Windows 10: Audio drop outs popping every few seconds when online/connected to WLAN < high DPC latency...

Audio drops out every few seconds in any application but in some applications it's worse than in others, which is a driver incompatibility problem, so PLEASE don't ask me to troubleshoot it before you read what I found out so far. There's also a second issue, likely connected with the same driver, but more on that at the end.


The drop outs may stop for a dozen or so seconds and then continue. The issue started in 2020 after one of the mid-year Windows 10 updates and after finding no solutions I got used to it. It's apparently a known issue but Microsoft never released an update that fixed it.


I went through these suggestions, and without surprise, they didn't help: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-do-i-have-crackling-audio-sounds-but-only-when/825c95ca-4cb8-4fc3-b486-b2b77358c701


The issue persists on 3 different sound cards - integrated, PCI-E and USB, hence it's not a sound card driver problem.

I use mobile internet received from a Realtek RLT8192CE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC network card. I'm sure this problem is caused by the network card's driver becoming incompatible with Windows 10 after a certain 2020 update, because audio stops dropping out as soon as I disconnect from WLAN and resumes dropping when WLAN is connected. I have access only to wireless Internet.


Unfortunately, the newest drivers for this chipset are from 2015: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=RTL8192CE%20


LatencyMon:




Here's a Windows Performance Recorder file. The audio drop outs occurred only at around 2, 4 and 5 seconds into the recording. I was listening to white noise. This is a Light, not a Verbose recording. If you want me to make another one with other settings, just ask.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoY5Gl5uxoWSqk6_ErakLiTQjN_z?e=mzmROf

I tried going through this recording on my own but since there's no "Unhighlight" option which would hide processes that were active in a highlited period - the exact opposite of Highlight I couldn't find anything abnormal at 2, 4 and 5 seconds.


Wait, there's more. This month I also started having internet speed problems. After a few hours from boot my internet slows down to a crawl - both upload and download speed, but upload speed often stops altogether, according to speedtest.net and the program GlassWire. Disconnecting and reconnecting to WLAN fixes the issue for some time, but not for as long as restarting the computer does.


What can I do about issues caused by Windows 10 updates? I'll ask Realtek for a new driver for the 8192CE chipset but I don't have high hopes to get it for an old device.

:)

 

Windows 10: High DPC latency (ndis.sys)

Recently, my audio has been crackling and popping and glitching, and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I tried everything. Until I found out that my DPC latency was dangerously high. I ran it through the DPC Latency Checker and LatencyMon, and
apparently the problem was "ndis.sys". I've literally tried EVERYTHING. Here's a list of what I've done to resolve this problem:

• Updating drivers
• Changing the power plan
• Disabling the dynamic ticking
• Updating the graphics cards drivers
• Disabling Firewall
• Disabling IPv6
• Uninstalling Bonjour
• Disabling Energy Efficient Ethernet
• Disabling/re-enabling drivers
• Adding PerfLevelSrc, PowerMizerEnable, PowermizerLevel, and PowermizerLevelAC values to Registry Editor
• Uninstalling antivirus software
• Modifying the "Start" value in the Registry Editor's value to 4

UPDATE: Recently, the DPC latency has declined, which is good, however it still sometimes has latency-spikes and I still don't have proper DPC latency.

COMPUTER SPECS:

OS: Windows 10 Home version 1909

Computer Model: Dell Inspiron 3668

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7100 CPU @3.90 GhZ 3.91 GhZ

RAM: 8 GB

Graphics Driver: Intel(R) HD Graphics 630

Audio Driver: Realtek High Definition Audio

DPC latency (updated):

 

High DPC latency

I use my Dell XPS for recording and live playback but the system suffers from high DPC latency caused by ACPI driver.

I removed Dell audio drivers and installed those from RealTek with no avail. Latency is an issue because I need this computer for live recording. Please your advice.

 

High DPC latency from acpi.sys causing audio clicks and pops

Hi thanks, yes I did go through all of those articles and have gone through their recommended actions in an attempt to resolve this (summarized in my list of things I've tried) as well as basic sound functionality as you mention. I have started several
times from a clean Windows 10 install, with various builds tried. This is a more a more fundamental issue with the way that ACPI.sys impacts DPC latency on essentially all Windows notebooks. This impacts users of audio recording software, high-end gamers,
and other users with latency-sensitive applications.