Crackling sound

It all started with FEAR. I've always had the sound at a decent volume in whatever I play. I just upgraded about a month ago and all was fine UNTIL a couple days ago when I was lagging MUCHLY with FEAR's extraction point expansion. I played through FEAR and Extraction Point the first time on max settings and no problems at all. Now, I lagged HORRIBLY for some reason (not lagging so much now), but I have a serious decrease in FPS and I have serious screen year, whereas before I did not.

And don't give me that "OMG YOU NEED ANOTHER GIG" because my games were lag free until a couple days ago. I have no viruses, spyware, or any of that on my computer and I just defragged. Anyway, my sound crackles. My games run fine, but my sound crackles now. My sound drivers are up to date (frankly it got worse when I upgraded my drivers) and I use Realtek High Definition Audio. Please help.

Your sound is crackling, try lowering sound performance

I had the same crackling problem with 2 different sound systems.

The way I fixed it? Turn down your computer volume (via Control panel) to around or below the 2/3rds mark from Max.

Just in case no one knows what I mean.

control panel > sounds, speech, etc > adjust system volume

now lower it to the 4th mark to the left of high.

I had the same crackling problem with 2 different sound systems.

The way I fixed it? Turn down your computer volume (via Control panel) to around or below the 2/3rds mark from Max.

cametall

That doesn't work. I'm running Windows XP and yes, my game is patched.

[QUOTE="cametall"]

I had the same crackling problem with 2 different sound systems.

The way I fixed it? Turn down your computer volume (via Control panel) to around or below the 2/3rds mark from Max.

Skullheart

That doesn't work. I'm running Windows XP and yes, my game is patched.

Lower it to half way and try there (if you have not already). Every time I run into a sound crackling problem this remedies it. If not then I'd say try different speakers.

If it got worse after updating the drivers try a rollback.

well the only thing i can think of is that you have something running in the background thats running take up some of your cpu/hd/ram so try running bare min. stuff in background. Also has your sound always crackled?

There is another device on the same IRQ as your sound card that is causing the crackling. Go to device manager and see which device is sharing the same irq.

It can also be the hardware acceleration is not turned up to the max. The setting is located in the sound and device properties.

I lowered the sound but I don't think it's going to make a difference. My sound has not always crackled. In fact, I left the volume on maximum with wave volume on max. I played through FEAR and it's expansion twice, and I never had problems with STALKER or Oblivion. But now, for some crazy reason it's doing it now. It did this with my old computer, and I can't figure out why!

There is another device on the same IRQ as your sound card that is causing the crackling. Go to device manager and see which device is sharing the same irq.

Also make sure the hardware acceleration is turned up to the max. It's located in the sound and device proterties.

Deihmos

I don't know what IRQ stands for, but all my acceleration is maxed. Also, my DX sound acceleration is maxed too.

It's neither. My headphones and speakers alike are the same thing.

Turning down the volume doesn't change **** and now, my sound is crackling with everything. Winamp, ventrilo, etc. It's not as bad as before, but this **** is retarded. Why would this just randomly start happening to me? WHAT could possibly have changed? I DON'T GET IT. I've always had my cell phone near my computer, by the way...and it never interfered like this until a few days ago.

Grab the drivers that you had a month ago and see if it helps. Also again are still getting fps hit on fear?

I see everyone is saying it is a problem with your speakers. Yet I have had this problem too, cracking sound with screen tearing and choppy pc performance. The result was my hard drive failing... I started getting delayed write failures shortly after the sound and pc lag, so i reformated, it worked good for a few days, then it started back up again, I'm on my 4th format, haven't replaced my HD yet. haha. Anyway, like I was saying, it could be a problem with your hard drive, similar to my problem.. hope that helps ;)-tears-run-red-

Yeah, but how the heck do I fix that? How would I possibly know if it was my hard drive or not?

Well the only way to fix a failing HD is get a new one. But isnt your pc new(the whole thing).04dcarraher

No actually. I'm using the same hard drive as my old computer, which was crackling too (but not as often). So if it's a hard drive thing that may make sense. But whose to say it's not just going to happen again with my new hard drive once I get it? I don't have that kind of money to be tossing around to take risks like that. I need a garantee fix before I go throwing cash some place.

I would reformat your entire hard drive. I had some of the same problems a couple of years ago. I tried everything, spyware, virus scans, defrag etc...

Only thing that worked was dumping everything on the hard drive and reinstalling.

I would reformat your entire hard drive. I had some of the same problems a couple of years ago. I tried everything, spyware, virus scans, defrag etc...

Only thing that worked was dumping everything on the hard drive and reinstalling.

TenderBox

I JUST reformatted a month ago when I bought this upgrade (another complication in itself). It was working FINE UNTIL NOW. Whose to say it's not just going to happen again? How the **** hell can I stop this from happening, or how can I fix it?

Back up all ur files and try reformating your computer. If you do not want to do that try restoring your system to an earlier date by going Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore.

I'm preety sure that will fix ur problem

Back up all ur files and try reformating your computer. If you do not want to do that try restoring your system to an earlier date by going Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore.

I'm preety sure that will fix ur problem

DonMega187

Buddy....buddy. This ****, randomly, happened to me. Everything was working fine until one fateful morning when I decided to run up FEAR extraction point. It began to lag HORRENDOUSLY and now my sound is ****ed over. Reformatting my computer would definitely fix the problem though.

...for how long? That's the question. HOW LONG would my sound be fixed before it starts up again?

Well if reformating starting with a fresh windows,drivers etc. does notdo it then try picking up a $30 Sound Blaster card From online or Walmart,Bestbuy etc. And see if it fixes it. And if it dont Get another HD. Today I had to get another one cause my HD after 5 years of service itdied afterthis last 2 months of headaches with reformatting it again and again. But I didnt have crackles in my games when it started getting slower, then crash. So idk try starting over and then move on to a sound card.04dcarraher

SoundBlaster completely blows. I had it before and it did this crackling bull****. It would make sense if it was the hard drive, but I dont' exactly have 50-100 bucks to just pull out of my ass whenever I want.

Hard drives are cheap... 50cents a gig or less if you find a good deal. Do some math and figure out just exactly how old your current hard drive is, since it did comefrom your old computer. If it's getting up there in years, you might want to buy a new one and ghostyour HDcontents to it, and maybe that will solve the problem after all. It's clearly not the speakers or headphones or volume, it's some kind of performance hit. Check your background apps, check that your computer is set up for the appropriate speaker configuration, run a disk cleaner, but most importantly find a program to check your hard disk integrity and see whether it is failing.

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]Well if reformating starting with a fresh windows,drivers etc. does notdo it then try picking up a $30 Sound Blaster card From online or Walmart,Bestbuy etc. And see if it fixes it. And if it dont Get another HD. Today I had to get another one cause my HD after 5 years of service itdied afterthis last 2 months of headaches with reformatting it again and again. But I didnt have crackles in my games when it started getting slower, then crash. So idk try starting over and then move on to a sound card.Skullheart

SoundBlaster completely blows. I had it before and it did this crackling bull****. It would make sense if it was the hard drive, but I dont' exactly have 50-100 bucks to just pull out of my ass whenever I want.

Well getting a 24 bit live!sound card fixed my problem with fear crackles back in 2005. So try starting over with a format and fresh install of windows xp and the drivers you used a month ago and see what happens.

[QUOTE="Skullheart"]

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]Well if reformating starting with a fresh windows,drivers etc. does notdo it then try picking up a $30 Sound Blaster card From online or Walmart,Bestbuy etc. And see if it fixes it. And if it dont Get another HD. Today I had to get another one cause my HD after 5 years of service itdied afterthis last 2 months of headaches with reformatting it again and again. But I didnt have crackles in my games when it started getting slower, then crash. So idk try starting over and then move on to a sound card.04dcarraher

SoundBlaster completely blows. I had it before and it did this crackling bull****. It would make sense if it was the hard drive, but I dont' exactly have 50-100 bucks to just pull out of my ass whenever I want.

Well getting a 24 bit live!sound card fixed my problem with fear crackles back in 2005. So try starting over with a format and fresh install of windows xp and the drivers you used a month ago and see what happens.

Dude...I DID do a reformat. I JUST DID a reformat a few weeks ago. What difference do you all think it would make if I reformatted now? It would just start up again! I need to figure out EXACTLY what the problem is.

Except I think this problem only occurs when and after I play FEAR. When I play STALKER or Oblivion, I don't notice the crackle. Whenever I play FEAR and leave it, my sound crackles from then on. Incredibly frustrating. Could FEAR just be a horribly programmed game?

lol hope it fixes it. If the paging file is fragmented and has to change size all the time that might cause a performance decrease and that crackling sound because it has to cache it and its not as fast whichs causes studders/lag.04dcarraher

I'm not noticing as much stuttering or lag in my games, and I'm not noticing any crackling sound anymore.