonic Studio Disabling DTS Disabling all other audio inputs and outputs that I don't use (but another bug in Windows causes these to come back from time to time - and the defaults to change - another problem featured in other threads) changing how I connect to the speakers (they are powered speakers with a built in DAC) - BT, optical, analogue Updating Windows All the other things listed above and in all those articles (outside of reinstalling Windows) Standing on one foot and rubbing my tummy while patting my head I was about to buy a USB audio "card" but I see that someone else tried that. One thing I am unsure about is why there are Realtek drivers from Microsoft for the Audio inputs and outputs section in Device Manager, and Realtek drivers under Sound, video and game controllers. I wonder if this driver mismatch is part of the issue? Going to try reaching out to Realtek to see if they can help. It's one of those problems that is annoying enough to warrant spending time trying to fix it, but small enough to feel like such a waste of time doing so with no real answers from anyone who can actually understand what is going on software and/or hardware wise (I am 99% sure it's driver related).

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

2022-09-14T16:59:32+00:00

I am having this exact same issue pretty much 1-1 carbon copy. Audio is horribly poppy and cracky and its unbareable, but the issue goes if I restart and then comes back if I shutdown.

Massive bets that this is a Windows issue, however I literally just reinstalled windows 10 on a new drive and the issue persists. Hmmmmm.

Could you share your computer specifications if maybe there are some hardware similarities?

i5 8600k Z370P HD3 Gigabyte Motherboard

GTX 1080 Zotac Mini

Windows on NVME M.2 WD Black

16GB DDR4 3200MHz Corsair Vengeance

750W Cooler Master PSU

Not sure if most of that is relevant but I have also tried every """solution""" under the bus and its like shouting into a wall, nothing works, and restarting the computer is the only (temporary) solution I can find to the issue. Its honestly infuriating.

EDIT: I even purchased a separate sound card, which flags to me that this is some kind of software issue, likely Microsoft or Realteks doing somewhere.
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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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Anonymous

2022-12-07T01:05:36+00:00

Message to everyone here: attempt turning off "Windows Fast Startup"

The fact that my audio worked after a restart wasnt a coincidence. It turned out this garbage windows option decided to check itself on after an update and was the absolute villain responsible for the months of irritation.

Turning this off has 1000000% fixed this disgusting issue permanently and it has not made an appearance since.
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Anonymous

2022-12-28T19:54:16+00:00

Me too! When I'm running Audacity (for audio recording) and its set back my work considerably. I've tried going into the HP site to download the Realtek audio drivers and High Def, then restarting. But no change. Grrr! I have Latency Mon. and notoriously records each session as Audio or Hardware failures conflicting with card or graphics DPC.

I am at a loss! Any solutions???
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Anonymous

2023-02-05T23:56:13+00:00
Just wanted to add my own voice to this problem, running Windows 11 with the exact same issue.

I note that for me when windows starts if I hear a pop at the start of the Windows startup, then it's a good sign that audio is going to be a problem today.

Question for everyone: Are you all using Realtek sound controllers and drivers?

Things I have tried that don't fix it:
- Disabling Fast Start (it's still off but the problem persists - I double checked after reading above that someone had this turn back on.
- Installed latest updates.
- Rolled back my ASUS MB bios to previous version (this actually helped with a sleep crashing issue, but not the audio problem).
- Updating Windows audio drivers
- Rolling back Windows audio drivers
- Updating and rolling back ASUS/Realtek drivers
- Removing all signs of Sonic Studio
- Disabling DTS
- Disabling all other audio inputs and outputs that I don't use (but another bug in Windows causes these to come back from time to time - and the defaults to change - another problem featured in other threads)
- changing how I connect to the speakers (they are powered speakers with a built in DAC) - BT, optical, analogue
- Updating Windows
- All the other things listed above and in all those articles (outside of reinstalling Windows)
- Standing on one foot and rubbing my tummy while patting my head
I was about to buy a USB audio "card" but I see that someone else tried that.

One thing I am unsure about is why there are Realtek drivers from Microsoft for the Audio inputs and outputs section in Device Manager, and Realtek drivers under Sound, video and game controllers. I wonder if this driver mismatch is part of the issue?

Going to try reaching out to Realtek to see if they can help. It's one of those problems that is annoying enough to warrant spending time trying to fix it, but small enough to feel like such a waste of time doing so with no real answers from anyone who can actually understand what is going on software and/or hardware wise (I am 99% sure it's driver related).
Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.

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