HELP!!! Audio Cuts Out Under Med-High Load

[jmag1k]

Not really sure where to start with this one..... Yesterday I was switching from my SLI mode to single card mode because I can't play the Division in SLI (the SLI profile is garbage apparently, and the game crashes and performs worse than a single card), when I noticed my audio starting to cut out a few seconds under load.

After that I did some testing w/ Prime95 and anytime I'm under load audio cuts out for a few seconds at a time. My temps are fine, no alerts on any hardware. Under 100% load my CPU was around 65C.

First thing I did was drop all my overclocks to default and restart.
Second I rolled back to a couple days ago via System Restore
Third I uninstalled my audio drivers (SteeleSeries Siberia Elite Prism as well as the annoying Realtek driver that never seem to go away)
Fourth I uninstalled video drivers and after the restart the system installed an old version on its own, same w/ realtek drivers, and the issue persists.
Fifth I downloaded Malwarebytes to ensure I didn't have a virus. It had some minor adware but no trojans.
Not sure what to do now. I did get a blue screen once of DRIVER_PAGE_FAULT_IN_FREED_SPECIAL_POOL(rzudd.sys) which is related to my razer synapse. I don't think thats the issue, as the driver may have just been loading during the crash.

It gets really bad when I run a game or Prime95. Could it be memory going bad? It's pretty old, since 2011. I did also get some USB disconnection alerts, and disconnected my usb drives but still the issue persists. My page file is 12-16GB.

// CPU - Intel i5 4690K @ 4.3 GHz - Devils Canyon // CPU Cooler - Hyper 212+ (Now @ Stock)
// Mobo - MSI z97 Gaming 7
// Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws (4 x 4 GB) DDR3 1600
// GPU - 2X EVGA GTX 780 3GB Classified w/ ACX Cooler in SLI (03G-P4-3788-KR)
// Sound - SteeleSeries Siberia Elite Prism
// SSD - Win 10 64-bit on Samsung Evo 250GB, Steam on Mushkin Chronos 240GB, Origin on OCZ Vertex 3 240GB, Blizzard on Kingston V300 120GB, Hacked Games on Corsair Force 3 128GB /+ 2 HDD for Storage.
// Case - Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow
// PSU - EVGA 850W
// Monitors - BenQ XL2420G 24" G-SYNC 3D 1ms, Asus VE248H Black 24" 2ms
// Mouse - Razer DeathAdder 2013
// Keyboard - Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition Chroma (Tenkeyless Mechanical)

 

[Colif]

run MSI live update 6 or, if its not installed, go to here and download all the drivers you don't have installed. I think its likely to either be motherboard chipset drivers or USB at fault here.

That MSI update program also updates the bios, you may want to look into that too. You can finds the updater itself in the utility tab of that MSI web page

 

[jmag1k]

Thanks for recommending MSI Live. My SATA drivers were out of date and I didn't even have the other drivers installed. I figured out what the issue was, however. And I can't believe I didn't eliminate these variables first. It was an old and aging USB drive causing issues. When I returned home and fired up my PC, I unplugged the USB soundcard and plugged in the 3.5mm. Sound was fine. Plugged the soundcard in, sound was now fine as well.

Wait, did the problem just go away!? Sure did.

Right then I noticed my notifications going haywire. My system was RAPIDLY connecting and disconnecting a usb device, to the point it sounded like a new Kanye song. I started unplugging all my usb ports till I found my older USB drive and BAM! Issue resolved. I feel so dumb not checking my peripherals first...