[SOLVED] Audio pops, mouse lags across screen, and mic static if computer is left on overnight ?

[IckyDrew]

Hello,
So to start off my situation, I usually leave my computer on 24/7 and only restart for updated and such. A few weeks ago, there was a day where I unlocked my computer and oddly enough, my mouse was lagging across my screen, and the audio was popping when I would watch a video/listen to music. Even stranger, when I would hop into discord, my mic would show constant usage and my friends said my mic was outputting an extremely loud blank static noise.

The previous day, I updated NVIDIA drivers, ImageGlass, GPU-Z, FaceIt, OneDrive, VoiceMod, installed a FooBar Visualizer, and uninstalled NiceHash (crypto miner software). I uninstalled all of these programs to see if the updates were faulty but got the same result each time I would leave my computer on overnight (I lock it using Windows + L). My friends suggested a memory issue, that my RAM may be bugged and is looping, however Windows Memory Diagnostics tool found no issues with my RAM.

At this point, we believe a rogue driver/program may have an internal memory leak, and I have no idea where to begin as my task manager looks completely normal when I'm having these issues. It doesn't seem like any programs are using too much ram, cpu, network, disk, etc. to warrant any suspicion. The only thing I can think of is my Antivirus, Norton 360, and how I had to make many exceptions for NiceHash, which could leave me vulnerable to attacks, but could this be an effect?

I appreciate any responses as this issue is only being resolved by restarting my computer each day. Once restarted, the computer is completely normal until the next morning!

 

[Lutfij]

Please make sure you're on the latest BIOS update for your motherboard, then check to see which OS version you're on. By the looks of things, I think you should reinstall your OS from scratch after you fabricate the installer using Windows Media Creation Tools. Once your installation is complete, disconnect from the internet and manually install all drivers in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

Before you perform a clean install, I'd advise on downloading the latest drivers for your platform of your manufacturer's support site. Speaking of manufacturer's when posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, you're advised to list your full system's specs.

Second point, leaving your system on everyday only means you're burning through your power, you're advised to power down and turn the main power to the system off when the system is not in use.

 

[IckyDrew]

Update: Downloaded and used a program named "LatencyMon" as the issue was still happening after reinstalling my operating system. The audio pops and laggy mouse was still occurring after leaving the PC on for more than 15 hours. Turns out, the NVIDIA Kernel was causing the high amounts of latency. Sure enough, after uninstalling NVIDIA's graphics drivers, and reverting back to the drivers I had before this issue started (so I reverted to NVIDIA graphics drivers from November of 2020), the issue did not present itself anymore.

TL;DR - New NVIDIA Graphics Drivers (specifically the Kernel) caused the latency in the mouse and audio. Reverting back to November 2020 graphics drivers solved the issue.