"Crackling" and intermittent pauses during playback:

Am using a Dell Latitude 6400 with Windows 7; Intel HD Audio--> a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro-->Grado HF-1's.

I am having intermittent crackling noises (and the occasional pop too) and (only recently) 1-2 second pauses as well.

I have tested the sound through various interfaces (Itunes, Winamp, Youtube) and I experience the same problem throughout.

I have also updated all of my drivers.

Any ideas?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs 

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

Run the DPC latency checker utility and report back with your results.

Joe...this thing just keeps going and going.

What results would you like me to post?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs 

Do you get red bars or all green bars?  Does it say your machine is "able to handle real-time streaming of audio..." or something else?

I got both red and green. The red were tall spikes at about 4-8000, while most of the greens are between 500 and 1000.

Some of the reds go all the way to the top.

Otherwise it doesnt say anything other than "analysing DPC Latency".

Should I just let it go?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs 

You've definitely got a problem related to DPC / ISR latency.  For it to intrude on normal music playback (rather than say, realtime music production work) your problem is real bad.  Follow the guide here

http://www.native-instruments.com/knowledge/questions/847/Windows+7+Tuning+Tips+for+Audio+Processing

 

Skip the part about "use asio drivers" and "latency setting", those are not pertinent to your situation.  Check out their instructions regarding "latencymon" and "deactivate devices in the windows device manager".  The latencymon part is diagnostic but may be a bit too technical.  If you can't figure that part out, just start deactivating devices listed in the second part and run DPC latency checker again, rinse and repeat until you get a clear slate of green bars, no reds.

OK Joe...I seem to have two things that are running incredibly slow (or well above a 1.0 execution) and those are my TCP/IP and NDIS.

Can I disable these and/or download new drivers for them?

What are they exactly? Please forgive the ignorance...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs 

These drivers are responsible for connecting to the internet and are often responsible for problems.  Are you using the wireless LAN adapter?  Try disabling it and see if the readings improve.  If it does, try finding new drivers for your wireless adapter, or failing that, buy another one and slot it on through USB.

I disabled it and it didnt do anything.

What is the "Intel Gigabit Network Connection"?

What would happen if I disabled that?

My NDIS DRIVER seems to have the highest execution , followed by the tcp/ip driver. What would I disable/update in order to fix the NDIS?

Ok, so its actually both the wired and wireless network adapter drivers that are definitively causing the problems here.

When I uninstalled both I got all green bars.

So I downloaded the newest drivers for both and the problems are back.

Then, I disabled the wired driver and only ran on the my Wireless card. They BOTH seem to be causing problems, independent of one another.

What to do now?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mich41 

NDIS and TCP/IP are parts of Windows networking subsystem so it may be a Microsoft or Dell screw-up.

If you have some USB network interface laying around, try it. But also check if you have Windows updates installed. Do you have possibility to talk with Dell support about this? After all, you are using their laptop in stock configuration and it doesn't work.

EDIT:
So it happens also with wired only? Or not?

I definitely do not want to call Dell...

yes, it happens when I run each independently of the other.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikiphile 

Guys, I have EXACTLY the same problem. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad SL510, Windows 7 32bit. I get the same latency problem that you do kwitel but it actually happens whenever I play music, from every single player. The thing is that it doesnt only occur when i try to feed the DAC thr USB, it also happens when i play it through my onboard sound card. Are you experiencing the same thing?

I also suspecting that it might be the network drivers, but I am too afraid to go disabling drivers on my own.. I am not sure what could happen.

 

Is there any risk involved that this might F-up some drivers? Which drivers I shouldnt touch?

As long as disabling certain drivers while listening to music stops the latency, I would be very happy. I really dont need the internet when im listening to music. Does it work like that?

 

After 6 months of annoyance, I solved the problem.

Its Malwarebytes.

Do you have that installed? Its specifically the pay version (Malwarebytes Pro).

If so, simply uncheck "enable malicious website blocking" under "protection".

Some people have to completely uninstall the Pro version and use the lighter one, but the above has worked for many, including me.