Hearing a static, crackling sound from Realtek onboard on windows 7

[faune]

I recently upgraded my computer and moved all the components to a new case and later switched to windows 7.

While I was on my old OS with vista (same hardware as I have today) I had no issues with my sound.

Then I upgraded to win 7 (clean install). I downloaded the latest Realtek drivers, R249 (ALC883), for my on-board sound (Gigabyte G31M ES2L Mobo) and I noticed that some of my iTunes music made a crackling sound that was previously not there. Since I thought the problem was only with iTunes music I looked for a solution regarding iTunes and found that there were some issues with purchased music and a crackling sound on iTunes 9 but I am hearing it on imported music as well.

I also hear this crackling sound on skype and sometimes when I watch online videos from you tube and the like. I do not hear this sound during gaming or while watching DVDs which is weird.

I don't think the problem is my speakers because I am not hearing the crackling sound all the time with every application as I have stated above and i tried a pair of headphones and I get the same results.

My specs:
Mobo: Gigabyte G31M ES2L
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4
GPU: Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 5770
Ram: 4 GB DDR2 800
PSU: Seasonic M12II 620 W
Case: Cooler Master 335 Elite
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
Speakers: Creative SBS 2.1 350


Please help me.

Thanks.

 

[faune]

bump

 

[darkace]

i had that problem too when i first switched over to Windows 7. I never really solved the problem ended up just buying a $30 sound card. My suggestion go buy a cheap sound card it'll still sound better than onboard haha.

 

[faune]

i had that problem too when i first switched over to Windows 7. I never really solved the problem ended up just buying a $30 sound card. My suggestion go buy a cheap sound card it'll still sound better than onboard haha.

Yeah... from what I've seen so far the problem seems to be coming from the switch to Win 7 every where I look (forums, googling etc...) people say they only started having this problem after switching, like me. The only problem is I don't think I have room in my case for and I prefer not to buy a sound card at the moment.

There must be some way to fix this problem.

 

[stacks the magnanimous]

I had the same problem you did. I googled it and saw a 30+ page long thread on some Windows 7 forums with a number of solutions. that worked for various people. For, me it was EasyTune6. I uninstalled it (if you're going to overclock, do it from the BIOS anyway) and the problem went away.

Hope this helps.

 

[faune]

I had the same problem you did. I googled it and saw a 30+ page long thread on some Windows 7 forums with a number of solutions. that worked for various people. For, me it was EasyTune6. I uninstalled it (if you're going to overclock, do it from the BIOS anyway) and the problem went away.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your response Stacks.

I don't have ET installed and I am not overclocking. Where should I start? the problem began when I switched from windows vista to windows 7.

 

[stacks the magnanimous]

Take a look at this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/22369-realtek-windows-7-64rtm-crackle-static-popping.html

I'd recommend checking if there are any changes when you keep your processor at 100% usage minimum and terminating all unnecessary background services. I don't know much beyond that, if neither of those work, the aforementioned thread is the best I can do for you.

Best of luck.

 

[aford10]

There could be some interference. You could try moving around the cables in the back of the PC.

 

[dgthomas]

I recently upgraded my computer and moved all the components to a new case and later switched to windows 7.

While I was on my old OS with vista (same hardware as I have today) I had no issues with my sound.

Then I upgraded to win 7 (clean install). I downloaded the latest Realtek drivers, R249 (ALC883), for my on-board sound (Gigabyte G31M ES2L Mobo) and I noticed that some of my iTunes music made a crackling sound that was previously not there. Since I thought the problem was only with iTunes music I looked for a solution regarding iTunes and found that there were some issues with purchased music and a crackling sound on iTunes 9 but I am hearing it on imported music as well.

I also hear this crackling sound on skype and sometimes when I watch online videos from you tube and the like. I do not hear this sound during gaming or while watching DVDs which is weird.

I don't think the problem is my speakers because I am not hearing the crackling sound all the time with every application as I have stated above and i tried a pair of headphones and I get the same results.

My specs:
Mobo: Gigabyte G31M ES2L
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4
GPU: Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 5770
Ram: 4 GB DDR2 800
PSU: Seasonic M12II 620 W
Case: Cooler Master 335 Elite
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
Speakers: Creative SBS 2.1 350


Please help me.

Thanks.

Finally I got the problem solved!!!!
The key is to install an older driver R2.22 for vista, which is the driver just before the Windows 7 one came out.
techPowerUp! :: Download Realtek HD Audio 2.22 Vista http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1374/Realtek_HD_Audio_2.22_Vista.html
damn Realtek spend me 1 whole month in solving the problem

 

[faune]

Finally I got the problem solved!!!!
The key is to install an older driver R2.22 for vista, which is the driver just before the Windows 7 one came out.
techPowerUp! :: Download Realtek HD Audio 2.22 Vista http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1374/Realtek_HD_Audio_2.22_Vista.html
damn Realtek spend me 1 whole month in solving the problem

@dgthomas

I may try this out when I get home. So far I have gotten used to the slight crackling, unfortunately, since no one had an answer. I would, however like to remedy this problem.

Have you tried any of the newest realtek drivers? do they fix the problem?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[trilobite53]

[MY SOLUTION] Same maddening problem with RealTeak hd audio on a new Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 mobo. Not Realtek's fault.

I DID find a solution that actually worked, and I am presenting it below.

I tried newest drivers/uninstalling/reinstalling/reconfiguring/changing settings/updating mobo BIOS... nothing worked.

Here is what DID work -- closing EasyTune.
In initially setting up the mobo after fresh build, I installed drivers and utilities from the mobo maker's disk. One of the utilities on the disk was an app called "EasyTune." It turns out that the EasyTune utility was configured to load at startup. THIS app was causing the crackling. Once I closed EasyTune, the crackling disappeared -- and has been gone for several days now.

If you have EasyTune (or another live mobo tweaking app) running, try closing it and see if that helps.

To prevent EasyTune from loading at startup...
In Win7, go to Start, then type in msconfig in the "Search" field.
Load msconfig and select the "Startup" tab
Scroll down to find an entry called, "ETcall Application" and uncheck it.
Restart

I hope this helps.