Windows 10 Audio Stutters

Louis_53

Prominent
Jul 9, 2017
2
0
510
Hello all,

I have a brand new HP ZBook G5 x360 (http://speccy.piriform.com/results/oNHJIUQ6A3sA8nLbVCOX8T8 for specs) and have recently gotten issues with audio stuttering in both an external Behringer Xenyx USB302, and the internal speakers. I have tried common solutions to such problems, but none seem to have worked and feel free to list them nonetheless in case I forgot one.

Below is also a LatencyMon report:
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CONCLUSION
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Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:03:46 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


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SYSTEM INFORMATION
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Computer name: DESKTOP-SB5I7B0
OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 16299 (x64)
Hardware: HP ZBook Studio x360 G5, HP, 844F
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz
Logical processors: 12
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 16193 MB total


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CPU SPEED
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Reported CPU speed: 2208 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


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MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
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The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 4875.134957
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 5.004767

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 2984.814363
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 2.413733


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REPORTED ISRs
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Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 770.619565
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: ACPI.sys - ACPI Driver for NT, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.012120
Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.022675

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 25095
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 96
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


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REPORTED DPCs
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DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 3370.325181
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.015130
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: ACPI.sys - ACPI Driver for NT, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.099943

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 637648
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 1320
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 58
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 1
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


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REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
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Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: chrome.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 16841
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 6997
Number of processes hit: 59


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PER CPU DATA
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CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 24.244555
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 770.619565
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.607806
CPU 0 ISR count: 24669
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3370.325181
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 2.401026
CPU 0 DPC count: 586189
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CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.015706
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 203.230072
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005968
CPU 1 ISR count: 402
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 468.569746
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.063466
CPU 1 DPC count: 10432
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CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.638170
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 142.702899
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.002479
CPU 2 ISR count: 120
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 361.798913
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.058097
CPU 2 DPC count: 9716
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CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 14.982560
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 164.711957
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.011812
CPU 3 DPC count: 2597
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CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 11.559713
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 296.096014
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.033679
CPU 4 DPC count: 6139
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CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.713953
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 279.288949
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.007426
CPU 5 DPC count: 1095
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CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.000867
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 264.903986
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.026315
CPU 6 DPC count: 5921
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CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.269399
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 187.046196
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.016341
CPU 7 DPC count: 2731
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CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.061911
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR count: 0
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 697.940217
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.042725
CPU 8 DPC count: 7301
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CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 11.496398
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR count: 0
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 224.059783
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.009768
CPU 9 DPC count: 1719
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CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.722459
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR count: 0
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 245.070652
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.037925
CPU 10 DPC count: 4266
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CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.646422
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR count: 0
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 188.054348
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.007687
CPU 11 DPC count: 921
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Which is concerning, considering this is a high-end workstation.


All help is greatly appreciated,
Louis
 
Solution
I had this problem on my school PC, and I fixed it by dropping the sound quality. On Windows 10, right click the volume icon in the taskbar and click "Playback Devices". Click your speaker and click "properties". Click the "Advanced" tab and change the "Default Format" to "24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality). If it still stutters try knocking it down a little further (you can't really notice the quality difference at all, so everything will still sound good).

Also try the "Dolby" tab and turning it off, and the "Enhancements" tab and checking "Disable all sound effects" which will also help with things like when short sound effects don't play because they fade in too slow.

Hope this helps!
I had this problem on my school PC, and I fixed it by dropping the sound quality. On Windows 10, right click the volume icon in the taskbar and click "Playback Devices". Click your speaker and click "properties". Click the "Advanced" tab and change the "Default Format" to "24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality). If it still stutters try knocking it down a little further (you can't really notice the quality difference at all, so everything will still sound good).

Also try the "Dolby" tab and turning it off, and the "Enhancements" tab and checking "Disable all sound effects" which will also help with things like when short sound effects don't play because they fade in too slow.

Hope this helps!
 
Solution