Intermittent buzz (with lag of same duration) when playing sound on my PC

[RachFan]

Desktop PC running Windows 10 64 bit with on-board sound. Recently I started getting intermittent short 'buzz' noises while playing music. Afterwards the music picks up from the point at which it stopped when the buzz started (no playback is missed, it's just delayed for the duration of the buzz). Thought this problem might be an iTunes bug but get same problem playing tracks through Media Monkey. Any thoughts please? (Please don't assume too much skill/prior knowledge of computer gubbins on my part, but I do my best to follow advice if I can see clearly what's required.). Thanks.

 

[the nerd 389]

What components are in the computer, how old is the machine, and when did the problem start?

 

[RachFan]

What components are in the computer, how old is the machine, and when did the problem start?

Thanks for your response.

1. Components
I've run HWiNFO which shows:
Mb: ASRock77 Extreme 4
Chipset: IntelZ77 (Panther Point DH)
CPU: Intel Core i3-2120
HDD: SATA 6Gb/s ST2000DX001-1CM164 [2000GB]
HDD: SATA 6Gb/s ST2000DM001-1CH164 [2000 GB]
DVD Drive: SATA 1.5Gb/s TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224BB [DVD+R DL]
BluRay Drive: SATA 1.5Gb/s ATAPI iHBS112 2 [BD-RE]
Memory: 16GB Type DDR3 SDRAM
Video Adapter: Intel HD Graphics 2000
Audio: Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller

In addition the machine has a 250GB HDD which has the Operating System on it, but I don't seem to be able to find any reference to this in the HWiNFO results. It's not listed among the other 4 drives listed above. Don't understand that.

Is that enough info?

2. Machine was built 4.5 years ago.

3. Sadly don't know precisely when it started - a few weeks back. Could have been around the time I installed Invelos software 'DVD Profiler', but that could be purely coincidental. I have noticed some slower response times recently, e.g. selecting the Font menu in Excel sometimes responds immediately but often takes 5+ seconds. Don't know if this could be related.
Incidentally, tried playing a music DVD today and was not surprised to encounter same issue with the playback from that.

 

[RachFan]

Thanks for your further response. I have it in an email, but don't seem to be able to see it in this thread.
I'm very sorry, I've unintentionally and seriously misled you. I used to have a 250GB drive in the machine but I've realised that it was replaced with a 2TB SSHD, one of the two 2TB drives reported by HWiNFO. The SSHD is partitioned (200Gb, not 250, to the OS C: Drive and the balance to a Data E: drive) which is how I made the schoolboy error of thinking I still had my small HDD in the machine. Claiming to have a 250Gb drive not reported by HWiNFO was a serious bum steer, I'm afraid.
I appreciate the warning about ageing drives and this certainly prompted me to bring my SyncToy backups up-to-date. So, with apologies for the red herring, can I just add a couple of new realisations/discoveries:
1. Now that you've raised the question of the source of the noise, I'm pretty sure the buzz comes exclusively from the speakers and with the sound turned down have not been able to detect any unusual noise coming from within the PC Case itself.
2. I happened to be typing this response when there was a buzz in the music I was playing and a row of 5 't' characters appeared in the text instead of the single 't' I typed (like ttttthis).
Can I trouble you for any further thoughts in the light of this new improved information?

 

[the nerd 389]

Thanks for your further response. I have it in an email, but don't seem to be able to see it in this thread.
I'm very sorry, I've unintentionally and seriously misled you. I used to have a 250GB drive in the machine but I've realised that it was replaced with a 2TB SSHD, one of the two 2TB drives reported by HWiNFO. The SSHD is partitioned (200Gb, not 250, to the OS C: Drive and the balance to a Data E: drive) which is how I made the schoolboy error of thinking I still had my small HDD in the machine. Claiming to have a 250Gb drive not reported by HWiNFO was a serious bum steer, I'm afraid.
I appreciate the warning about ageing drives and this certainly prompted me to bring my SyncToy backups up-to-date. So, with apologies for the red herring, can I just add a couple of new realisations/discoveries:
1. Now that you've raised the question of the source of the noise, I'm pretty sure the buzz comes exclusively from the speakers and with the sound turned down have not been able to detect any unusual noise coming from within the PC Case itself.
2. I happened to be typing this response when there was a buzz in the music I was playing and a row of 5 't' characters appeared in the text instead of the single 't' I typed (like ttttthis).
Can I trouble you for any further thoughts in the light of this new improved information?

I did make a post, and then realized it was in error. This is most likely a software error rather than a hardware error.

This type of buzzing is what happens during a short lock-up. Basically, the audio buffer contains some audio that is about to be played. During a lockup, the buffer won't receive new data, so it will repeat whatever is in the buffer until new data arrives.

Something is consuming all of the CPU power for short durations, and that's causing your periodic lock-ups. If I had to guess, it sounds like malware to me. That said, there are far more qualified individuals than I with regards to this sort of thing.

 

[RachFan]

Fair enough. I have Kaspersky Total Security and double-check using Malwarebytes sometimes. I was led to Tom's hardware site by threads about 'lags' but I accept your steer and will progress elsewhere. Thank you very much again.