Realtek High Definition Audio Causing Video/Audio Stuttering

[iced1776]

Starting about a month ago, after six to seven months of my laptop working fine, I've been getting video and audio stuttering whenever gaming or watching most HD videos and after messing around with my drivers I realized that whenever my Realtek HD Audio drivers are disabled my video runs flawlessly, but when enabled both video and audio stutter. I'm using a Sony VAIO laptop so I'm assuming that the sound card isn't easily replaceable. I've tried using the newest drivers straight from Realtek's website and also the outdated driver provided by Sony's website, both of which result in the same stuttering. Sony has also replaced the motherboard once and it did not resolve the issue. Any suggestions? I'm currently running Windows 7 with 6gb of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 330M graphics card.

 

[fowang]

could be a codec issue, what are you using to play said multimedia?

 

[iced1776]

The odd thing is that most multimedia like iTunes, standard definition video, and even blu-ray still runs OK. The problem comes with some HD video streamed through Firefox, but mostly it happens with games. Most of the games I play are run through Steam but the problem also exists in non-steam games.

 

[fowang]

So is this a game issue or a web browser issue?

 

[das_stig]

Some more like a network issue, as he is getting this when HD is being streamed or game play through stream.

Have you checked if your bandwidth from your ISP has dropped, it does happen now and again that you don't get what you pay for by accident or by them sneakily lowering your connection until you complain.

 

[davcon]

If you have Realtek and anything like AMD HD audio from the graphics card they could be conflicting with each other.
The Windows volume icon(speaker) has to be configured.
I use a discrete soundcard and have it selected as the playback device.(Realtek in your case)
Amd HD audio device is not selected.
Make sure you only have one audio device selected for playback.

 

[iced1776]

Sorry to those who mentioned my network being the issue, I should have mentioned that this happens with both online and offline games, and I've tested the laptop on two different networks and found the same issues.

Davcon I believe that I have drivers installed for NVIDIA High Definition Audio (they appear in my device manager), although my playback device is set to the Realtek card and there is no option to even choose the NVIDIA sound as my playback device. The only other option I have is "Realtek Digital Output(Optical)", but I lose all sound when I choose that as my default device. There is also no option in the NVIDIA Control Panel to change its audio settings, so I guess I'll try just uninstalling the drivers and seeing if that helps at all.

edit: After uninstalling the NVIDIA sound drivers I was had graphical and audio stuttering, and upon restarting Windows automatically reinstalled the drivers. Starting to think that I'm stuck with a 1400 "media" laptop that can't play games that my 6 year old PC can run flawlessly. Sony has now started blaming me or the games for the issues and told me that it will be nearly impossible to get it replaced with a new one... some warranty, huh?

 

[Guest]

I'm having the exact same problem as you do, and I can't figure out how to fix it. If there's any godly computer gurus out there we'd appriciate all the help we can get.

 

[iced1776]

I'm having the exact same problem as you do, and I can't figure out how to fix it. If there's any godly computer gurus out there we'd appriciate all the help we can get.

Update for anyone interested:

After speaking to Sony again (I had given up for a few weeks) I finally found a tech who was actually willing to research the issue and he has found the same problem before in this model and is 99.9% sure that the problem is a failing processor. The sound drivers aren't actually the issue even though disabling them acts as a quick fix. I sent my laptop out for service today, I'll let you know if the replacement processor does the trick.

 

[AngusBullbuster]

Update for anyone interested:

After speaking to Sony again (I had given up for a few weeks) I finally found a tech who was actually willing to research the issue and he has found the same problem before in this model and is 99.9% sure that the problem is a failing processor. The sound drivers aren't actually the issue even though disabling them acts as a quick fix. I sent my laptop out for service today, I'll let you know if the replacement processor does the trick.

Do you mean the sound processor or the main processor?

 

[Nacorona]

Well, this sounds fascinating. The symptoms are similar to what I've been experiencing, however the difference is it doesn't matter which sound hardware I use.

After monitoring system performance, it seems there are 2 main items affecting this, the plugin container for FireFox and VSMON. Whenever i've had this happen, my entire system slows, not just video playback. My mouse lags, everything. I've noticed that these two items (especially VSMON, the zonealarm realtime monitoring chunk) will take up to 50% or more processor, as reported by TaskManager.

This is a recent development for me. I've been running ZoneAlarm for years, and never had a problem. The other twist is it seems to happen with Chrome also, and I have even noticed some issues while playing Pandora via its app and browsing the web in FF, CHrome, or IE. It's like the entire system bus is being overloaded.. I suspect a recent Windows update, but cannot pin it to any particular patch.

 

[adcollie]

Update for anyone interested:

After speaking to Sony again (I had given up for a few weeks) I finally found a tech who was actually willing to research the issue and he has found the same problem before in this model and is 99.9% sure that the problem is a failing processor. The sound drivers aren't actually the issue even though disabling them acts as a quick fix. I sent my laptop out for service today, I'll let you know if the replacement processor does the trick.

Same problem with my Vaio. Sound runs fine when it is the only thing going - like listening to Rhapsody or watching Youtube. As soon as I start browsing in a new window, stuttering occurs. Any luck with yours yet?

 

[roakley2700]

Have been looking into this issue myself (Having the same problem). Was told that it is caused by the video and the HD audio being on the same bus. Problem is i haven't been able to find out how to (or if it is even possible) to change the bus. Disabled the High Definition Audio Controller, seems to work but i lose all sound that way..

 

[noverum]

Update for anyone interested:

After speaking to Sony again (I had given up for a few weeks) I finally found a tech who was actually willing to research the issue and he has found the same problem before in this model and is 99.9% sure that the problem is a failing processor. The sound drivers aren't actually the issue even though disabling them acts as a quick fix. I sent my laptop out for service today, I'll let you know if the replacement processor does the trick.

Any update on this? After an exhausting endeavour to find a solution to a problem that sounds somewhat similar to what you've experienced - I've tried just about everything from software and driver updates, to CPU load and latency correction, to external USB sound-cards and hardware tests - I've been left without any recourse or respite for my effort. I also have a built-in Realtek sound-card; but an AMD graphics card rather than your Nvidia one.

As with you, my VAIO had flawless audio until about six months after purchase, when I started hearing a 'popping' noise in certain graphically-intensive games. What I found interesting was that if I were to turn off the sound effects but leave background music on, the symptoms seemed to disappear as the game continued. Youtube and music seemed to be unaffected for the most part (a differentiation from your experience), but I also began to notice what I can only describe as the sound I would associate with 'interference' when changing volume or opening an application. The sound exists with or without headphones, and - particularly when opening an application (e.g. music player) or stopping a music video - can be heard in the 2-3 seconds proceeding an event.

I learned to live with these strange anomalies for the most part, but recently the problem has returned to my attention after purchasing an old PC game (a first person shooter : Deus Ex) - a game that should have no problem running considering the specs of the laptop's hardware, and that does indeed run smoothly outside of the aforementioned audio problem. If I stand still, there is no issue and the sound effects of the environment seem to play okay; but once I move the mouse or character, the popping noises become impossible to ignore. Once again, turning off the sound effects while leaving the background music playing removes the issue.

Interestingly, I can hear similar interference to that experienced when opening windows applications (2-3 second delay) during the loading of the operating system, when the windows logo is displayed, and the sound is somewhat reminiscent of that of an amplifier being switched on or headphones being plugged in, but in repeated bursts.

Here is part of my system's dxdiag report (that I picked out somewhat arbitrarily), for anybody else who might have an idea of what this is :
------------------
System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120503-2030)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Sony Corporation
System Model: VPCSB18GG
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version HuronRiver.3.61.05.2051R2087H4
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2620M CPU @ 2.70GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4012MB RAM
Page File: 2915MB used, 5106MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6470M
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x6760)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6760&SUBSYS_907B104D&REV_00
Display Memory: 2251 MB
Dedicated Memory: 501 MB
Shared Memory: 1749 MB
Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: unknown
Monitor Id: SNY05FA
Native Mode: 1366 x 768(p) (59.937Hz)
Output Type: Internal
Driver Name: aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver File Version: 8.17.0010.1083 (English)
Driver Version: 8.862.4.4000
DDI Version: 11
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1


-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speaker/HP (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0275&SUBSYS_104D5000&REV_1000
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.6662 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 6/19/2012 16:54:20, 4065296 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

I would greatly appreciate any assistance. Deus Ex is unplayable in my obsessive mind, and storming enemy castles in Total War games is just that little bit less epic when panning across the environment triggers out-of-theme popping sounds. My greatest fear is - as the TS mentioned - that these could be the signs of failing hardware.

 

[rr71]

I've had a similar problem trying to play old (2002) games under Win7 64bit. Tried all the driver stuff etc.etc.

FINALLY, I got the game sound to properly work by setting the process to only use 1 CPU/Core !!! Now the game works perfectly

Hope this helps out

 

[cholmes234]

I've recently ran into this problem as well. It's been happening for a couple of weeks, but it happens with almost all audio and video i run. sometimes it's mild, but sometimes it's super laggy and stuttery. i've reinstalled my realtek sound driver a handful of times, and have completed numerous virus, malware scans. normal cpu usage is like 2%, but when the sound and video starts to lag, the entire OS gets choppy.

 

[monorailmedic]

For a couple weeks I've noticed that I have all sorts of prebuffer issues with streaming video (haven't honestly tried local content). Plenty of bandwidth, system resources, etc. Tried so many things. Eventually I noticed that disabling Windows Audio fixed the problem. Additional investigation found that uninstalling the Realtek HD Audio drivers solved the issue (but left me with no audio). This seems to have happened the same time I installed an NVIDIA 610 (though I can't be 100% sure).

Very weird. I've tried different versions of the drivers (audio and video) and tomorrow I will try moving the card to another slot (not that it should matter, but I'm running low on ideas).

W7 x64
8GB RAM
AMD 3.1 3 core

 

[Guest]

One thing to check that happened to me, I had a Gigabyte motherboard with a Realtek Audio Chipset. I recently updated my Nvidia graphics card drivers (or I'll say Windows 8 did it for me) and part of that updateis the Nvidia HD Audio Driver that installs with it. This overwrote my Realtek drivers and renamed my audio device as an Nvidia HD Audio device. After this, the audio went haywire, stuttering and chopping anytime I moved a window or did anything in games. After re-downloading and installing the Realtek driver from Gigabyte's website for the motherboard, things worked great again. So don't install the Nvidia HD Audio Driver if your audio chipset isn't Nvida or NForce.

 

[mo2ar7]

One thing to check that happened to me, I had a Gigabyte motherboard with a Realtek Audio Chipset. I recently updated my Nvidia graphics card drivers (or I'll say Windows 8 did it for me) and part of that updateis the Nvidia HD Audio Driver that installs with it. This overwrote my Realtek drivers and renamed my audio device as an Nvidia HD Audio device. After this, the audio went haywire, stuttering and chopping anytime I moved a window or did anything in games. After re-downloading and installing the Realtek driver from Gigabyte's website for the motherboard, things worked great again. So don't install the Nvidia HD Audio Driver if your audio chipset isn't Nvida or NForce.

Hi evolross, I've had the exact same problem except with my 5 year old custom build desktop rig. I have a dedicated Creative SB X-Fi sound card and it was only after NVIDIA started rolling out HD Audio drivers packaged in with their regular driver updates that I started having mega issues with audio stuttering.

At first I thought the issue was GPU related but even after a graphics card upgrade from a GTX560 I still got the same stuttering problems. I went back to Device Manager to see that I have 2 audio devices. One is my Creative card the other is NVIDIA HD Audio Device.

I've downloaded the latest drivers for my sound card, clean install and voilla! It would appear my sound stuttering issues have been resolved now. Will keep monitoring to see if it returns again. Think you might have found the solution which means you're a genius since I've searched literally 100s of forums looking for answers to this annoying problem!

UPDATE: Looks like I spoke too soon. I tried disabling the NVIDIA HD Audio but that didn't seem to make any difference. Back to the drawing board for me!

 

[Trollark]

I dealt with this nonsense as well and was at my wit's end. I updated (then rolled back) video drivers, re-installed (repaired) Windows (7X64), etc etc and almost decided to just live with it.

Before reformatting I decided to do a full sweep for viruses (nothing) and then came across: Windows Repair (all in one) from http://www.tweaking.com/files/setups/tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio_setup.exe - Never heard of it before but saw it mentioned in the Malwarebytes forum. Ran it and the $hit WORKED! I'm religious about uninstalling programs with Revo and probably removed something I shouldn't have. It basically searches for any corrupt files/bad sectors and tries to fix them. I went by the following directions after d/l'ing

Install the program then run the following steps:
Go to step 2 and allow it to run the Disk check (this will check for any bad sectors)
Once that is done then go to step 3 and allow it to run the SFC (system file checker)
On the the Start Repairs tab => Click the Start Button
Click the "select all" check box and then click on Start
Please DON'T use the computer while each scan is in progress.

Your mileage may vary but hope it works for y'all.

-Trollark

 

[aadi121]

I have never heard of any such problem earlier, but there might be some problem with the speakers or some thing...

 

[davemabb1984]

Hi All,
I to have been plagued with this issue and like all I have tried many things,
recently I disabled all hd audio related to NVidia and I also checked all the partitions on my hard drive for faults, I have 4 partitions and one did return a error and fixed the issue for me on the drive,
touch wood im a few weeks in now and the game sound and video stuttering has gone, hopefully this wont return,

Cheers
Davemabb

 

[joeydee]

I dealt with this nonsense as well and was at my wit's end. I updated (then rolled back) video drivers, re-installed (repaired) Windows (7X64), etc etc and almost decided to just live with it.

Before reformatting I decided to do a full sweep for viruses (nothing) and then came across: Windows Repair (all in one) from http://www.tweaking.com/files/setups/tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio_setup.exe - Never heard of it before but saw it mentioned in the Malwarebytes forum. Ran it and the $hit WORKED! I'm religious about uninstalling programs with Revo and probably removed something I shouldn't have. It basically searches for any corrupt files/bad sectors and tries to fix them. I went by the following directions after d/l'ing

Install the program then run the following steps:
Go to step 2 and allow it to run the Disk check (this will check for any bad sectors)
Once that is done then go to step 3 and allow it to run the SFC (system file checker)
On the the Start Repairs tab => Click the Start Button
Click the "select all" check box and then click on Start
Please DON'T use the computer while each scan is in progress.

Your mileage may vary but hope it works for y'all.

-Trollark

Well,
This is my first post and my first visit to the site !
Trollark is so correct !
Had trouble for ages with sound quality from Realtek,skipping,buzzing,distortion etc,this program soooooo did the biz!!!
I also recently 'lost' one of my internal hard drives! and while running 'tweaking' its now reappeared !!
Thank you so much my sound is now back to normal ,and my 'E' Drive is also back ,dont know what this program does..but its defo the dogs !!
Highly recommend..thanks 'Tweaking' !

 

[goodburner]

I dealt with this nonsense as well and was at my wit's end. I updated (then rolled back) video drivers, re-installed (repaired) Windows (7X64), etc etc and almost decided to just live with it.

Before reformatting I decided to do a full sweep for viruses (nothing) and then came across: Windows Repair (all in one) from http://www.tweaking.com/files/setups/tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio_setup.exe - Never heard of it before but saw it mentioned in the Malwarebytes forum. Ran it and the $hit WORKED! I'm religious about uninstalling programs with Revo and probably removed something I shouldn't have. It basically searches for any corrupt files/bad sectors and tries to fix them. I went by the following directions after d/l'ing

Install the program then run the following steps:
Go to step 2 and allow it to run the Disk check (this will check for any bad sectors)
Once that is done then go to step 3 and allow it to run the SFC (system file checker)
On the the Start Repairs tab => Click the Start Button
Click the "select all" check box and then click on Start
Please DON'T use the computer while each scan is in progress.

Your mileage may vary but hope it works for y'all.

-Trollark

thanks for that. It worked like a charm. I have never posted here, but you are the best.

Windows Repair FOR THE WIN

 

[vgals]

I dealt with this nonsense as well and was at my wit's end. I updated (then rolled back) video drivers, re-installed (repaired) Windows (7X64), etc etc and almost decided to just live with it.

Before reformatting I decided to do a full sweep for viruses (nothing) and then came across: Windows Repair (all in one) from http://www.tweaking.com/files/setups/tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio_setup.exe - Never heard of it before but saw it mentioned in the Malwarebytes forum. Ran it and the $hit WORKED! I'm religious about uninstalling programs with Revo and probably removed something I shouldn't have. It basically searches for any corrupt files/bad sectors and tries to fix them. I went by the following directions after d/l'ing

Install the program then run the following steps:
Go to step 2 and allow it to run the Disk check (this will check for any bad sectors)
Once that is done then go to step 3 and allow it to run the SFC (system file checker)
On the the Start Repairs tab => Click the Start Button
Click the "select all" check box and then click on Start
Please DON'T use the computer while each scan is in progress.

Your mileage may vary but hope it works for y'all.

-Trollark

thanks for that. It worked like a charm. I have never posted here, but you are the best.

Windows Repair FOR THE WIN

Have the buzzing peoblem whether streaming from Google Music or playing my own files.
I have Windows 8.1 and still have he issue. 64bit Lenovo desktop with Bose system..
Doesn't happen when I am watching netflix or a streaming a Recorded show.