Question S0 Sleep State causes bluetooth audio stutter ?

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Are you aware of Powershell?

There are a number of cmdlets that may prove helpful in discovering more about what is happening.

For example you can use Get-PNPDevice to obtain a list of the devices on the laptop.

More specifically you can use:

Get-PNPDevice -Class 'Bluetooth'

and

Get-PNPDevice -Class 'USB'

to list out Bluetooth and USB devices. Premise being that the problem is Bluetooth and/or USB related.

FYI:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/p...evice/get-pnpdevice?view=windowsserver2025-ps

Powershell is likely installed on the laptop. Run as admin and just use "Get" cmdlets to see what you can find and learn.

Maybe some unknown or unexpected device.

There are other cmdlets available.

Get-Process might help discover that stuttering etc. occurs only if some specific process is running. That becomes a bit more complicated but is doable.

Mostly up to you and how much additional time and effort you are willing to put into finding and fixing (if possible) the problem(s).
 
Ralston18 said:
Mostly up to you and how much additional time and effort you are willing to put into finding and fixing (if possible) the problem(s).
Click to expand...
It's become sort of a hobby now. Will try.

Another thing that picked my interest is what actually happens on lockscreen? Seems like it's not sleep per se. I've used this command in cmd and turned off Connected mode on Modern Standy but music still played during lockscreen and screen turn off. And if I put the laptop to sleep with a power button press then the music disconnects even without any additional cmd commands.

Code: 
REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\F15576E8-98B7-4186-B944-EAFA664402D9 /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f
 
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Best to avoid Registry edits. Only as a last resort.

In any case, even if just looking, be sure to have the full system backed up along with the Registry itself.

A typo could brick the system. Remember "Cancel" and "ESC" are your friends.

As for Lockscreen Microsoft has allowed users more flexibility.

FYI:

https://www.neowin.net/news/microso...1-lock-screen-widgets-here-is-how-to-do-that/

But that is more functional or cosmetic.

The question, as I understand your post, is what all does Lock screen do?

For the most part it "hides" what ever you are working on / displaying and only allows further access when you re-enter the Windows password. Just closing the blinds.

While in Lockscreen the system may or may not be doing backups, lengthy downloads, scans, or updates. Handy when there are others about and you need to leave the system running for awhile but not allow others to gain access.

Microsoft seems to allow some end-user choices with respect to lockscreen widgets. Appears limited to choices allowed by Microsoft.

There were some hints that end users could include other apps. However, that feature may in one of Windows Beta versions.

For example: allow a real time stock market app to run and continue to display after the end user has locked the system. Or some diagnostic tool.

I did try a couple of quick tests. Provided steps did not match what I saw on the screens or simply did nothing.
 
Ralston18 said:
For the most part it "hides" what ever you are working on / displaying and only allows further access when you re-enter the Windows password. Just closing the blinds.
Click to expand...
I think the question then is if it's just the blinds then why all of the lags happen? While on lockscreen there;s something happens with power management and I'd like to have a way to look into it more.
Ralston18 said:
Get-Process might help discover that stuttering etc. occurs only if some specific process is running. That becomes a bit more complicated but is doable.
Click to expand...
And here are some findings. The error from the last imag went away after I installed everything there is from Update Center. Since my test didn't succeed I will turn on the updates and update everything again. It is also worth noting that there are two JBL Go 3 Avrcp Transport. I wonder if it's okay.
qkCvmiU.jpeg

8Wivvj6.jpeg

jlHuLhI.jpeg
 
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What is that Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery?

I just googled it and found:

https://www.technewstoday.com/microsoft-acpi-compliant-control-method-battery-driver-error/

From the link: "The OS communicates with the BIOS, with the help of ACPI, to power up different internal hardware."

So maybe the stutters/lags occur when some internal hardware is being powered up.

The discovery and troubleshooting effort continues to be trying to find some repeatable if "X" then lags or if "no X" then no lags. Or vice versa.

You noted two JBL Go 3 Avrcp Transport

Again: Google is your friend. Old link:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ransport/826b4e06-efb3-4376-8eeb-f48d8be87d15

Bluetooth & Audio involved...... Hmmm

Barring other information I would not expect JBL Go 3 Avrcp Transport to "be there" twice.

Then again there are two Unknown Mass Storage devices.

I will crawl out on the limb a bit. Is the laptop trying to start some unknown hardware device that may or may not be present? And something is amiss and the laptop lags until it sorts things out. Maybe doing that 2 or more times?

A puzzle indeed. :)

= = = =

It appears that you are willing to dig into things a bit more.

And it can be helpful when you can format and/or print out results for easier reference and comparisons.

Two more Powershell tools that you may find helpful with respect to manageing the results of the Get's...

Take a look at the "Out" cmdlets - you have control over where the results of other cmdlets go. The Format cmdlet is also very useful.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/p...nds-to-change-output-view?view=powershell-7.5

You also have control over the displayed field widths (sizes). Stick with Microsoft links - free of ads and generally have some good examples. [Sometimes it is necessary to see the full width/value of InstanceID.}

Note the Copy symbols. You can easily copy and paste the examples from the Microsoft links into your Powershell.

Do ensure that you are only working with Gets and the piping and formating of results. No changes being made.
 
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Ralston18 said:
It appears that you are willing to dig into things a bit more.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am. Will look into everything you showed. Thanks.

In the meantime I did some other experimenting.
- I've installed Win11 from March 2021 just to see if there was something that came later to Windows that causes my plight with Bluetooth. Unforunately, there was the same behavior.
- Also I made another fresh Win11 install and avoided installing chipset drivers and went straight to the GPU. Didn't change anything. It really buffles how come the GPU driver does this.

There was a small observation. There are cases when Bluetooth works normally even after all the updates.
1) When I listen to Twitch streams. Somehow listening to Twitch even on locksreen doesn't cause stutters
2) When playing audio with Windows Media Player. Somehow this player doesn't allow the screen to turn off on lockscreen and thus lags never happen. But any other software that I tried leads to stutters. I tried Groove, Firefox, Edge, Chrome, Yandex Music, Media Player Classic
 
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There may be some clues there.

Something that I have never worked with (full disclosure) are C-States.

However I have seen the topic come up a couple of times.

FYI:

https://www.minitool.com/lib/minimum-processor-state.html

I found other links but the link above is a good place to start.

My settings: Minimum = 5% , Maximum = 100%.

I have no immediate system (Desktop) problems so will, of course, be leaving all alone.

Laptop:

From the link:

"The Minimum Processor State setting in Power Options enables computer users to change the minimum percentage of the processor available for use. A lower percentage of the minimum processor state saves battery life but may result in poor performance.

Therefore, set up a proper Minimum Processor State rate for different situations is necessary. Everyone can personalize his power settings to fit his own condition. Then, how to set Minimum Processor State? "

No intent to have you running in circles - still if you hit a deadend then there is another road.
 
Didn't have a lot of time last week but was in contact with ASUS again. I went to linkedin and just started talking to people somehow connected to software and managed to talk a bit with a guy. He sent me
Code: 
AsLogDumpTool2_v2.0.0.6
that gathered some data and put it into wim file inside of which there are folders of data about my laptop. Here's the link to it. I've managed to open it with 7zip.

Unfortunately, the guy went silent after I tried to explain that I had replaced the wifi module to exclude hardware malfunction of the original wifi module and he suggested I go to the repair center again. So I don't know if the info they gathered in that .wim file is any use.
 
I can see the link but not going to download it - much less open the files.

= = = =

This:

AsLogDumpTool2_v2.0.0.6

Not sure about that....

I was unable to find that file. May need to be registered to see and download the file.

Interim questions:

Any personal data on the laptop?

That guy on Linkedin - ASUS?

Did you AV/malware scan the file he sent? How was file sent? (Versus a direct download from the ASUS website.

And "that guy" can now get the resulting .wim's correct?

Did you look in the folders to see what data was captured from the laptop?
 
Ralston18 said:
Any personal data on the laptop?
Click to expand...
No, I did another clean install before running that application.
Ralston18 said:
Did you AV/malware scan the file he sent? How was file sent? (Versus a direct download from the ASUS website.
Click to expand...
No, I didn't. After some posts on ZenTalk he sent me the link in the personal messages
Ralston18 said:
And "that guy" can now get the resulting .wim's correct?

Did you look in the folders to see what data was captured from the laptop?
Click to expand...
It's just basically gathered all the system info. Drivers, power report, the same one you help me do earlier, processes that were operating during the time the .exe worked.

I met him at linkedin, he's a dev from a mobile department. He sent me to ZenTalk forum where I made the same post that I made here. One of the forum representatives came forward and suggested that I reinstall windows again and install only ASUS website drivers which I did. And then he sent me a link to the asus web storage where I got that application and made a .wim file. Even if it was malware, the laptop was empty and I am going to restore my backup windows. So I don't see it as a much of a deal but I think the whole thing is legit.
 
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Ralston18 said:
No harm in being cautious and asking.
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree. But at this point I am so desperate to see changes that I'd rather see this laptop break than keep having this bluetooth issue. It bothers me so much.

Ralston18 said:
Look for more than one: "Media Player", "Windows Media Player Legacy"...
Click to expand...
I have both. Previously I meant the legacy one. It didn't allow the screen to turn off during playback.
 
Are there any other Bluetooth devices around that the laptop may be attempting to pair with?

That is just a "out of the box" thought but based on the idea that bluetooth is doing or trying to do something else (thus far undiscovered) when the stutters occur.

= = = =

Another path...

On the laptop go to Windows Settings > Personalization > Lockscreen

Take a close look at all of the current settings and configurations.

Are the settings as you expect or have configured?

Note the Related settings that lead back to power and screensavers.

What led me to all that was some digging about in Powershell for other ways that might prove useful or otherwise revealing.

Registry entries kept turning up and we do want to stay out of the registry.

(And you have noted lockscreen settings as well.)

Overall premise that Windows and/or some apps are all doing things.

Brief conflict results, stutters, gets resolved, works again - for awhile anyway.

Clean installs do not work because eventually it all gets set up agaIn.
 
Ralston18 said:
Are there any other Bluetooth devices around that the laptop may be attempting to pair with?

That is just a "out of the box" thought but based on the idea that bluetooth is doing or trying to do something else (thus far undiscovered) when the stutters occur.
Click to expand...
Good thinking. I have a 2 machine setup. A pc and this laptop right next to it. I took the laptop to another room and tried playing music there. Sad to say it didn't change anything.

Then I had another great idea and I turned off my wifi access point and plugged ethernet cable into the laptop through a usb-c hub since it doesn't have it's own RJ-45 port. Also no effect.

But I live in an apartment building so if even it is related to signal interference somehow (which I doubt since after turning off the GPU driver it becomes fine) I wouldn't know since the signals from neighbours could come in too.


Ralston18 said:
On the laptop go to Windows Settings > Personalization > Lockscreen
Click to expand...
I've been there before but gave it another shot. I tried selecting between slideshow and Picture modes, disabling different checks regarding lockscreen behavior like show fun facts.

Right now I have Picture mode chosen and unticked Get fun facts, tipsm trick and more...
Also Lock screen status is set to none.


===========
Also I've discovered there was a new gpu driver update from 11th February 2025. I installed it with a glimpse of hope (I sent a million bug reports to amd and also been to their forums) but as the luck goes right now it didn't change anything.

I've decided to record on video the way lags happen. Maybe it will show something to somebody, I started recording after the screen turned off and then redid the whole cycle. Unlocked pc, went to lockscreen waited till the screen turns off again.
The whole video is 10 minutes. There are some lags right in the beginning of the video but I've also marked down all the times where lags happened after the second lockscreen:
3:56
6:26
6:43
7:04
7:12
7:18
7:44
7:49
7:54
7:56
8:15
8:52
8:58
9:27
9:52
9:58

=====================
Right now I want to try to take the laptop somewhere without signals and share wifi through mobile to test out interference.

And also I want to try to replace the ssd. I remembered that I did replace it before but I was testing the slow bios start and I never checked for the bluetooth issue. It's a stretch but at this point everything is. Nothing makes sense about these stutters.

Also I want to make another clean install and form a report with services and then install gpu drivers and form it again to see what changed.
 
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magrega said:
Right now I want to try to take the laptop somewhere without signals and share wifi through mobile to test out interference.
Click to expand...
I went to an exhibition today. The place is out of the city limits so I took the laptop with me to a parking lot. Shared WiFi from my iPhone, connected JBL GO 3 and the wifi and played some lofi from youtube with Chrome. No changes.
 
I came across a video about ZenBook bug where it doesn't come out of sleep. My laptop has the same bug but I always connected it to this horrendous modern standby and didn't giv emuch thought to it. That video described a fix that you can turn off two audio devices in Device manager and thus fix it. I did that hoping that it might be related to the problem I have. Unfortunately, it didn't help. I turned off

AMD Audio Device
AMD High Definition Audio Device

Also I got a great idea and turned off absolutely every device that had a Disable device button except for some usb and the gpu driver itself. No effect.

I am wondering if there are some custom gpu drivers that people change in cases of incompatibility or something like that.

Also tomorrow a ram stick will come. Just wanna rule it out.
 
okay, finally a new finding.

A new ram stick came in so I went to replace it and discovered that my original ram stick is 8gb while my OS shows 16gb of ram. I looked up my laptop specs and found out that 8gm of ram are built in the motherboard and the other 8gb are on the stick.

Replacing ram didn't help but removing the ram stick completely and leaving the built-in ram only led to almost complete decrease in bluetooth stutters. At the time of testing laptop was working from battery and now it works from the outlet.

But as soon as I plug in the external monitor the stutters come back in. Worth noting that the stutters didn't go away completely. During 3 hour testing there were maybe 1 or 2 very short stutters I noticed them just because I am already super used to listening for them.

The deduction is that removing the ram stick led to significant decrease in power load while in standby which allows for persistent audio streaming.

I still think that the cause is in the way the power is distributed while on standby. I came across a video about modern standby, about how it powers only those devices that are required in the moment, in drips. So I also tried working with group policies a bit but it didn't change anything.
 
Correction.

I use an external usb hub to connect ethernet cable to the laptop. SInce I have only 2 thunderbolt ports, I plug the charger into the hub and charge from it. I removed it and plugged the charger directly into the thunderbolt. An hour passed, no stutters while external monitor connected.

Right now it seems that removing the ram stick helps with the stutters but I'd like to have more.

Another theory is that recent updates did something (gpu drivers, some windows updates) but I was testing everything while plugged in in the hub.

Tomorrow I will put my ram stick back and test audio again while on battery. Will report back.

UPDATE. Was too fast with conclucions. With the charger and the monitor plugged in the lags are still there. Only if there's nothing connected except for bluetooth there are no lags.

So conclusion right now is there's something with power management.
 
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Found this in sleepstudy report. Some udentified driver seems to be causing troubles in S0. I don't have any unknown drivers in Device Manager so I am wondering how I could discover what is this driver.
 
Ran powercfg -requests. When playing music through bluetooth there's a strange driver under SYSTEM - Legacy Kernel Caller. It appears only when transfering data with bluetooth. I went as far as put the original wifi module chip into the laptop and it's the same.

What is more interesting is that I have also a work laptop with win11. I recreated this scenario and instead of Legacy Kernel Caller there is normal bluetooth driver. So I am guessing that my laptop also have to show the driver but instead I have this.

 
Ralston18 said:
Start here:

https://umatechnology.org/generate-a-list-of-installed-drivers-from-the-command-line/
Click to expand...
Will do.

In the meantime took my jbl go 3 to work. Legcay Kernel Caller turns out to be just a name for the bluetooth driver of this speaker. If I connect airpods there's a normal driver name. It doesn't influence how modern standby works. On the work laptop bluetooth works just fine with the screen turned off.

But there's no unidentified driver in my work's laptop sleep report. Which is odd. And is a clue, I guess.

I also ordered a usb hub with external power plug. I want to put usb bluetooth in it and connect to my laptop to test. I think it might be some fault with power distribution on hte motherboard and just a hardware problem
 
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Another observation I made is that when I play music through a regular usb speaker I see the driver in powercfg -requests and it also says that an audio stream is in use while with bluetooth there's no driver shown at all as well as no sign of audio stream being played by a driver. Needless to say, usb speaker works perfectly fine.


 
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