Issue with sound breaking up / distorting

Hi

I'm hoping someone can help, My PC has been suffering from sound distortion with most audio applications for about a month. I have just finished removing malware using the malware removal forum where Kestrel13 helped me out, this unfortunately did not fix the problem.

Basically, if I am watching a video on youtube the sound starts crackling and breaks up completely after a short while. This has also happens while using ableton, and also while listening to music on VLC media player. The only fix I have when the sound starts to break up is to turn my speaker off and on under "playback devices", this fixes the problem for a shot while before the problem comes back again. Ableton however just constantly skips, even with new projects.

The problems started when I decided to clean and update my PC, at that time I updated my chipset drivers, and used driver reviver to find and update new drivers automatically, since then I have had nothing but problems.

I have tried removing realtek (i don't need it since I use a saffire soundcard), and have changed some sound options in my BIOS, still no luck. The weird thing is I used Propellerheads Reason for about 3 hours last night and had no problems at all, so it seems Reason is unaffected.

Can anyone help / suggest what the problem might be? its turning into a bit of a nightmare as i built my PC as a home studio PC and have spend a lot of money on making a decent home studio setup.

 

Greetings, kilo85...

Let us take a look at your system: please download and run Speccy, a free system information tool.

When the scan completes select 'File', 'Save as Text file', name the report, and save to an easily found location such as your Desktop.

Be advised: the report will display your IP Address and Windows Product Key. You may delete this information if you so wish.

Then attach that file to your next post.

 

Thank you Caliban, your help is greatly appreaciated.

will get on the case now

 

seems my last message did not post, re-attaching the .txt document

 

Good morning...

Couple of quick questions:

1. You stated that you "changed some sound options in my BIOS" - did you disable onboard audio?

2. Have you attempted to install the latest device drivers for your audio card?

3. And, is this a "Saffire" card or a "Sapphire" card?

 

Good Morning!

I tried to, but when i disabled realtek in the BIOS for some reason my internet would not connect,:confused so i turned it back on

yes, I have.

My PC is saying i currently have the most updated drivers.

it is a Saffire Pro 14. Info found here: http://uk.focusrite.com/firewire-audio-interfaces/saffire-pro-14

 

That's a wild-looking piece of equipment. Little out of my league...:confused

Looks like you've gone through all of the normal first steps. Did you install this device? If so, you might try uninstalling it (both software-wise and physically pulling any hardware), then reinstalling - maybe a loose connection somewhere, etc. Also, you might consider uninstalling the Saffire and going with the Realtek to see if it exhibits the same symptoms - maybe the noise is coming from something else...

Another thought - do you get the noise when booted into Safe Mode?

Just grasping at straws. Hang in there - maybe some of the gurus here will jump on board with some other suggestions.

 

Yeah, you should see the software that came with it! mind boggling haha.

Will give that a try then get back with a reply. I dont think it is though because some progs work fine for hours with no issues, seems the only culprits that make audio distort are web browsers and ableton live :confused (Edit: oh yeah, and when my CPU Spikes while audio is playing, this is another culprit that causes serious breaking up / distortion )

Again, not things i have though to check. I Will test and get back with a response.

 

Good morning...

Your reference to the CPU spikes gave me another wild thought: in the past I've had machines that distorted sound/crackled because of the Windows volume controls maxing out, effectively overdriving everything.

You might check the default Windows levels in the Control Panel, even play with any hardware acceleration settings you can find. Might not make any difference but they're certainly worth looking at.

 

no worries

I tried checking in safe mode but it seems i cant even play audio in safe mode, I get an error msg.

Earlier I removed and re-installed the latest ATI Radeon HD 5450 Drivers and once I done that I made a track in ableton distortion-free for the first time in weeks!, but when I exported the song and listened to it in MP3 using VLC Media player the sound started distorting after about 5 seconds of play :confused

installing the new drivers definitely made things better for ableton, but the problem still exists.

 

Hi my friend , do you clean the leftovers of the driver before you are able to install the new one ?

http://majorgeeks.com/Driver_Sweeper_d6171.html

you must run it in normal mode
restart your machine
you have to do the same thing in safe mode
:wave

 

Hi,

Thanks, I have run Driver Sweeper to no avail. Still suffering from this distortion. Any more ideas?

 

sorry i have been late with reply's, all very manic with xmas and all.

will try and find out what the error was today if possible

thanks, and happy christmas

 

hey, xmas over and its back to some normality haha

im still having this problem of sound distorting at random / when my CPU spikes.

To reply to the post before Xmas on running audio in safe mode, i tried again last night but my soundcard is not detected when running in safe mode.

I previously disabled the realtek onboard sound, but im sure if i enabled it again i would see it in the sound and playback tabs, but i disabled my onboard sound weeks ago as i thought that might of been what was causing the interference. (would like to add that sound was working perfectly before i had a virus attack)

so when running in safe mode there are no devices detected in the "playback" or "recording" tabs under sound. (i do have "show disabled devices" option checked)

i am thinking because it is an external soundcard, and connected to a firewire port that i installed into a PCI slot myself, that this could be the reason i am not seeing any devices in my sound options while running in safe mode.

update:

I have improved the performance with ableton (cutting down the distortion and skipping quite a lot) by using driveridentifier.com to double check and make sure all my drivers are up to date. this definitely improved things, but they are not fixed by any means. i still have distortion while watching youtube videos that occurs 5 - 10 minuets into the video.

also, I have changed some of the audio drivers like "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller" and my USB ports to "Legacy", as i read on a thread this can fix audio problems. No luck doing this either.

 

I just made a video visually showing the problems i am experiencing. Not sure if this will help in diagnosing / fixing the problem, but i thought id give it a shot.

the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq5tb0zeIas&feature=youtu.be

the distortion occurs at 1:01 (just after i start ableton), at 1:10 (kind of randomly, then fixes itself), at 1:49 (as soon as i delete some audio tracks), and finally at 2:35, which is the worst and most commonly experienced problem, the only fix for this as you can see is when I stop playback, disable and then re-enable the speakers. the distortion magically seems to vanish

this is driving me mental. help in fixing this would be extremely appreciated

 

Still experiencing this horrible problem. any advice? im totally out of ideas