[SOLVED] Asus Prime Z270-a , realtek sound issues

[tomvalla]

Hi !
about 4 days ago, I started having problems with sound.
I am using Realtek on Asus Prime Z270-a and its connected with optical cable ( I have Logitech Z-5500).
When I turn on my PC, sound's OK about 1-2 hours and then I can hear some skipping or popping.

I tried:
- change speakers from home cinema (did not help)
- plug the headphones direct to realtek (did not help)
- reinstall Realtek drivers and GPU drivers - older, the newest (did not help)
- disable and renable the NVidia display drivers in Device Manager (did not help)
- disable Fast Startup (did not help)

My PC spec:
Core i7 7700K (4,2GHz) ; ASUS PRIME Z270-A ; Kingston 16GB KIT DDR4 2666MHz CL15 HyperX Fury Black Series ; ASUS ROG STRIX GAMING GeForce GTX 1080 Advanced Edition DirectCU III 8GB ; Samsung 960 EVO 250GB, HDD WD 1TB, Seagate BarraCuda 2TB ; EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 80 Plus Gold ;OS: Win 10 64bit

I would be very grateful if you help me

Regards
Tom

 

[robuck]

Seems like we have similar hardware and the same problem! I haven't seen a solution anywhere. I don't use optical though, I was hoping that might fix it but apparently not. You didn't mention testing latency (with LatencyMon) but if you haven't, you should. It might help you, it didn't help me though.

I'm interested if the SB-Z fixed it for you, please let me know when you try it.

 

[norcalsc]

Wierd does it sound like interference? I recently had same issue purchased new klipsch speakers and issue went away. I ended up buying a sound blaster audigy fx sound card as well. The speakers solved the issue but the sound card takes it to a different level. I never used an optical cable though and don't know if they are subject to interference the same way. I also am running a 7700k on gigabyte z170x ud5 board

 

[tomvalla]

to robuck: ok ! today after work, i will try and let you know

to norcalsc: its cool if new speakers went issue away ... i tried another speakers from home cinema LG HB954PB and did not help

 

[tomvalla]

I already have SBZ soundcard and after some hours of no problem clear sound ... crackling returned I have no idea what to do. I can hear crackling more often when I am surfing on Chrome browser or when I am working in Windows. Crackling is audible only when Youtube is turned on or when I am gaming.
I contolled PC with antivirus and with Spybot ... I dont have any ideas for now

 

[tomvalla]

I am adding monitoring after 7 hours of restart computer

https://imgur.com/jyNqZfR
https://imgur.com/OzIvTKE
https://imgur.com/iaGJ3DF
https://imgur.com/BEg66Zl
https://imgur.com/w5jDQVk
https://imgur.com/rpkFl2h

 

[robuck]

You shouldn't be getting those red latency spikes, those are not happening for me so I think there's still hope for your soundcard. Those spikes are definitely causing at least some of your crackling.

This is mine - https://imgur.com/2ZQkTGH

I had the same problem as you at first though, those red spikes and my audio was MUCH worse and couldn't watch youtube. I don't know exactly what I did to fix it since I did dozens of things but I think you can fix it somehow.

I can see from your IMG that you seem to have high latency from your ndis.sys network. Perhaps updating your network driver would help a lot.

other things I did that might help:

Download http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html and uninstall nvidia driver, reinstall a new one (like 390.65) but when you install it, don't install that "geforce experience"..
Disable useless Telemetry http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/nvidia_adds_telemetry_to_latest_drivers_heres_how_to_disable_it.html
(I don't think it's exactly the same as that webpage, but just disable "telemetry" things)

Go into your nvidia control panel and make sure it's set to default. I think it works best if you have "global power management mode" on optimal. Other than that, nothing really makes a difference for me.

and make sure your other drivers for important things are up to date as well like https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

Also... "High Performance Power Plan" DOES lower my latency, but it's not necessary and I keep my pc on "balanced" and stay in the green.


And don't run anything unnecessary until you get your latency in the green.

I apologize for not knowing exactly what I did to fix my latency but as you can understand it was a lot of frustrating trial and error

Until you fix that red latency spike you'll have crackling. Don't give up!

 

[tomvalla]

to robuck:
Thanks for reply and giving me tips, but:
- I already update my chipset, lan, sata drivers from ASUS web before monitoring .. did not help
- I already use DDU and clear installation my GFX 1080 without GFexperience .. did not help
- disabling Telemery is new info for me .. i can do that when i come back from work
- i already have high performance power plan

What about flashing my bios ? would it help ?

 

[tomvalla]

Hello,
BIOS updated. Now I have version 1302.

Now I have LatencyMod running and after 50 mins .. I have problems

Current measured interrupt +- 600-800
Highest measured interrupt 3409
Highest reported DPC 1140

 

[robuck]

Does your ndis.sys still have a high DPC count in latencymon? Mine seems much lower than yours. You could try temporarily disabling your network adapter in device manager to see if that is causing the problems.

Here's what mine looks like to compare.

https://imgur.com/a/CimSkHs

Look at your link, https://imgur.com/w5jDQVk -- I'm no expert but that "18ms execution time" doesn't look normal at all.

 

[Ghozer]

I registered to reply, to state that I have the same issue.. have had for over 2 years, tried to find a fix, and the ONLY thing I found, was to enable 'listen to this device' on something in 'recording', and turn it right down to 1 on the volume, this seems to keep the audio 'active' and reduce the pops greatly!

Built in Feb 2017, using DTS:Interactive and Optical Out

random pops/skips every 30 seconds to a minute, even just when sat on desktop..
have tried with different decoder/receiver and has the same issue...

I notice the DTS light on my decoder flick off and back on when the 'pop' happens - almost as though DTS encoding is restarting every so often! :/

I have tried different 'custom' drivers, tried direct from Realtek, and from Asus - all have the same issue, Currently on the latest from Asus!