Why does the audio buzz and skip after the Windows 10 update?

[Windows Central Question]

I use a Compaq Presario CQ43 Laptop, bought in mid-2012, and it's served be very well for years now, using Windows 7. (64 bit).

Yesterday I updated to Windows 10, and almost immediately afterwards, anything I listened to - whether Netflix videos, youtube videos, downloaded audio in iTunes and videos in VLC have frequent, short buzzes and skips.
I know it's not a buffering or internet issue, ad it still happens offline and with downloaded files.

I googled for help and found plenty of advice about drivers and updating RealTek HD audio or Intel HD graphics drivers, or restoring earlier versions, and after several updates/restoring and playing around in Device Manager (after working out what drivers and device manager was - I am not much of a techie!), updating everything the computer told me to, and uninstalling what was unnecessary, THERE IS STILL BUZZING!

This is driving me mad, as I'm a student and about half of my laptop use is dedicated to listening to downloaded lectures, or procrastinating with Netflix, and I think the buzzing will slowly make me want to break something.

Please help!!

 

[quackstopr]

Re: Audio buzzes and skips after Windows 10 update

How has this not been answered yet? I've reinstalled drivers and exhausted the microsoft troubleshooting recommendations. It seems like a Windows 10 problem. This is driving me insane.

 

[VanixLH]

Re: Audio buzzes and skips after Windows 10 update

I have a similar issue, buzzing and microstuttering audio in youtube, netflix etc, but in games as well. Now I am not sure if it also causes actual video stuttering or if that's just my brain playing tricks on me because the audio is stuttering so it expects the video to stutter as well. But yes this is definitely something that is bothering me a lot, is there no solution for this? I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Intel Drivers, Nvidia drivers, none of that helped. I'm in the process of fiddling and removing audio drivers, see how that goes.

 

[ven07]

Re: Audio buzzes and skips after Windows 10 update

Not sure this will help, but give it a shot: Sound problems in Windows 10? Here are some workarounds

 

[VanixLH]

Re: Audio buzzes and skips after Windows 10 update

Thanks for trying to help, but none of those problems are what we described.

Either way, I tried clean installing all drivers and in the end I clean installed Windows 10 and that did not fix it. So I can only assume that this is a problem with Microsoft and Realtek and they need to send out proper drivers and a fix asap. I have already emailed Realtek about this.

 

[ven07]

Re: Audio buzzes and skips after Windows 10 update

Thanks for trying to help, but none of those problems are what we described

I realized as much but I figured it couldn't hurt to post it

 

[Mark Reed2]

Yeah I have this, it would happen maybe once every 2hrs, not often but still a pain.

Loud buzz and quick stutter, over in a second, was always on Youtube or using KMP, but today I had it in gaming.

All up to date.

Windows 10 64bit
Zotac 980 ti extreme
Asus Formula 7
16gb ram 2100mhz
1000w evga plat 2

 

[paperwarior]

I have this no matter what drivers I try, since I upgraded.

 

[thefront]

Hi All-Did anyone find the solution to this problem? I upgraded to Windows 10 and immediately the sound began stuttering and buzzing. I've updated my Realtek drivers and that hasn't helped.

 

[CaseyOSullivan]

Another Windows victim here. I actually use my laptop semi-professionally as a DJ.... Updated last night and have been frantically trying everything (twice) to fix this problem. Every 30 minutes - 2 hours or so, the entire PC freezes and if you are playing audio, you hear a loud skip/buzz sound. Video does skip (its not in your head), and i've experience the mouse pointer skipping while moving when this happens. The whole thing lasts only about a second or two, but is an annoying disruption none-the-less.

I fear the problem lies deeper than just audio/video. I believe the entire OS is doing the freeze/skip/buzz, based on what I've experience just the mouse on the screen.The whole PC froze and skipped, its not just the video/audio outputs/drivers.

Anybody else want to chime in here?

 

[Luke Beach]

Chiming in.

I have had this problem on and off for a long time but after my computer recently updated it has come back in full force.
Symptoms include :
- Mouse pointer stuttering, making it generally annoying and unenjoyable to use the OS. Sometimes coincides with the audio stutter but not always
- Audio stuttering, making it impossible to listen to music or do anything in time with a beat.
- Video stuttering: not sure if this is different to mouse pointer stuttering since in most games the camera is controlled by the mouse so I can't tell if the mouse is stuttering or the game. Generally if I'm watching YouTube videos or movies then the video will continue but the sound will stutter and put me off of what I'm watching.

What I've tried:

Reinstalling Windows
- 'Resetting' Windows, that is to say using the built in option in Windows 10 to reinstall windows while keeping your files and without having to make a new bootable USB stick. I did this twice and the stutter prevailed.

- A full clean install using a bootable USB and completely eradicating the data on the drive before doing so. I did this once using the SSD that windows was originally installed on...then using my secondary data SSD to see if that would make a difference and sadly it did not.

Software and Driver deletion/tweaking
- I have removed all of my Nvidia audio drivers so that I am now left with the generic Windows ones as I have read that Nvidia tends to conflict with windows.

- I used Display Driver Uninstaller to cleanly remove the driver for my Nvidia GPU and then I reinstalled the driver in the hope that a clean install would help.

- I uninstalled all Realtek drivers and applications because I read that it can cause issues with Nvidia drivers.

None of this helped


However

I have just found these two simple commands, which are entered into Run as administrator Command prompt and after initially trying these commands I was still getting stutters. But that was roughly 40 minutes ago. Now, touch wood, I can say that I was able to listen to the song on Spotify I was using to listen for stutters without a single distorted or stuttered sound. I think these commands are the fix.

So to fix the stutters simply run command prompt as administrator and then paste in these commands one at a time:

bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes
bcdedit /set useplatformclock true

I really hope this helps you guys because, as someone who notices every fault in technology, this has almost driven me insane and I'm so happy to have fixed it for my system.

 

[Luke Beach]

Ok I'm back again guys, I assumed that those two commands fixed the issue but I think that was just placebo or something else at play. I now know, objectively, the true cause of this problem.

It's the LAN driver. I am using an Asus Wireless Pci card in my rig, but at uni I was plugged into ethernet on campus. So when I came back and had to use the wifi card instead I started noticing the problem. To fix this issue, I have disabled the ASUS PCE - N15 11n Wirelss LAN PCI-E Card driver in Device Manager -> Network adapters and now the stutter is completely gone. Re-enabling this driver instantly brings back the stutters.

 

[krkelly]

It's the LAN driver... To fix this issue, I have disabled the ASUS PCE - N15 11n Wirelss LAN PCI-E Card driver in Device Manager -> Network adapters and now the stutter is completely gone. Re-enabling this driver instantly brings back the stutters.

I'm not sure what the permanent fix is, but I can confirm that Luke's method does seem to solve the problem (although needing a wired connection may pose a problem for some). I should note that, for me, just turning off wifi was enough to solve the buzz/stutter; I didn't have to completely disable from device manager.

I tried rolling back my wireless lan driver to a windows 7 version, but this didn't help. For what it's worth, I'm on a Lenovo X230T.

 

[punisherroach]

I am on broadband Cable, no wireless Lan at all on my pc and the buzz and pauses are very frequent.

 

[DoctorCarlo1955]

I did not experience this problem for the first few months of using Windows 10. My system uses an eight-core FX-8120 AMD processor, 16 GB memory, an ATI FirePro V4800 (Fire GL); it's also a desktop without wireless LAN. So I can't disable the LAN... Although I do have Comcast Xfinity which theoretically would allow me to connect wirelessly at a higher rate than through a network cable. I'd be willing to go that far to get rid of this problem. I went through Device Manager and checked for updated drivers for every item, including 39 system devices and 28 USB devices. Out of all of the devices, perhaps three needed updating; but none of that made a difference. Entering the two commands as administrator has had no effect either. My only input to this problem is that the buzz sounds exactly like the buzz one experiences immediately prior to a Blue Screen of Death. In the meantime while I wait for my wireless LAN card, I will disable my wired LAN card and play some video/audio to see if the problem goes away.

 

[CLBJR]

I have two Toshiba Satellite and both have the same issue. I have two older HP's with W10 and the buzzing also does it as well. I am not sure but someone has got to get this fixed its so so aggravating. I have searched the web over and over looking for a fix and no one has it. Wish someone would step up from MS and say we know and we will fix it with a update. Very tried of W10 use to be a big fan but as more upgrades come out it seems to take a long time to fix issues.

 

[Funtwo22]

I use a Compaq Presario CQ43 Laptop, bought in mid-2012, and it's served be very well for years now, using Windows 7. (64 bit).

Yesterday I updated to Windows 10, and almost immediately afterwards, anything I listened to - whether Netflix videos, youtube videos, downloaded audio in iTunes and videos in VLC have frequent, short buzzes and skips.
I know it's not a buffering or internet issue, ad it still happens offline and with downloaded files.

I googled for help and found plenty of advice about drivers and updating RealTek HD audio or Intel HD graphics drivers, or restoring earlier versions, and after several updates/restoring and playing around in Device Manager (after working out what drivers and device manager was - I am not much of a techie!), updating everything the computer told me to, and uninstalling what was unnecessary, THERE IS STILL BUZZING!

This is driving me mad, as I'm a student and about half of my laptop use is dedicated to listening to downloaded lectures, or procrastinating with Netflix, and I think the buzzing will slowly make me want to break something.

Please help!!

Uninstall SmartByte, thats the cocntroller that ****s the audio