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Topic: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so (Read 9240 times) previous topic - next topic
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Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Hello,
I am somewhat duplicating a post that I wrote in the foobar forum, but I have a reason : the problem is still not solved and issue persists with another player (Musicbee). I suspect it has nothing to do with Foobar - which worked well until the problem arose.

I have drop-outs only when sending the music signal through the usb cable to my DAC (Teac UD501), otherwise, the music has no drop-outs when played through the computer speaker.
I have tried increasing the buffer size, stoping all other software, and even unplugging the ethernet plug...no change. I have a Dell Vostro Intel I5, 4 Mo R, Nvidia Gforce GT330M.

Any idea thaty could help ? Thank you.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #1 –
By LatencyMon data listed there in your other thread you may just have DPC latency issue there ... maybe some graphics related driver is not working perfectly and hogs CPU resouces at times.
Linked image there is unreadable (maybe you can post better one) but, IIRC (I'm with ubuntu ATM so..), you get quite good info out with that utility so read the report / suggestion where to look at.
 

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #2 –
Thank you for your reply.

Here is another picture of the LatencyMon display, of the right size I hope.



I have set the processor minimum setting to 100 per cent in the advanced power management parameters. It didn't change anything. I have looked into the Bios, there is no relevant setting : in "Performance", I have only "Intel Speed Step Technology" (enabled), "Execute disable bit" (enabled) and Intel virtualization technologies (enabled) ; in Power Management, I have only "USB wake support" and "Wake on Lan", which both seem irrelevant.




Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #3 –
Bios settings don't matter here, you have a bad driver installed in windows. Update your drivers, especially chipset, ethernet, wifi, etc.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #4 –
I had a Dell laptop that messed up those things royally (with XP though) - it was the battery controller.  Disabled that, and everything was fine, except the battery was gone in a few months :-(

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #5 –
Quote from: ziggyziggy on
...
I have set the processor minimum setting to 100 per cent in the advanced power management parameters. It didn't change anything. I have looked into the Bios, there is no relevant setting : in "Performance", I have only "Intel Speed Step Technology" (enabled), "Execute disable bit" (enabled) and Intel virtualization technologies (enabled) ; in Power Management, I have only "USB wake support" and "Wake on Lan", which both seem irrelevant.

Even if you OC the CPU it probably won't help in DPC latency issue.

I would follow the basic routine in solving the culprit(s) for high DCP latency spikes. In your case disabling WiFi, ISST and turning OFF the PM system might be worth to start from.

BTW, "USB wake support" and "Wake on LAN" may look irrelevant but if you don't need those features then just disable.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #6 –
I had this problem with my laptop. It was the SD Card driver that was the culprit.
I was using the latest Win7 driver, but it didn't play nicely with Windows 10 so I just uninstalled it and used the generic SD card driver that came with Windows 10.
It should be easy to figure out what driver causing the issue by looking at the other tabs in LatencyMon. That is how I figured it out.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #7 –
The Drivers tab should show you which drivers have the highest latency. If updates don't help you could test disabling the Intel SpeedStep option in BIOS. I know a few cases where disabling it fixed the latency issue.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #8 –
Thank you to all who are suggesting solutions.

I just updated a number of drivers, Nvidia, Intel, etc. & restarted. No change. To update the Bios the system demands a 10 pct battery charge. But my battery is out of service, I'm running on main power supply. A replacement battery is costly (180$).

I'd like to see if there is another fix that would work.

Case, LithosZA: here is the driver quoted by LatencyMon :
"dxgkrnl.sys, Direct X graphic Kernel" - both for "Highest report ISR routine execution time"  and for "Highest report DPC routine execution time".

Juha: I had disabled Wifi, bluetooth, and I will disable Wake on Lan and USB wake, just in case (thank you).

Porcus : my battery is already dead, so no risk... : where can I disable the "battery controller" ?

Here is the Drivers tab on LatencyMon :


Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #9 –
I would open up Device Manager and start disabling devices one by one until you get the culprit.

Other than the graphics, the only things that look a bit suspicious to me:
- Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver
- Ricoh Memorystick Controller...maybe
- USBPORT.sys - try unplugging all USB devices or disable the USB host controllers

Are you running Windows 7?
What version of the NVIDA drivers did you install? I see in the list it shows something about '189.21' which is from 7 years ago.
Also check if there is a service called 'NVIDIA Powermizer' running:
https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/solved-dropouts-cracks-pops-on-windows-7-and-nvidia-gfx-card.126080/

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #10 –
Quote from: ziggyziggy on
To update the Bios the system demands a 10 pct battery charge. But my battery is out of service, I'm running on main power supply. A replacement battery is costly (180$).

I am no expert but I would think that 10% battery requirement was if you were updating the BIOS using the laptop on battery power only, so you should be OK using mains power.  However I would seek confirmation first. As I said I am no expert.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #11 –
cresco : actually, when I'm plugged into the mains, the Bios installer demands a 10 pct battery charge. Otherwise, no way.

LithosZA : yes, Windows 7 Family Premium, with 4 Go Ram.
I understant the Registry tweak suggestion, however there are only two NVidia services running on my computer: NVidia Display Driver and NVidia Update services. I see no Powermizer...
Based on the Dell support page, I have downloaded (from them) and installed the most recent Nvidia drivers for my PC...or is there something I have missed ?







Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #12 –
Quote from: ziggyziggy on
Porcus : my battery is already dead, so no risk... : where can I disable the "battery controller" ?

I had a couple of .bat files to turn on and off, although I do not remember quite anymore ... new computer now.   A couple of searches brought me to https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/acpi-sys-causing-latency.130166/

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #13 –
Quote
Based on the Dell support page, I have downloaded (from them) and installed the most recent Nvidia drivers for my PC...or is there something I have missed ?
Support pages are often not kept up to date for older products.

You could try the 330M driver directly from NVIDIA:
Windows 7 32bit: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/112597/en-us
Windows 7 64bit: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/112598/en-us

EDIT: If it is an NVIDIA Optimus then you would also need to update to the latest Intel Graphics driver(compatible with your Intel HD Graphics) from: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #14 –
Thank you very much for the link, I couln't find it on their website.
However, unfortunately, after downloading and installing it, and rebooted, there is no change whatsoever. This is very frustrating..

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #15 –
The storage driver is more likely to be at fault than the Nvidia driver. Try uninstalling it (you may not actually need it to function at all) and then reinstalling the last version.

Alternatively you could always reinstall windows or doors the free update to Windows 10.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #16 –
What is the storage driver (& how is it that I don't need it ) ?

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #17 –
Have you checked if IRQ situation is qood?
You'll find this info by starting "Device Manager"
--> change the View type to "Resources by Type" or "Resources by Connection"
--> select option "Interrupts by Requests"
--> find the PCI devices part of the list (end of the list)

In this internet/demoing PC setup, I have to use port from USB controller located at 3B34 to get 100% clean audio from E-MU 0404 USB.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #18 –
Thank you.

I'm sorry but I'm not very familiar with this.
I suppose I should allocate a specific port - a "clean" one - to the USB through which the music is sent to the DAC ? I am not sure however how to tell which port is right, and how to allocate it.

Here is the screen capture of the device manager. I have a USD hub supporting printer and wireless keyboard, and my DAC is connected directly to a USB on the computer.
Can you let me know what you think I should do ?


Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #19 –
You seem to have even more users for the IRQ 16 so it might be partly culprit.
To find out which ports are for which controller ... one easy method is: open "Device Manager" --> Devices by Type --> find Universal Serial Bus controllers --> you find those USB controllers 3B3C and 3B34 listed there ... connect and power your USB audio device and then look in which controller it gets listed (select the controller --> mouse right-click opens a menu --> select Properties --> Advanced --tab). Try to get the audio interface connected to a port for controller at 3B34.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #20 –
IRQs we're problematic in Windows 98, but since the introduction of APIC 20 years ago it's generally not necessary to pay attention to them or how they are shared, so I would not waste time looking at them on a computer made in recent decades.

I continue to recommend uninstalling the Intel rapid storage controller driver given the long latency associated with that driver.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #21 –
You should be able to pudate the BIOS without battery. Dell's documentation says it works with /forceit parameter.

Dell may have stopped supporting your laptop but you can use newer reference drivers. Latest Nvidia drivers for GT 330M can be downloaded here.

Word of warning about the Intel storage driver uninstall. You need to use Device Manager to change the storage controller to use Windows built-in AHCI driver first. Otherwise you will get a BSOD on the next boot. The uninstaller should warn about that but it may not and you may skip the warning without reading.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #22 –
Here is the USB list in the device Manager.



Here is the "Properties/advanced" tab of 3B3C



for 3B34 - with DAC unplugged :



and with Dac plugged (Device manager refreshes automatically) :



I have tried swapping the (physical) USB plugs, I mean plugging the DAC to another USB socket on the PC, unplugging the USB hub with Printer and keyboard, and even disconnect the computer from the RJ45 ethernet. No change.

Case : thank you for the information, and for your kind assistance. However the instructions are for "Forcing a BIOS flash without the AC adapter connected". I have an AC adapter,  but an empty battery. I'm very afraid that there could be a risk if the system detects that there is no battery charge at all during the flash.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #23 –
The link instructs to use DOS mode when the battery charge is less than they want. I read elsewhere the /forceit parameter is needed there too.

Re: Sound "drop-outs" every ten seconds or so

Reply #24 –
If you want to look closer what happens in your system at that point you get the drop-out then just use perfmon bundled with OS.
Just use suitable counters there.