Windows 10: Sound microfreezes and system interrupts

Hey everyone,

My problem was discovered about 3 months ago after another big Windows update, then there were attempts to solve it with varying success.
My laptop: Dell Inspiron 5737
Windows 10 Home 20H2 64x 19042,928
I use all automatic system and driver updates and Windows Defender.

The main symptom is sound problems: there were jamming, freezing microfreezes, sometimes cracking, and from any source music, video, games, online cinemas, etc.. Usually sounds like "trrr"
You can evaluate how it sounds on the video from the screen - https://youtu.be/Mr3H_DrYEII

In the device manager, the "System interrupts" process hangs at the top, although the startup load is minimal.

What has been tried and did NOT work:
All options from this article, these methods are usually advised by everyone - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10-73025246-b61c-40fb-671a-2535c7cd56c8

1 Attempts to adjust the properties of sound devices - disabling all effects and mono-user mode, choosing the minimum bit depth and sampling frequency of sound;
2 Reinstallation of the audio driver from the official website of the manufacturer Realtek;
3 Changing the driver to "Device with High Definition Audio support";
4 sfc / scannow did not find any errors;
5 The utility DISM also did not change anything;
6 Checking for viruses using DrWeb Live CD did not find anything;
7 Removing the audio device and audio controller in the Device Manager;
8 Disable all background applications;
9 Disable third-party access to the "Confidentiality" section;
10 Cleanup drive C: through the built-in tool, incl. our files;
11 Checking the disk for errors;

12 An external USB sound card was purchased, and sound distortion continued when using it;

13 DirectX check utility


p.s. BIOS settings have not changed, since there is nothing to change in them, in the laptop there are only 2 options: choosing a boot source and setting a password.
BIOS: Dell A12, driver dated 05/27/2019


Then I've installed LatencyMon and DPC Latency Checker programs there were identified delays caused by incorrect operation of the drivers. The highest score was for "USB 1.1 and 2.0 Port Driver".


Screenshot # 1




Screenshot # 2




Screenshot # 3




What I've done next: all devices in the "USB controllers" branch from the Device Manager were deleted, then the laptop was rebooted, and the sound freezes stopped! LatencyMon also showed no latency. It was a wonderful few days

And then another forced Windows 10 update happened, the problem came back again. No methods helped, LatencyMon still shows the latency for this "USB 1.1 and 2.0 Port Driver" driver. The second most latency driver is the Microsoft Mass Storage Port Driver and the High Definition Audio Bus Driver.

Then Windows 10 was completely reinstalled from the cloud, now the system is absolutely clear, but this did not solve the problem with sound freezes and system interrupts. The drivers at the moment are the ones that the system has selected and installed.


I feel tired and hopeless, I have never had such problems with Windows 7.

If you have any ideas how to fix it please help me!

:)

 

Good surround sound headset

I know you say you're not that guy, but stepping into the $250+ range really brings a change in build quality that might have you never having to buy another set. Otherwise, getting 6 speakers with decent sound in a headset is hard, and that's what you are asking for, and I have no suggestions, but just a bump up the list. *Stick Out Tongue

 

High CPU usage when idle - System and System interrupts

I've been trying to find a solution for a while and decided to ask here for more help. I've noticed that my CPU usage is pretty high when idle, even after a cold reboot of the computer:

Task Manager View showing "System" and "System interrupts" causing a high CPU load:




I've tried to dig deeper and used Processor Explorer to get more information, which, strangely enough, shows that "System interrupts" uses up more % of the CPU than the "System" process:

Process Explorer showing that "Interrupts" is taking up 20% of the CPU load:




Next I've tried to narrow down the causes of the interrupts by using the Windows Performance Recorder and analyze the graph using the Windows Performance Analyzer (can't post the screenshot due to not having enough rep, but it looks like hal.dll is causing the most interrupts, but less than the 20% seen with Process Explorer)

Any suggestions how to proceed?

Information about my computer:

• Windows 10
  
• Intel Core i5-4790k
  
• AMD R390 GPU
  
• 8 GB Ram
  

I've updated the GPU and sound drivers and Windows is up to date.

 

Sound Quality

One thing that sticks out from looking at your "My Computer" specs. You list "ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)" which suggests you do not have the correct sound hardware driver. Your motherboard has Realtek sound and the first step is to install the Realtek sound drivers. My ASUS also came with Sonic Studio 2 which is a sound enhancement package. Check the ASUS install disc to see if you have something similar.

May not be a speaker problem.