Windows 10: Audio popping, ndis.sys may be culprit

So I updated to windows 10 about 2 months ago (fresh install) everything worked great except occasional audio popping using USB headphones. I tried several things to try and fix it, long story short, I downloaded LatencyMon and let it run for about an hour, When I came back I found latency spikes in ndis.sys that went up to about 1100 µs. Now I don't have a WLAN card so I am assuming this is my onboard network adapter. Tried updating to the latest driver from realtek, alas it did not fix it. Changed power settings to high, disabled audio enhancements. Tried several things that just don't seem to work. Any idea how I could fix this?

Here is a copy of the LatencyMon Report

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CONCLUSION
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Your system seems to be having difficulty handling real-time audio and other tasks. You may experience drop outs, clicks or pops due to buffer underruns. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. At least one detected problem appears to be network related. In case you are using a WLAN adapter, try disabling it to get better results. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:21:34 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

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SYSTEM INFORMATION
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Computer name: BRIAN-PC
OS version: Windows 8 , 6.2, build: 9200 (x64)
Hardware: Studio XPS 435T/9000, DELL Inc., 0X501H
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Logical processors: 8
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 9206 MB total

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CPU SPEED
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Reported CPU speed: 2660 MHz
Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

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MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
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The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.
Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 808.807338
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 5.556328
Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 804.957708
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1.281891

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REPORTED ISRs
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Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.
Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 143.469173
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: USBPORT.SYS - USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation
Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.011379
Driver with highest ISR total time: USBPORT.SYS - USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation
Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.018181
ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 442011
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

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REPORTED DPCs
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DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.
Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 1122.492857
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation
Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.025255
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: ndis.sys - Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Microsoft Corporation
Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.16310
DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 3518550
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 1723
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 5
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

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REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
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Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.
NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.
Process with highest pagefault count: svchost.exe
Total number of hard pagefaults 10598
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 1781
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs): 1942144.624436
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%): 1.237545
Number of processes hit: 35

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PER CPU DATA
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CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 48.127456
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 143.469173
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 1.869203
CPU 0 ISR count: 438970
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1122.492857
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 13.475622
CPU 0 DPC count: 3204172
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CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 16.136941
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 114.496241
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.012819
CPU 1 ISR count: 3007
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 225.310150
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.268959
CPU 1 DPC count: 36996
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CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.701617
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 9.246617
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000150
CPU 2 ISR count: 34
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1074.455263
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 1.553876
CPU 2 DPC count: 76813
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CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 14.804265
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 284.656015
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.159704
CPU 3 DPC count: 28966
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CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.466519
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 440.396617
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.382942
CPU 4 DPC count: 50958
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CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 13.276617
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 142.849624
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.20540
CPU 5 DPC count: 31236
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CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.362021
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 438.967293
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.400190
CPU 6 DPC count: 49605
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CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.092388
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 339.383835
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.437848
CPU 7 DPC count: 41532

:)

 

ndis.sys DPC latency creating audio stuttering issues

Hello all,

I'm running Windows 10 Home. This past couple day's I've started encountering audio stuttering/performance issues. Using LatencyMon I found the culprit to be ndis.sys (Highest reported DPC routine execution time: 83823μs).

I've updated all my drivers (including that of my asus pce-n15 11n wireless lan) and checked power management, disk integrity, all to no effect. I ran a trace and looked at the Windows Performance Analzer results and NDIS.SYS is definitely the culprit. The
latency problem disappears when the wifi is disconnected.

Does anyone have any advice as to how to proceed?

 

Audio stutters when the Wireless LAN card is enabled, no matter what kind of program

Absolutely. Every driver was uninstalled and reinstalled in a separate shut down and boot from each other and individually tested.

I downloaded LatencyMon and it points at ndis.sys as the obvious culprit. ndis.sys does not show up as a problem while the WLAN card is disabled, in fact I have no problems.

Here's the result of the windows performance recorder.

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