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Audio crackling/popping when I interact with Windows10

Anonymous
2022-07-11T23:53:44+00:00

I recently started having an audio issue a few days ago, where when I have music playing (either on Spotify or Youtube) and I open the Windows Explorer to view files, open an application, hover over buttons or folders in the Explorer, or do anything on my computer, the audio sometimes pops and crackles, reacting to my mouse movements/actions. It also happens when I'm only listening to music and not moving my mouse. It will crackle maybe once every 2-3 minutes. I've gone through several websites and conducted steps to diagnose my problem, such as:

  • updating my audio drivers (no new updates found)
  • removing any sound effects on my playback device
  • changing the default format on my playback device (tried most options)
  • turning/replugging/cleaning/fiddling with the output jacks (I have a front and a rear 3.5mm jack and both of them crackle through my speakers and headphones)
  • reviewing DPC latency/audio processing latency checks via LatencyMon (no issue, got the green light)
  • reviewing overall CPU/memory/GPU usage (CPU and GPU are single digits and memory is around 30% because of browsers and other caches)
  • moving any possible interfering tech out of the way (closest objects are my monitor and keyboard + mouse)
  • "power drained" my computer (shut down, turn off PSU, unplugged everything, hold down power button for 20 seconds)

The only thing I can think of that changed with my computer is that I swapped out my graphics card (from a GTX 980 TI to RTX 2080) about a month before the crackling started. I didn't touch anything around the audio jack pin connectors and the PSU supports the increase in graphics processing power.

I'm out of ideas to try, so I'm hoping someone can give me some further advice.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-10T03:17:00+00:00

    I'm not sure if anyone is on this thread but what ended up being my issue was that I had like 4 or 5 different audio devices installed that were all trying to get through at the same time.

    When I went into my device manager -> sound, video and game controllers I disabled (didn't uninstall) every sound device except one (I ended up keeping the NVIDIA one because leaving the Realtek one was still crackling). I also restarted my PC after disabling them to make sure it still worked when I restarted it. Works great! Hope this helps someone maybe.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-04-03T01:09:52+00:00

    This is what works for me.

    Problem: loud pop when a sound is played for the first time or a loud pop if there is a gap of time between sound playing.

    In my case it's a Realtek driver. Yours might be different.

    1. Open device manager.
    2. In the list expand 'sound video and game controllers'
    3. Right click 'Realtek high definition audio device' - choose disable - ignore warning and continue
    4. Right-click same file choose 'update driver software' then 'browse computer for device software'
    5. Choose 'let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'
    6. Select Microsoft then Highlight 'high definition audio' (2020) click 'next' again ignore warning and click 'yes'
    7. Restart the computer

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-02-24T09:35:06+00:00

    I have tried many ideas for correcting this problem to no avail.

    This fix works and I stumbled on it by chance and it is to do with GPU Scaling and the way I get around it is to go to use RadeonSettings.exe enter Display: 2,1, GPU Scaling, turn it ON then OFF and Exit.

    Try it nothing to loose everything to gain.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-23T00:19:56+00:00

    Hi all, this thread seems to come up on most of my audio crackle/pop searches (including "Windows" and "Logitech"), so I'll post my solution here:

    1. (Unsure if required) I uninstalled my motherboard software that was adding audio drivers (ASUS' "Armoury Crate")
    2. Press Windows key, type "device manager" and press enter
    3. Open "Audio inputs and outputs" foldout
    4. Right click on every device and choose "Uninstall device"
    5. Restart your computer
    6. (Optional) There's also a "Sound, video and game controllers" foldout, though I personally didn't uninstall these

    I tried seemingly every other solution on the internet and all of them only temporarily resolved the issue (a few hours). However I've had no crackling for a week now. My theory is that installing my ASUS motherboard drivers/software also installed a version of Realtek that clashes with something Windows installs automatically.

    I believe I had a Realtek item in the audio foldout, which didn't automatically reinstall itself on restart, and thus took the audio crackling with it.

    Fingers crossed it's completely solved, but it's looking good thus far.

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