Question Laptop keeps crackling and sound popping/freezing

[sheepdog2190]

Every time I watch something or listen to something, the audio always does this:

View: https/youtu.be/QIji5EJuyTk


My laptop freezes and the audio keeps popping.

I've been trying to fix it for a while but I've had no luck.

Does anyone know why?

 

[benz.media]

Hello!

Could you try going to another video platform like Vimeo and testing if the problem continues?

 

[sheepdog2190]

Hello!

Could you try going to another video platform like Vimeo and testing if the problem continues?

Hi! It's not only when I play videos/audio, it's even when I'm on Microsoft Word and I can tell that my laptop is freezing every second or so just like in the video above as it occurs when I'm typing/moving my mouse. If I muted the video you can still see it jittering, it's just more apparent when audio is being played as you can hear the popping and crackling sounds.

It doesn't matter what platform/software I'm on, it'll always do the same thing 🙁

 

[benz.media]

I would say it is because you have a bad laptop but this is certainly not the case. It seems like you have a high end MSI laptop specified for gaming. Do you have a pair of headphones or external speakers laying around? This seems like a hardware issue. You could try using an external speaker to see if the speakers are the issue. If the crackling continues, your laptop speakers are fine.

 

[sheepdog2190]

I would say it is because you have a bad laptop but this is certainly not the case. It seems like you have a high end MSI laptop specified for gaming. Do you have a pair of headphones or external speakers laying around? This seems like a hardware issue. You could try using an external speaker to see if the speakers are the issue. If the crackling continues, your laptop speakers are fine.

My laptop is pretty high end and I bought it about a year ago, so it's pretty new (ish). It's not a speaker problem either as I often pair it with my Bluetooth speakers and the same issue occurs so I don't think the laptop speakers are the problem. Initially I thought it was a driver issue, but after re-installing and updating all speaker drivers the problem hasn't been solved.

Thank you for your replies by the way!

 

[benz.media]

No problem, I'm happy to hopefully help.
The laptop speakers defiantly aren't the problem. I think this would indeed be a driver issue. Did you perform any upgrades on the laptop (ram upgrades, etc)?

 

[sheepdog2190]

No problem, I'm happy to hopefully help.
The laptop speakers defiantly aren't the problem. I think this would indeed be a driver issue. Did you perform any upgrades on the laptop (ram upgrades, etc)?

I haven't taken anything apart from the laptop from when I bought it. What would you recommend to try with regards to the laptop drivers? I've tried a lot of things with them and still no luck.

I don't know if this is remotely connected but my keyboard works half of the time. The 'backspace', the 'F', 'C' and 'R' frequently don't work unless I rapidly press them and hope for the best. For some reason holding down the 'NUM LOCK' key fixes the issue and I can use the keyboard as normal.

 

[benz.media]

I'm first going to try to resolve the audio and video issue, then I will move on to the keyboard issue if you don't mind it.

Here are a list of options:

1. Look in installed programs, is there a program called SmartByte? This problem occurs mainly on Dell devices but just to be sure, uninstall it if it is there. Check if the problem is resolved.

2. Set your power plan to High Performance.

3. Set your Shift key to Sport Mode.

4. A question, is your power button showing a yellow/orange light or a blue light?

5. Download a program called LatencyMon, this will diagnose your drivers to check which drivers are possibly causing DPC latency issues.

6. Go to Control Panel > Power Options, and if there is a 'Intel Speedstep' option, disable it.

 

[sheepdog2190]

I'm first going to try to resolve the audio and video issue, then I will move on to the keyboard issue if you don't mind it.

Here are a list of options:

1. Look in installed programs, is there a program called SmartByte? This problem occurs mainly on Dell devices but just to be sure, uninstall it if it is there. Check if the problem is resolved.

2. Set your power plan to High Performance.

3. Set your Shift key to Sport Mode.

4. A question, is your power button showing a yellow/orange light or a blue light?

5. Download a program called LatencyMon, this will diagnose your drivers to check which drivers are possibly causing DPC latency issues.

6. Go to Control Panel > Power Options, and if there is a 'Intel Speedstep' option, disable it.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Good news.
This came up when scanning my laptop with the LatencyMon software:

Screenshot

Captured with Lightshot

prntscr.com

I also always have my laptop on high performance.
My laptop is currently on orange, while on 95%, and it doesn't seem to be going any higher when plugged in.

It says: (plugged in, not charging) when it is actually plugged in...?

 

[benz.media]

I will diagnose the battery problem after the audio problem. Your laptop is on Orange, that means it is running off of the CPU graphics and not GPU. Do you have a program called NVIDIA control panel?

 

[sheepdog2190]

I will diagnose the battery problem after the audio problem. Your laptop is on Orange, that means it is running off of the CPU graphics and not GPU. Do you have a program called NVIDIA control panel?

Yes I do, although I haven't used it on my laptop in a while. What would I need to do on there?
It says in the screenshot that "One more more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long." Doesn't that mean it's a driver issue?

 

[benz.media]

It could be, but I am not completely sure. Please run the NVIDIA Control Panel, and click on Manage 3D settings. Go to program settings and find Firefox or firefox.exe. Select 'Global Settings (Nvidia GPU)' and check if the power button goes blue when you restart firefox and open it again.

 

[sheepdog2190]

It could be, but I am not completely sure. Please run the NVIDIA Control Panel, and click on Manage 3D settings. Go to program settings and find Firefox or firefox.exe. Select 'Global Settings (Nvidia GPU)' and check if the power button goes blue when you restart firefox and open it again.

Done. There is a orange LED on the power button, and underneath there is a blue LED on top of the 'PGDN END' button, is that the one you're on about?

 

[benz.media]

I mean the orange LED on the power button. It should be blue, if you restart firefox and open it again.

 

[sheepdog2190]

I mean the orange LED on the power button. It should be blue, if you restart firefox and open it again.

Nope, still orange. Restarted my laptop many times and still have the same result.These are the settings:

http://prntscr.com/myast9

Although after changing this setting globally I have not had the issue of the audio popping and laptop freezing since.

How would I go about applying the driver problem in the screenshot a few messages ago? Surely the software was correct in identifying the problem as it listed the exact side effects I'm experiencing?

 

[ronpar]

It could be 1 of 3 things causing this! Bad ram, or not enough of it! Your CPU is getting over heated which could be caused by dirty CPU fan or the CPU is caked up with dust! Or You have Malware/Virus! If I was You I would try this step. Go online, download a Linux Mint Live CD/USB! and boot from it! Or any live Linux CD/USB will do an boot from it! To get it to work You may need to go into bios and turn on Legacy! Just remember to set it back for Normal OS! If the linux works fine, then I would say You have a Virus/Malware intruders on Your System! Hope this helps! Regards!