Sound crashing on multiple devices

Thrilin

Commendable
Mar 2, 2016
1
0
1,510
Hi. I've been having some audio trouble for the past month or so, and today it's gotten even worse. Just kinda hoping someone here knows what part I have to replace or at least why my pc is doing all this crap.

So for the last month(ish), my sound would work fine for a seemingly random amount of time (sometimes only one or two crashes a day, sometimes a crash every 5-10 minutes. Couldn't find a pattern), then for lack of a better term, stop responding. The sound would stop playing, and the program currently making sound would usually (not 100% of the time, but close) crash/hang. after anywhere from 2-30 minutes, the device would (usually) start working again. Eventually, I also figured out I could disable and re-enable the device, and that seemed to get it working again too.

Today, I turned on my PC, and had the following symptoms:
(Parentheses are what the devices are plugged into.)

Since bootup, normal speakers haven't been working.
(Onboard sound)

At bootup, wireless headset was not working.
(USB+Optical cable)

After unplugging the optical cable, the wireless headset worked for about 20 min, then crashed.
(USB)

I then tried my monitor speakers, which each seemed to work for about 20 min, then would crash.
(HDMI thru GPU)

After a device crashes, I have tried disabling and re-enabling the device. When that doesn't fix it, I try the "test" button in playback devices, which is always followed by one of these messages:

"Failed to play test tone."
(Onboard sound speakers)
OR
"The device is being used by another application. Please close any devices that are playing audio to this device and try again."
(USB and HDMI devices)

Specs/Peripherals in question:
Astro A50 wireless headset
3x ASUS VE248Q monitors
Cyber Acoustics Subwoofer Satellite System (CA-3602a)
GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 (I’m about 95% sure that's the right one)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980

So.. Yeah. I think that's everything. Any help would be fantastic, I've been tearing my hair out all morning.

Thanks for your time.
 
Solution
What sound card are you using? Or are you using the motherboard's built-in sound card?

Is the sound card securely seated (if not using motherboard connections). Likewise for the graphics card.

Any loose cable connectors, wiggly port connections, frayed or stretched audio related wires?

You did not mention any attempts to reinstall the sound card drivers. Download from the manufacturer and reinstall.
What sound card are you using? Or are you using the motherboard's built-in sound card?

Is the sound card securely seated (if not using motherboard connections). Likewise for the graphics card.

Any loose cable connectors, wiggly port connections, frayed or stretched audio related wires?

You did not mention any attempts to reinstall the sound card drivers. Download from the manufacturer and reinstall.
 
Solution