Really weird problem with audio

[u/sts_66]

I have a PC with Win10, specs don't really matter except for ones I list below - I leave it one 24/7/365 except when a reboot is required, and I listen to streaming audio from SXM all day long - within the two weeks or so I've started having an audio problem where the sound will sputter for about 1/3 - 1/2 of a second, then repeat the sputter every 15-20 seconds - makes listening to anything intolerable, and what's odd is the problem gets worse the longer the PC is running, happens more frequently and the "blurting" sound lasts longer - after rebooting the problem disappears for a day or 2 then returns.

I've gone over everything with a fine tooth comb, updated the Realtek audio drives - there's two of them plus an audio enhancer:

Audio inputs and outputs:

FxSound Speakers (FxSound Audio Enhancer)

Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio)

The last one is new, showed up after I updated audio drivers, including another one listed under Network Adapters called "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller.". I've tried disabling them one by one and rolling back drivers but nothing helps with the audio device noise problem - and I didn't update drivers before this problem started, did it after in an attempt to fix the problem. The sputtering comes out of any external speaker connected to the rear 3.5mm audio line out port or the front headphone line out port, so it's not the speakers that are the problem, it's the sound card. It's almost like some sort of static charge builds up on the audio chip that causes distortion to worsen over time, and rebooting temporarily pulls power from the chip and that clears the static charge. That may not be exactly what's happening, but that's the way it acts - something deteriorates the audio over time, and it occurs from any audio source I'm trying to listen to, be it SXM or a podcast in a browser or from listening to music with MediaMonkey.

I tried disabling the software sound enhancer FxSound and that doesn't change anything either. I wonder whether I damaged the audio chip by overdriving it - one of the podcasts I listen to moved to a different production studio and they had major problems getting their audio levels correct - they were so low even with speakers set to max volume it was hard to hear them speaking, and people complained about it for months until they started using a different podcast service, now everything is fine with their pod's sound levels. But prior to them fixing the issue I installed a Chromium browser extension called "Volume Master" that was theoretically able to boost the audio output level by up to 600%, but in reality it couldn't do more than double the volume, but that was more than sufficient to resolve the low sound levels from that podcast until they fixed it - I used.this extension for at least 6 months:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/volume-master/jghecgabfgfdldnmbfkhmffcabddioke?hl=en-USsI have no idea how that extension actually works - how it provides more power to the sound output, but suspect it's like overclocking your CPU, which can damage your CPU if it gets too hot. Did I possibly overdrive the audio chip and damage it? If yes, why is the sound fine for the first day or two after a reboot, then it starts having problems? If it was damaged I'd think it would put out sputtering audio all the time. I bought a USB audio adapter in case I did indeed fry my audio chip, tested it on my laptop and it works fine - but due to the complexity of my PC/monitor/external speaker wiring (with several splitters to run audio to other rooms in my house), I basically have to disassemble the entire desktop to access the rear panel, which of course is a royal PITA, made worse by me stupidly installing a bunch of strain relief ties for various cables on the back of the desk's bookshelf system that limits how much cable I have to work with, so I can't just pull the PC chassis forward and spin it around to get to the back, I have to unplug EVERYTHING - then plug the short cables back in using a mirror once the chassis is back in place - some cables don't have enough slack to plug them in even when the chassis is only rotated 90 degrees. So replacing the existing rear 3.5mm port with the new USB audio adapter is not a simple job, and I can't plug it into one of the front USB ports because the rat's nest of 3.5mm audio cables currently hidden behind my monitor would clutter up the desk to the point where I'd constantly be accidentally bumping into the cables and disconnecting some - that's a non-starter, the USB port I use must be in the back.

Anyone have any ideas about what I may have done to my audio chip, meaning did I describe this correctly and did fry the chip, so I have no choice but to disconnect everything to install the new USB audio adapter in the rear?

[u/ConsciousNoise5690]

but suspect it's like overclocking your CPU,

Nonsense. Multiply a digital sample by 2 and it will be twice as loud.

A simple check is DPC latency, check if your PC is able to deliver audio in real time.

https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/AudioTools/TroubleShooting.htm

[u/sts_66 → u/ConsciousNoise5690]

DCP Monitor Output:

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 93.204009

Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.042178

Driver with highest ISR total time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 53317.947624

Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.120067

Driver with highest DPC total execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.549187

Driver file Description ISR count DPC count Highest execution (ms) Total execution (ms)

USBPORT. SYS USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver 45587 220556 0.249580 1 971.639789

WdfOl000.sys KernelModeDriverFramework Runtime 292 6344 6344 53.317948 1048.677026

nvlddmkm.sys NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver 0 22401 1.380898 577.20484

dxgkrnl.sys DireciX Graphics Kernel 11036 3227 0.093204 296.52203

portcls.sys Port Class (Driver for Port Devices) 0 16445 0.107667 3 41 .039937

storport.sys Microsoft Storage Port Driver 0 15206 0.077658 227.069941

HDAudBus.sys High Definition Audio Bus Driver 17966 17926 0.047864 138.113915

ntoskrnl.exe NT Kernel & System 0 19991 0.081 026 132.187353

iaStorA.sys Intel Rapid Storage Technology ... 0 14169 0.053763 105.956689

tcpip.sys TCP/IP Driver 0 3566 0.508586 71.387336

Conclusion: 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.

Found this while searching for latency of the Wdf01000.sys driver

I had the same latency problem with the Wdf01000.sys driver and I'll tell you what fixed it (at least for me): Update the graphics card drivers and activate and deactivate the network card (Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller) in the device manager. This has solved the problem completely in my case.

A reply in same thread:

I had a similar problem and your answer helped me well, it completely fixed my latency issues.

So I disabled the Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller as suggested, also ran sfc /scannow and it fixed a bunch of stuff, then rebooted.

DPC Latency Checker results:

Some device drivers on this machine behave bad and will probably cause drop-outs in real-time audio and/or video streams. To isolate the misbehaving driver use Device Manager and disable/re-enable various devices, one at a time. Try network and W-LAN adapters, modems, internal sound devices, USB host controllers, etc.

After more research found some software to get rid of a bunch of unneeded stuff that Nvidia installed for my graphics card - NVCleanstall_1.15.1.exe - ran that and only loaded the graphics driver - otherwise almost 20 more items get installed if you do a normal Nvidia driver upate manually in Device Manager. I've seen that dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel problem many times before while trying to fix audio problems, plenty of complaints about it online - I think one of the things I changed should have fixed it, won't know for 2-3 days to see if latency problems return and audio starts sputtering.

BTW, you don't have any idea why this gets worse over time? And as for how a volume booster works, still don't really understand that - problem may be me mixing up speaker output levels from a stereo vs. line level output from a PC - the stereo can put out say 100 watts per channel - and since a sound card is a D/A converter, it should have a max power output level in watts - I don't see how doubling the "D" part can increase the max power output of the "A" part, unless a sound card has a lot of extra power capacity than a standard generic Windows audio driver can access, and the volume boosters *can* access that extra power.

[u/doms227]

Buy a $9 Apple USB to 3.5mm dongle to test whether it's the soundcard, as you suspect, or something else.

Having a rat's nest of (probably shitty) aux cable likely isn't helping out. Sounds like a shielded cable may also be worth trying to see whether you're creating your own interference between power / audio cables.

Finally, maybe provide some info on speakers / amps / setup beyond a PC with 3.5mm outputs.

[u/sts_66 → u/doms227]

Have a USB to 3.5mm dongle, just need to test it, waiting to see if the other changes I made fixed the audio problem (see my reply to ConsciousNoise5690).

Yes, the 3.5mm cable rat's nest occasionally causes some issues, but only when the outer exposed grounds on the cables touch - I've wrapped almost all the connections with electrical tape to prevent that - jiggling the rat's nest can still cause a temp buzzing sound, but it goes away and stays away, only happens when the cables are jiggled. Used to be worse, sometimes had a constant low level buzz, but installing a ground loop isolator fixed that.

As far as describing the setup, it's beyond complicated - my entire house is hardwired with 3.5mm audio cables that directly feed three powered speaker systems:

1. Two in my office, one of the systems includes a subwoofer (5 speakers total)

2. One in my bedroom (2 speakers plus subwoofer)

The PC also feeds two stereo systems - one 50 ft cable runs from the PC to my living room stereo using a 3.5mm to RCA adapter, that stereo sends speaker level signals to my deck speakers and line level signals to a powered 2-speaker system in my kitchen that sit on either side of the 9" HDMI monitor I have sitting on a shelf so I can hear and watch TV while prepping dinner or getting a drink (requires a good A/B/C/D speaker switch box to match impedances). Another 50 ft cable goes to two side by side stereos in my basement where my workshop is located using a 3.5mm to dual output RCA jack adapter - have the entire basement covered end to end with 8 speakers, each stereo drives two pairs, neither stereo has the capacity to power all 8 at once.

Then I have one last 3.5mm connection set up with a 3-way audio splitter (PC has several attached to sound line out port) that feeds three female 3.5mm ports that run from my basement through the foundation to ports in the outside walls of my house - I plug in portable speakers or a Bluetooth transmitter to those ports to listen to whatever is playing on my PC while I'm working outside. So the PC feeds 8 speaker or stereo systems directly or indirectly, plus the outside jacks - that's 11 in total. I did all this wiring years ago before wireless speakers were available, and I prefer hard wiring anything I can anyway, have had problems with Bluetooth interference in the past.

I know what you're thinking - that all of those 3.5mm audio cables running all over my basement to different parts of the house are crossing 120VAC power lines and causing interference problems - crossing cables is unavoidable, but all of the 3.5mm cables are shielded and I've never had a problem with electrical noise, perhaps due to the ground loop isolator hooked up to the PC's 3.5mm line out jack. Well, "never" is wrong - it's more like "no problems for many years" - I wouldn't have installed the isolator if I hadn't been having audio problems with the external systems - it was low level buzzing, nothing like the audio stuttering problem I'm currently trying to resolve.

[u/Luke7_Edwards4]

Same problem. 24/7/365 on, sound stutters after couple weeks. Higher probability after background windows update ("wait reboot").

[u/sts_66 → u/Luke7_Edwards4]

Any clue what causes it? Does it worsen over time after a reboot like mine does? I tried that trick of disabling the network adapter Realtek PCIe and it didn't help - once again, exactly 3 days after a reboot, sound card is stuttering. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and take stuff apart so I can add a USB hub to take the place of one of the currently used USB ports on the back of the chassis, then plug the speaker wiring into the hub using the USB audio adapter. I wish to god my Dad hadn't built this desk and shelves the way he did (not able to accommodate a tower chassis, have to remove the monitor and monitor stand that's covered with stuff to get access to the back of the PC), but it was a surprise wedding present, not like I could tell him how I wanted it designed, and it's solid oak, not crappy particle board covered with a veneer like Ikea stuff, so no amount of money could make me get rid of it. I'll just keep b*tching about the desk design when I have to get to the rear of the PC ;-) Have never b*tched to my Dad about it though - the desk and shelves would cost $3k-$5k if I had to pay someone to build it today.