Question Bizarre problem with audio driver ?

[Dire Weeb]

Having a problem with my audio drivers. I'm very close to solving it, but it's been quite the beast. Windows 11, ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4 motherboard, Realtek drivers.

Basically, I hear a pop whenever an audio channel opens or closes, my Windows Search is broken, and I have no Realtek HD Audio Manager program. All attempts to uninstall the audio driver and replace it have failed to resolve the issues. If I disable onboard audio in my BIOS settings, Windows Search works again. But whenever onboard audio is enabled, the system automatically installs a Realtek audio driver which suffers from the same old issues. Windows Search also breaks when this happens. Windows Search does work in safe mode. Searching in menus (such as when uploading a file to a site) works fine no matter what. I had this issue in Windows 10, and it has persisted through my upgrade into Windows 11.

I use a new pair of headphones which do not have this problem on other devices. I could use the audio port on my monitor, and this does not have the pop problem, but it makes a massive, constant static noise. I still have the driver that was included on the CD that came with my motherboard. Installing it is tough, since Windows desperately wants to install a different version. I attempted to install Realtek's R2.82 audio driver from their website, but after the installation process it just doesn't show up in the device list. I'm currently using the rear audio jack of my computer since the front one doesn't work. Either it's not connected properly, or not enabled. I think I disabled it back when my PC actually did have Realtek HD Audio Manager (and these problems didn't exist), but I don't remember. If I could install that program again, I could check.

So that's my situation. After rebooting my computer countless times for a few hours, I'm exhausted and confused. I'll check the front audio jack's connection, but that's not going to solve the Windows Search issue even if it fixes the popping. I do have the option of backing up my files and reinstalling the entire OS. My search bar broke around the time that I tried (and failed) to install a virtual machine on my computer. System integrity scans find no violations.

 

[kerberos_20]

Asrock should have win 11 drivers for your mainboard devices
https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/#Download
it should be that nahimic

 

[Dire Weeb]

Asrock should have win 11 drivers for your mainboard devices
https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/#Download
it should be that nahimic

Thanks, but I tried that and it just didn't do anything. The installer closes out like it's successful but nothing happens.

 

[Dire Weeb]

Alright so with further experimentation I've found that Nahimic Audio actually did install. It just refuses to open unless I have a Realtek driver installed. I got it to open but the problem is that it doesn't help at all. There aren't any settings that solve the popping problem.

I did, however, learn how to replace my Realtek driver with one from Microsoft. The popping is significantly better with this version, but it's not entirely gone, my Windows Search is still broken, and I still have no audio management application.

I still have no idea what's going on. The first time I switched to the Microsoft driver, the popping was totally gone. Now it's back.

 

[Colif]

Nahimic is normally actually part of realtek drivers, so that explains why it won't install without them.

 

[Dire Weeb]

Got the front audio jack working just by unplugging the port on the motherboard and plugging it back in. Still getting the popping, though.

 

[Dire Weeb]

I went with the full reinstall of Windows 11, which fixed everything except the popping. Now I'm thinking that it's a hardware issue, especially since sometimes it pops so ferociously that it sounds like there's a spark going off in my headphones. How can I troubleshoot this if it's a hardware problem? Google searching for "hardware audio problem" just yields a lot of off-target results. Could it be because of the way my PC's wires are resting in the case? Like that the audio cable is too close to the power cable? This is the first PC I've built so it wouldn't be surprising at all if something's seriously wrong there.

 

[Dire Weeb]

NEVERMIND ABOUT THE SEARCH FUNCTION BEING FIXED IT JUST BROKE ITSELF AGAIN OUT OF NOWHERE WHYYY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[Dire Weeb]

Hello again. I've done some more digging and I have some details that might help people figure this out.

1. Audio - I partially fixed the problem when I realized that my motherboard has 12 CPU power pins and that I'd only connected 8. Now I usually don't get a click sound when I start playing audio, but it still frequently happens. My DPC latency is usually at 1000. Maybe it's bad cable management.
2. Search - Trying to search will cause SearchHost.exe to open and close multiple times, then log an error in the event viewer. Search does work in safe mode, but I've found it impossible to isolate the cause even so. I found someone on Google who seemed to have my exact issue. The user claimed that creating a backup user profile helped temporarily. Below is a video of the error. The result is about the same in File Explorer.

Here's the error that shows up:
Faulting application name: SearchHost.exe, version: 421.22500.1565.0, time stamp: 0x61d877ae
Faulting module name: edgehtml.dll, version: 11.0.22000.527, time stamp: 0x98375460
Exception code: 0x88985004
Fault offset: 0x0000000000657e37
Faulting process id: 0x4728
Faulting application start time: 0x01d84ef69cb237e6
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchHost.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\edgehtml.dll
Report Id: 6f7a686d-83f6-499d-8028-b49955314337
Faulting package full name: MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_1000.22000.556.0_x64__cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: CortanaUI

EDIT: Problem 2 is SOOOOOOLVED
Searching for "Exception code: 0x88985004" revealed that it is a problem with permissions and accessing a font file. Stopping FontCache (Windows Font Cache Service) in Services has completely fixed the problem. Restarting FontCache does not cause the problem to return.

Still dealing with problem 1 tho.

 

[kerberos_20]

for that search part, try disabling cortana
for that audio part...try latencymon https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

 

[Dire Weeb]

for that search part, try disabling cortana
for that audio part...try latencymon https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

The search part is fixed. As for the audio, I'm convinced that it's a hardware issue since the pops don't show up in my recordings.

 

[Dire Weeb]

https://imgur.com/a/ATBvWmn

View: https://imgur.com/a/ATBvWmn

Here are some photos of the inside of my PC. Hopefully someone can notice a really obvious problem in spite of how hard it is to see anything. I've been trying to move the audio cable further away from the power cables, but it's not really helping.

The first image is the back panel. The next 3 are the motherboard. The audio cable is the one running along the bottom in the 3rd image.

 

[johnbl]

Hello again. I've done some more digging and I have some details that might help people figure this out.

1. Audio - I partially fixed the problem when I realized that my motherboard has 12 CPU power pins and that I'd only connected 8. Now I usually don't get a click sound when I start playing audio, but it still frequently happens. My DPC latency is usually at 1000. Maybe it's bad cable management.
2. Search - Trying to search will cause SearchHost.exe to open and close multiple times, then log an error in the event viewer. Search does work in safe mode, but I've found it impossible to isolate the cause even so. I found someone on Google who seemed to have my exact issue. The user claimed that creating a backup user profile helped temporarily. Below is a video of the error. The result is about the same in File Explorer.

Here's the error that shows up:
Faulting application name: SearchHost.exe, version: 421.22500.1565.0, time stamp: 0x61d877ae
Faulting module name: edgehtml.dll, version: 11.0.22000.527, time stamp: 0x98375460
Exception code: 0x88985004
Fault offset: 0x0000000000657e37
Faulting process id: 0x4728
Faulting application start time: 0x01d84ef69cb237e6
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchHost.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\edgehtml.dll
Report Id: 6f7a686d-83f6-499d-8028-b49955314337
Faulting package full name: MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_1000.22000.556.0_x64__cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: CortanaUI

EDIT: Problem 2 is SOOOOOOLVED
Searching for "Exception code: 0x88985004" revealed that it is a problem with permissions and accessing a font file. Stopping FontCache (Windows Font Cache Service) in Services has completely fixed the problem. Restarting FontCache does not cause the problem to return.

Still dealing with problem 1 tho.

sharing violation on a font file:
: kd> !error 0x88985004
Error code: (HRESULT) 0x88985004 (2291683332) - A font file exists but could not be opened due to access denied, sharing violation, or similar error.

I was going to have you delete the search database but your fix is better.

 

[Dire Weeb]

I disconnected the audio cable and plugged my headphones directly into the motherboard. I'm still getting the audio problem.