Audio issue with z170A board, any ideas?

[Desync]

Got a buddy who built himself a new comp and he is using a z170A mobo. He has this weird static / echo and it gets worse the more CPU load he has. Also while watching streams he has major audio lag, but it's fine while playing games.

Simple fix or bad mobo?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Which audio ports is he using? Rear on the mobo or front on the case?

 

[Desync]

Which audio ports is he using? Rear on the mobo or front on the case?

Rear ports on the mobo

 

[ATMINSIDE]

What PSU?

 

[Desync]

What PSU?

copied directly from him:

so basically i am having some trouble with a new build.

i5 6600k
z170-a
750evga g2 supernova
16gb ddr4
fractal r5
2ssd 1hdd

my audio is very distorted ( static/crackling)

things i have tried :

3rd party pci 5.1 audio card
cable management
tried out linux(alternate os)
checked my speakers
upgraded bios
tried all new drivers(tried every iteration i can think of)
fixed all my power cabling( new power strip/cable)
plugged/unplugged everything many times
reset cmos

other clues:
worse as cpu load increased
everything but sound works fine
when i plug in headphones into front jack ( i get crazy distortion, like power overload)

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Tried a new wall plug for the speakers? (Getting them on a separate plug/circuit from the tower)

 

[Desync]

Tried a new wall plug for the speakers? (Getting them on a separate plug/circuit from the tower)

yes, everything has been removed from the PC and plugged in one at a time to try and isolate the problem

 

[ATMINSIDE]

yes, everything has been removed from the PC and plugged in one at a time to try and isolate the problem

I mean plug the power for the PC and the speakers in on two separate house circuits and see if the issue persists.

 

[wingman99]

How does it sound with headphones?

 

[EarthDog]

How does it sound with headphones?

copied directly from him:....

Other clues:
....
when i plug in headphones into front jack ( i get crazy distortion, like power overload)

When he tried other drivers.. did he use a tool to uninstall drivers to make sure he got them all? What about a fresh WINDOWS OS install? Did that pcie sound card do the same thing when it was in use?

At this point, I'd RMA the board.

 

[trents]

When he tried other drivers.. did he use a tool to uninstall drivers to make sure he got them all? What about a fresh WINDOWS OS install? Did that pcie sound card do the same thing when it was in use?

At this point, I'd RMA the board.

OP mentioned his friend tried linux and got the same issues so that should have covered OS and driver problems.

Is the board under warranty still?

Another option would be to try an add on pcie audio card.

 

[EarthDog]

Maybe.. but its why i put windows in all caps. I know he tried linux...

He added a pcie card in...waiting to hear what happened with it. Considering it bypasses on board audio, I don't see how it wouldn't work...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Maybe.. but its why i put windows in all caps. I know he tried linux...

He added a pcie card in...waiting to hear what happened with it. Considering it bypasses on board audio, I don't see how it wouldn't work...

This is why I asked about moving the speakers to another circuit in the house. I know in one of my old residences if the mini-fridge in my computer room cut on my speakers would pop/buzz because the wiring was crap.

 

[Desync]

It's been over the 30 day RMA time, as he hasn't been long graduated from college and got a new job so he never bothered taking the board back out to RMA it.

So far:

Yes, plugged speakers up to a different plug in the house on a completely different circuit and still same issue, but same issue with no speakers plugged in and just headset plugged in.

When the board was put in a fresh install of windows was used, then wiped clean and fresh install of linux was tried, then wiped clean and fresh install of windows again.

Same issue when the PCIe sound card was used (tried speakers only front and back, tried headset only front and back with card installed)

VLC the audio will stutter and cut in and out, watching twitch streams the audio will lag behind what's happening on screen pretty bad, youtube has lots of static / echoing and all seems to get worse as CPU load increases.

Read on a post earlier about someone with the same issue on a Gigabyte board, they disabled EIST and C1 in the bios and it fixed their problem. Told him to do that and so far at minimum it's still static and then starts getting lag as cpu load goes up.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

So, again, is it still under warranty? You get a year with the manufacturer.

 

[Desync]

So, again, is it still under warranty? You get a year with the manufacturer.

Yea just talked to him about that, it's still under warranty. He's gonna buy a new board and then RMA this one back to the manufacturer and sell it when it comes back in. He's one that doesn't like being without a comp for a few days or a week, so he would rather pay $200 extra to go to best buy and buy a part than save $200 by ordering from new egg and waiting on the part to ship.

 

[XRogerX]

ok i had this problem b4 and honestly this is going to sound messed up ,i had to update my bios and it was all better , i know sounds stupid but it fixed my issue

 

[Alaric]

My z170 Giga board has a hardware related audio issue, too. Low volume on the left channel and noise. Front port works fine, rear port not so much. I'm going to end up RMAing it before the warranty is up. I hate having stuff that doesn't work, but it's my only computer and I really hate the idea of being stuck with only an old Samsung tablet for a month or two. Plus the hassle of tearing down and rebuilding a rig I just put together.

 

[wingman99]

My z170 Giga board has a hardware related audio issue, too. Low volume on the left channel and noise. Front port works fine, rear port not so much. I'm going to end up RMAing it before the warranty is up. I hate having stuff that doesn't work, but it's my only computer and I really hate the idea of being stuck with only an old Samsung tablet for a month or two. Plus the hassle of tearing down and rebuilding a rig I just put together.

I was wondering about your board Audio, a lot of people on newegg said they have problems with it.

 

[Alaric]

It still sounds good, but would probably sound better straight from the board. It worked fine for about a week then one day I fired it up and it was a mess. I saw nothing with a visual inspection. The way one channel went I was hoping I'd spot a bad cap or something but no such luck. I was initially impressed with the sound quality, but it turns out that only matters if it works. LOL