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Hi, my speakers recently have been cracking A LOT frequently while I watch a video or listen to music. My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium, my speakers are Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221, and i'm on a Gateway laptop. Usually, when im listening to YouTube music the sound constantly cracks, it ruins the music. When I first bought my laptop, it didn't crack like this. It used to be very clear, and clean. Now it just cracks every now and again. It may be a CPU Usage overdose problem, but I'm not sure. I have Avast! home antivirus and Malwarebytes' Anti Malware with protection module enabled. These are pretty much the start up programs and that run on my laptop. My Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221 driver is currently on version 4.75.0.0. It says it's working properly, theres a green checked mark near the speaker icon. Thanks everyone for reading and any help would be highly appreciated 
Does this happen only when listening to online music / video?
Do you get this crackling even with headphones or externally connected speakers?
Have you gone to the Gateway website and checked for more recent audio drivers?
Use the Control Panel 'Sound' applet to adjust your various audio properties.
You can also try the link below where Microsoft has some tips and a sound diagnostic.
Good luck!
Tips for Common Sound Problems
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Try to update your current drivers via Device Manager. Type: devmgmt.msc in your Start menu search box and hit enter. Go to and expand "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" . Right click on 'Conexant HD Audio' and choose 'Update Driver Software'.
Again I suggest you check the Gateway website for either more recent audio drivers or chipset drivers since intergrated audio drivers are often bundled in with the chipset drivers. Here's the link.
It also sounds like it could be a bandwidth issue since you say the first time a video plays it crackles and the second time it doesn't. This would be because once you've played the vid it is cached to your hard drive and doesn't have to be downloaded or buffered again. Try using an ethernet connection instead of wireless to see if it improves.
Also, in control panel Sound applet try disabling or changing the various settings in the Enhancements tab.
Hope one of these suggestions work.
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I'm just about out of ideas. 
Update your Media Player to the newest version.
Windows Media Player 12 for W7
You can try updating your video codecs.
FFdshow is the best all in one I know of.
Here's the download link.
You can also try a different Media Player and see if things improve.
VLC is one of the best open source (free) media players.
Here's the download link.
Updating the audio drivers is likely your best chance for success. The other suggestions certainly won't hurt.
It's also possible that you may have 'blown' your speakers from playing them too loud. (?)
You can try using a Live Ubuntu disk to determine wether it's an operating system issue or a hardware issue.
Ubuntu is a full, free operating system (linux) on a bootable DVD. If you don't experience any sound issues while using Ubuntu then you'll know it's a Windows issue and not a hardware issue. Just put it in your DVD drive and boot your PC (use the boot menu to designate your DVD drive as the boot device) and this will lauch the live DVD.
Here's the link for the Ubuntu download: You'll have to burn the .iso image to a DVD
(You can also request a free DVD but it'll take at least a few weeks to receive it.)
Well, that's it. I'm officially out of ideas. Sorry none of them seems to have worked out for you.
