Windows 10: Clean install to Win 10 1903 causes audio to crackle and not work

I just performed a clean install to Windows 10 1903 and upon reinstalling my audio driver I noticed that it was just crackling and not working at all. The audio driver I was installing was Realtek HD Audio Driver 6.0.1.8742.1 WHQL. I decided to reinstall windows 1903 and use the driver I was using on Windows 10 1803 Realtek HD Audio driver_6.0.1.8172, that also does the same thing. I tried restarting the audio services and nothing seems to work.

I am on a MSI GS70 gaming laptop with a Intel Skylake PCH-H - High Definition Audio Controller. I have installed update KB4501375 which I have read helped some users and I downloaded the official ISO from Microsoft a week ago which is what I used for the clean install. The build I am using is 18362.207

:)

 

Win 10 clean install question

So I spend the day yesterday installing the computer, using a prepared usb key with windows 10 on it.

I got it all sorted in the end but I'll share my fails anyways so others might learn:

Do not try to do a clean install win with win 10 home N, when you come from a machine with just win 10 home. It won't activate *Wink After reinstalling with the right copy, it was already activated right away after the first boot, didn't even have to initialise it.

There hasn't changed a whole lot in making clean install compared to older versions of windows, it's slightly better streamlined, though being asked at 3 different stages to enter a product key when it's not needed during install seems a bit annoying.

Further more it would be lovely if Microsoft finally learned to ask ALL questions regarding preferences updates and whatnot in one go, so you can then go away from your computer and come back to a fully installed/updated system including reboots.. Not impossible I would say.


There's still some little bugs, like when I installed realtek audio drivers, they'd go into an infinite loop asking for reboot and install the driver. And as a PDF reader isn't in the list of standard programs to select, foxitreader keeps saying it is not the default reader for pdf's even though I had said yes to the question 3x. If this fails to get file associations for PDF's I do hope Microsoft will fix this asap.


Thanks for the fast answers earlier guys, it gave me the confidence that all would be well, even when I cocked up the first install with the N version.

 

Audio crackling a few hours into session.

Sound card: ASUS Phoebus 7.1
Headset: Razer Tiamat 7.1
Operating system: Win 10

A few hours (between 2 and 10 hours) into all my gaming sessions in the past 2 months I have been getting severely crackling audio and I haven't the faintest idea what is causing it. I've tried fixes I've found on Google, updating the drivers and trying different settings, I disabled my overclock on the CPU (PSU not giving out enough power, so I tried changing power settings), but none of them work. Resetting the PC fixes the audio for a few hours before it starts again, so it might be a software thing.

Sometimes the PC itself starts to lag with the crackling audio with minimal load or when I'm playing a game, which leads me to believe it's more than an audio issue, but I thought it might be the audio issue causing the PC lag, because the system lag doesn't happen every time, only sometimes.

Help me TPU, you're my only hope!

 

Audio Crackle Using Headset

Hi, I'm having an audio problem with my Dell laptop running Windows 10. I plug headphones in and the audio gets crackles so much I can't stand it. My headset works fine with my Xbox One and phone. It's just with my laptop. Is there something I'm overlooking?
I've searched this site for a while and haven't found anything that works for me. Any suggestions?