Random Crackle/Skip within Windows Softwares

[jvulte]

had built this PC about a year ago, and it ran excellent for a year. One day, recently, this random crackle/skip started to happen. It was happening regardless of which program I was using. It is most noticeable when watching Netflix, recording music, and opening a new tab(both Google Chrome, and IE).
My first thought was the RAM, Sound card, or GPU. I have a back-up PC, and xtra parts. One by one, I started with the process of elimination. I changed out RAM, GPU, and Audio with no results. After that, I was left thinking it must be the MB or CPU. I wanted to update anyhow, so I grabbed a new MoBo and CPU, same deal. Somewhere in there, I also Changed out to one drive with a Fresh Windows install, both on my newer SSD, and another HD, both with same results. Just to be sure, I had unplugged every single extension header, and peripheral. I also had thought CPU temp could be the issue, as the old APU would run an Avg. of 40-50C. With the new CPU I added a 120mm cooler. Avg. CPU temp with the new processor is somewhere between 15-25 degrees C. so I am counting that out too.
Each time I made a change, it seemed better for about an hour or so, then started again, and since then, has been getting worse.

At this point, everything has been replaced. Unless it's because my tower(case) is the problem, lol, then I am down to the PSU. It seems very odd, and the PSU seems a very unlikely candidate for the problem. I am at the point where I just want to buy a whole new PC, DOH,.. I already have!,.. lol. My PSU is still under warranty from last year, and I have the RMA# already. I will send it in tomorrow. I am just dreading a week later, when I install the new PSU, and still have the same issue! Any thoughts on this?
It doesn't seem to matter what my system is, as the issue was there with the previous system too, however, this is what I am working with now.


AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core Processor 4.00 GHz
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AMD 9 Series Motherboard
16GB Crucial Ballistix, PC3-10600, DDR3-1333MHz
OCZ ModXStream Pro Power Supply - 700-Watt
MSI R7770-Radeon HD 7770 Video Card - 1024MB
OCz Vertex - 3 SATA III - 120GB SSD
WD VelociRaptor 250 GB Sata 6 Gb/s, 10,000 RPM, 64MB Cache
Windows 7 Ulimate 64bit SP1

 

[ozan]

had built this PC about a year ago, and it ran excellent for a year. One day, recently, this random crackle/skip started to happen. It was happening regardless of which program I was using. It is most noticeable when watching Netflix, recording music, and opening a new tab(both Google Chrome, and IE).
My first thought was the RAM, Sound card, or GPU. I have a back-up PC, and xtra parts. One by one, I started with the process of elimination. I changed out RAM, GPU, and Audio with no results. After that, I was left thinking it must be the MB or CPU. I wanted to update anyhow, so I grabbed a new MoBo and CPU, same deal. Somewhere in there, I also Changed out to one drive with a Fresh Windows install, both on my newer SSD, and another HD, both with same results. Just to be sure, I had unplugged every single extension header, and peripheral. I also had thought CPU temp could be the issue, as the old APU would run an Avg. of 40-50C. With the new CPU I added a 120mm cooler. Avg. CPU temp with the new processor is somewhere between 15-25 degrees C. so I am counting that out too.
Each time I made a change, it seemed better for about an hour or so, then started again, and since then, has been getting worse.

At this point, everything has been replaced. Unless it's because my tower(case) is the problem, lol, then I am down to the PSU. It seems very odd, and the PSU seems a very unlikely candidate for the problem. I am at the point where I just want to buy a whole new PC, DOH,.. I already have!,.. lol. My PSU is still under warranty from last year, and I have the RMA# already. I will send it in tomorrow. I am just dreading a week later, when I install the new PSU, and still have the same issue! Any thoughts on this?
It doesn't seem to matter what my system is, as the issue was there with the previous system too, however, this is what I am working with now.


AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core Processor 4.00 GHz
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AMD 9 Series Motherboard
16GB Crucial Ballistix, PC3-10600, DDR3-1333MHz
OCZ ModXStream Pro Power Supply - 700-Watt
MSI R7770-Radeon HD 7770 Video Card - 1024MB
OCz Vertex - 3 SATA III - 120GB SSD
WD VelociRaptor 250 GB Sata 6 Gb/s, 10,000 RPM, 64MB Cache
Windows 7 Ulimate 64bit SP1

Please check with this. It can help to know if you have latency issues

 

[jvulte]

Please check with this. It can help to know if you have latency issues

I had ran this back when I built PC,.. no problems,.. this time around, it was showing ALL kinds of issues. I restarted PC, and no problems! The Crackle is still happening and latency checker is not showing ANY problems,..lol, go figure!

 

[ozan]

Leave the pc barebones first(cpu, ram, mobo, onboard vga and sound). Then check again. Launch up some linux to check again..

I might really be the PSU but I doubt it. I would suspect the spinner disk. So remove that too. SSD only, no cd rom drives nothing.

Update the bios and reset bios settings while you are at it.

 

[jvulte]

I can do another Windows install with only my SSD installed, however, I don't have, nor have I ever used Linux. I would need the CD-Rom to install windows,.. as far as Bios,.. I did try to update Bios on a MoBo one time years ago, and it ended up being a locked up frozen, rebooting marathon for hours to get it back to the way I received it. Ever since that day, I have left Bios alone with no problems. I have ran 2 separate MoBo, with 2 diff Bios, both having same problem, one of which started doing it, out of the blue(no changes), and the other, brand new. I can't see that being the cause. As far as the spinner disk, are you talking about, inside the HD? I do have all of my music files on another HD as storage, and It has been plugged in, do you think a separate storage drive could cause a constant issue, from only being plugged in, even if not accessing it? I will try to unplug that HD today, I didn't think it could possibly cause such an issue when not being used, but then again, neither would a PSU,... lol. Thank you very much for helping me to brainstorm!

 

[jvulte]

I have unplugged my older "storage" HD,... Doing the test now. Have not seen an issue yet, but sometimes it takes a couple of hours before I start to notice it. I will follow up shortly!

 

[jvulte]

Latency checker has been running for about 10hours, while I ran a bunch of programs, and watched videos. I have not seen the problem since I unplugged that older HD. I guess I was pretty foolish to not unplug that drive in the beginning, but it kind of slipped my mind, being storage, and all, I didn't suspect it. Seems to be the problem Hardware though! I am keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping that is the end of it! Kind of glad of the semi warning of the drive going bad, so that I can move all of my files b4 it is completely cooked. I have ordered up a new WD Black 1TB HD to replace the old one.

 

[ozan]

I am glad it worked out in the end So it was false/bad caching all along. Seems about right this would be the case. Go have fun with it now ^^

 

[jvulte]

So how big are problems that show up with the DPC Latency Checker?

I have not had ANy of the same crackle/skip problem! However, I have been running the DPC checker now that everything is installed, and this is what I am getting,...
Fresh Boot, I get NO PRoblems!
randomly I would click on the checker, and I would have some random Yellow bars, and sometimes a wayyy high Red bar, usually repeating. With Device Manager I can disable my Network Adapter(Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller) and the problem will be gone. I can also restart my PC and the problem is gone. I have built this pc for audio recording(ASIO), so latency issues is a major concern. How much can you tell me about what this is checking, and what would you recommend? Should I not worry about it at all? or always disable that device before a recording session? Use checker before/when recording? Any info is greatly appreciated!!! Thank You! --JOsh

 

[ozan]

I suggest you use this utility to cleanup your VGA drivers, install this driver.

Also update your ssd firmware, any motherboard page updates and again bios. Remove any overclock from your cpu. That would be all I can advise you in this matter. Perhaps update your vga bios too. I doubt it is the network adapter. It may be a coincidence how disabling it fixes problems.

Please do at least some of these and report back, also with a picture of the dpc if possible.

I had what you are describing back when I was running my pc from a spinner disk. Now I am on an ssd and there is none of those problems, only when I load my pc for mining or stress testing.