Crackling sound while playing music in HP SPECTRE X360 Ultrabook

[johster]

just1103,

Could you please explain how to disable the cache? 

[just1103]

Sure!  I tried first to use the Intel tool but couldn't change what I wanted, so here is the correct procedure I used (Windows 10, btw).

Device Manager (if you can't find it go to settings, devices, scroll down or run (windows key + R) devmgmt.msc) > Disk Drives > right-click on SSD, and then under the policies tab, uncheck "Enable write caching"

Hope that works for you as well as it did for me!  I haven't rebooted yet, but it shouldn't have problems with that now.

[namilas]

I have tried everything recommended here  (redownloading the driver, disabling the cache, turning off audio enchancements) and NOTHING works. It is constantly staticy, especially when im playing youtube videos. Usually if I refresh the page, the static goes away for a few seconds and then returns. 

PLEASE HELP!!!

[nassafellow]

Go to the Microsoft website. Online support. Tell them the problem. They will fix it remotely for free. If it still doesn't work ask HP to replace it. Tell me how you get on.

[TedSteel]

I have a Spectre x360 4003-DX. I've been having the crackling sound issue intermittently, mostly since updgrading to Windows 10. I've tried all the fixes in this thread (except for disabling the write cache, which I'm not sure how disabling this will help performance since write caching is supposed to improve it). I've also tried many of the suggestions on the Microsoft forums - complete uninstall and reinstall of new drivers, disabling Realtek on Startup, etc. Nothing works.

I'm also experiencing a "pop" or "click" in the left channel at the end of playing an audio file (any Windows WAV file, .mp3, FLAC audio, etc. - Cortana does it whenever she's done speaking). It's only in the left channel and becoming increasingly more annoying. This happens roughly 50-75% of the time on ANY sound. When there's the one-two punch of the crackling then the popping, I want to flight test the Spectre x360.

I'm going to get in touch with HP and/or Microsoft as I'm finally tired of troubleshooting this issue on my own. Will keep the forum updated.

Ted

[iJoris]

I have EXACTLY the same problem..

[marcolorenzo]

I have the exact same problem as TedSteel. I don't get disturbing crackling sounds during audio playback, it's usually just a single, soft (but distinct) crackle from the left speaker after a sound effect or continuous audio. Somehow, I don't feel it's a hardware problem, at least not with the speaker since I get the same thing when I plug in earphones (and it also happens in the left earpiece). I will try the untick cache method and the driver method and report back.

EDIT: I just tried the cache method and nothing changed. But I tried billyhoweyo's suggestion (1st page, message 7) regarding changing the bit rate in the audio properties from 16 to 24 and this seems to have fixed it. I didn't try manually updating the Realtek driver yet since I just did an update yesterday through HP Support Assistant but if the problem comes back, I'll try that. So far so good though!

[TedSteel]

Hey marcolorenzo, not to be a pessimist but I suspect your victory will be short lived. I have tried 16 vs 24 bit too and the issue resurfaced. Please keep us posted.

I'm on with HP Support now. Will update with what is hopefully a resolution to the issue shortly!

[TedSteel]

I just spent ~2.5hours on the phone with HP. They don't know what's causing the issue. I pointed them to this thread, hoping that as others contribute to this forum, it will help them with resolution as well. A sorta open source approach...

The time spent with their support team focused mostly around the RealTek Audio drivers and they reverted back to the Win 8.1 driver version 6.3.9600.119 Rev.B. This didn't really help. They then deselected all of the checkboxes on the Advanced tab of Speaker Properties. This included:

• Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device
• Give exclusive mode applications priority
• Allow hardware acceleration of audio with this device

(To get there: right click on your speaker icon in the system tray > select Playback Devices > click on Speakers > select Properties > Advanced)

This seemed to help for a bit, but I then heard a pop later on during the call. Even if it did fix it, I don't think this is a viable long-term solution for me anyway as to play "bit perfect" hi-res audio, the particular application I'm using (JRiver Media Center) requires exclusive control.

I may try to test/play around with all of the different driver versions I can get my hands on before Monday. This is because my next step with HP is a follow-up call setup for Monday to refresh the machine. If after the refresh it's still doing it, they are leaning towards a possible hardware issue (which my gut strongly tells me "it's NOT a hardware issue"). I'd like to avoid a refresh at all costs given the colossal headache it is to reinstall all your 3rd party apps, Windows preferences, MS Office preferences, etc.

So... no resolution yet.

[namilas]

So I tried reinstalling my Windows 10.. it seems to may have fixed the issue. I have been listening to YouTube for the past 1 hour or so and havent heard the static sound for now. Will keep you updated if the sound comes back or not. 

Recommendation can be found here:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-PC-Sound-and-Audio/Static-Crackling-from-both-speakers-and-hea...