Strange Inconsistent Audio Issues

[Venrez]

Hey folks

With my PC I've been having strange audio issues for years and I cannot identify any sort of pattern or consistency in order to address the problem.

When playing a game, or sometimes when I leave Firefox open with a few tabs (such as Youtube or 9gag or anything that may involve playing audio or video files), the sound on my PC will... cut out, but not quite, but yes, but no.

To the best of my ability to explain, I lose all audio. Every 10 seconds or so I will hear a split-second blip of sound that should be playing, or as if the audio is lagging behind by minutes even if the sound is only a second long (such as an explosion in a video game going b...b...b...b...b...b...o...o...o...o...o...o...o...o...m...m...m...m...m...m). All inbetween time is silence.

Even if there is no active audio, when this issue occurs, I will hear that same split-second of some sort of noise. Like a blip or static. For a split second. Every 10 seconds or so.

This is extremely annoying but inconsistent. Sometimes I can go a whole day of watching videos and playing games without it ever happening. Sometimes it will happen the moment I launch a particular game like Supreme Commander 2, but it (almost) never happens when playing other games for hours.

There are no error messages to speak of. Windows Troubleshooter finds nothing wrong.

Sometimes I will open one Youtube video and the audio plays perfectly fine. Sometimes the audio will cut out mid-video, when I change tabs, or if I even click to load another video.

This issue, when it happens, persists until I completely close the game AND / or my web browser. Anything open that may contain video or audio files, whether they are actively playing or not.

I have looked through seemingly every option available via the Windows Troubleshooter and it cannot tell me anything useful to change or modify. I do not know of any audio drivers to download because my headset just works as-is when plugged in.

The issue is not the headset itself. It works perfectly fine on two other computers, so the issue seems to be software related on this particular PC... but as I said, I do not know of any drivers to update, software to patch or anything to change.

I have tried changing my headset to different USB ports. I have tried fiddling with every possible variant in Sound Options regarding the 'output device' as either HyperX Virtual Surround Sound or Realtek Digital Output.

I can have nothing else running on my computer. I boot up Supreme Commander. While just sitting on the main menu, the audio issue may occur. Or it may not, for hours, game after game. The same goes for Youtube. I could have 1 tab with 1 video and the issue can occur immediately. Or I can have hundreds of tabs and leave my computer on for days and the issue never happens.

I do not understand.

Absolutely anything you might suggest to help with this issue would be greatly appreciated. I am at a total loss as to how to fix it, because I dont even know what is going wrong.

[emoticorpse]

Disable any unused audio output devices?
Does it happen with audio devices connected by audio cable instead of usb?
Update gpu drivers?
You install mobo audio drivers?

If those don'r fix it, I would think it might be worth it to simply try a Windows re-install or try a budget sound card as a workaround.

[_I_]

get the correct audio drivers from the mobo mfg or oem site

windows update takes a guess and grabs ones that kinda work, but never correct for the chip
the correct ones will work 100% with all features

[JJ0]

You could use this small utility to see if your PC is suffering with latency issues:-
https://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/DPC-Latency-Checker.shtml

Once you've done that it may help you to narrow down the possible culprits.

[skOsH♥]

Sounds exactly like an issue I had

Long story short my audio was shorting out

It was especially noticeable when I would wear headphones and it felt like static electricity would pop in my ears

I had an improperly grounded motherboard. This was after I rewired some stuff

I would check that if the other above advice isn't the issue

You could try downloading /updating codecs* (edit:spelling)? I just nab mine from k-lite since it's good freeware

[Venrez]

After some testing, I have found that the issue can be "delayed" by making sure that I restart my computer before running any videogame. However, the issue still occurs and having to restart the entire system is frustrating having to then sign into everything again only for maybe 30-60 mins of playtime before the sound cuts out.

I installed NGENUITY and it does not seem to detect my headset. With the program running and my HyperX headset plugged in, NGENUITY still says 'plug in your HyperX products to get started' and thus I cannot do anything with the program.

From looking through their website, I cannot be 100% certain but my Headset might be :
https://hyperx.com/collections/gaming-headsets/products/hyperx-cloud-ii?variant=40998813794461

I still just dont understand how inconsistent the issue is. Sometimes the audio will cut out on the main menu seconds after loading up a game. Sometimes I can play for hours without issue. Sometimes the sound will cut out when the game noticably loads some new sound data, but if I exit the program entirely, load a saved game and do the same thing, it may not trigger the issue that time.

I think it'd be a difficult problem to diagnose even if I were to take my computer to a tech shop and have them look at it. They'd need to sign into my Steam account for example and test various games for an unknown length of time, with my Headset in particular attached, before the issue may or may not occur.

Originally posted by d¢:

You could try downloading /updating codecs* (edit:spelling)? I just nab mine from k-lite since it's good freeware

What would I search for on google? HyperX codecs? I am not sure what k-lite is nor what I am looking for.

My experience with looking for Drivers to download for my HyperX headset has been unsuccessful as any google results simply direct me to the HyperX website, where I am told all drivers and software are included in the Headset itself when you simply USB plug it in.

Originally posted by _I_:

get the correct audio drivers from the mobo mfg or oem site

Mobo mfg or oem website? I do not know what you mean by this.

[JJ0]

I always recommend rebooting the PC before playing any game. Problem is that some apps/games don't return resources after they have been closed down. Rebooting makes sure you start with a clear canvass - so to speak.

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by Venrez:

After some testing, I have found that the issue can be "delayed" by making sure that I restart my computer before running any videogame. However, the issue still occurs and having to restart the entire system is frustrating having to then sign into everything again only for maybe 30-60 mins of playtime before the sound cuts out.

I installed NGENUITY and it does not seem to detect my headset. With the program running and my HyperX headset plugged in, NGENUITY still says 'plug in your HyperX products to get started' and thus I cannot do anything with the program.

From looking through their website, I cannot be 100% certain but my Headset might be :
https://hyperx.com/collections/gaming-headsets/products/hyperx-cloud-ii?variant=40998813794461

I still just dont understand how inconsistent the issue is. Sometimes the audio will cut out on the main menu seconds after loading up a game. Sometimes I can play for hours without issue. Sometimes the sound will cut out when the game noticably loads some new sound data, but if I exit the program entirely, load a saved game and do the same thing, it may not trigger the issue that time.

I think it'd be a difficult problem to diagnose even if I were to take my computer to a tech shop and have them look at it. They'd need to sign into my Steam account for example and test various games for an unknown length of time, with my Headset in particular attached, before the issue may or may not occur.

Originally posted by d¢:

You could try downloading /updating codecs* (edit:spelling)? I just nab mine from k-lite since it's good freeware

What would I search for on google? HyperX codecs? I am not sure what k-lite is nor what I am looking for.

My experience with looking for Drivers to download for my HyperX headset has been unsuccessful as any google results simply direct me to the HyperX website, where I am told all drivers and software are included in the Headset itself when you simply USB plug it in.

Originally posted by _I_:

get the correct audio drivers from the mobo mfg or oem site

Mobo mfg or oem website? I do not know what you mean by this.

Does it happen in safe mode?

[_I_]

board brand/model?
or what mfg made the pc?

post a cpuz validation link
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
cpuz -> validate button -> submit button
it will open a browser, copy the url (address) and paste it here