HP Spectre x360 - 13-aw0111tu - DPC Latency and Realtime Audio Issues

[TechNerdo]

Hi everyone 🙂

I've just purchased the HP Spectre x360 - 13-aw0111tu notebook and it's struggling massively with realtime audio and mainstream DAWs (Cubase / Abelton / etc)  and performance overall isn't really what you would expect for the following specs:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU
16 GB RAM

1TB SSD

In doing the usual checks, both latencymon and DPC Latency checker report high latency that would cause issues with realtime audio, including dropouts and pops, which has been experienced.

"Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates"

Some of the noteworthy ones from the report are as follows:

• Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: ACPI.sys - ACPI Driver for NT, Microsoft Corporation
• Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation
• Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation
• Driver with highest DPC total execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

I've already been through Device Manager and disabled a number of items and anecdotally, it seemed to improve a little, but it still has issues. I've also uninstalled a number of the applications that came preinstalled and weren't needed.

I also disabled some of the powersaving / sleep options on the USB and a few other tweaks (but entirely possible there are more to do).

I'm now considering wiping the laptop and doing a vanilla install and only using the Windows 10 installer directly from Microsoft.

It does seem to point to a buggy driver and even for anyone that isn't using it for audio, these DPC latency issues mean you won't be getting the performance you're paying for under demanding (or even in some cases light!) conditions.

Before I go down that path, has anyone else had the same issues and managed to solve them?

It would be great if I could just install a better driver for the wireless NIC, or soundcard, etc, maybe from the actual chip manufactures, or third party, instead of reinstalling the OS and all applications!

Otherwise so far it looks like I'll need to return the laptop, which would be a shame.

Thanks

TechNerdo

[TechNerdo]

To show how bad the drivers are causing DPC latency, this is a screenshot after the majority of things have even been disabled, so it was worse to start with.

[Echo_Lake]

@TechNerdo

Thank you for posting on HP Support Community.

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, I have a few troubleshooting steps we could try to fix the issue:  

Firstly, perform Windows Update and HP Support Assistant: (do not skip any troubleshooting steps if you feel steps are repeating) 

To check for updates now, select the Start button, and then go to Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update, and select Check for updates.

Install updates from HP Support Assistant: Go to Download HP Support Assistant to install the tool.

1. To open HP Support Assistant, double-click the HP Support Assistant icon .
2. Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.
3. Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.
4. Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.
5. Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.
6. Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.

Use the troubleshooting tool in Windows

The audio troubleshooting tool in Windows can automatically fix common audio recording and audio playback problems with your computer. Run the troubleshooting tool using the following steps:

• In Windows, type find and fix audio into Search, or right-click the speaker icon  in the taskbar and select Troubleshoot sound problems.
• Select Find and fix audio playback problems or Find and fix audio recording problems from the Search results.
• Click Next.
• Select the device you want to troubleshoot and click Next.
• Wait while the troubleshooter detects problems and makes changes (or prompts you to make changes).
• When the troubleshooter is done, the Troubleshooting has completed page is displayed, listing any problems found and what changes were made to the computer.
• Click Close.
• If a recommended action is displayed, select Apply this fix.

Restoring the audio driver in HP Recovery Manager:

1. In Windows, search for and open Recovery Manager.
2. Click Reinstall drivers and/or applications.
3. Select the audio driver in the list, and then click Install.
4. Wait for the driver to reinstall. When the installation is complete, click OK.
5. Close HP Recovery Manager and then restart your computer.
6. Test for sound. If the audio problem persists after reinstalling the driver, try updating the driver using Device Manager.

Updating the audio driver using Device Manager:

Make sure the audio device is enabled and then update the audio driver using Device Manager as follows:

1. In Windows, search for and open Device Manager.
2. Double-click Sound, video and game controllers.
3. If a sound device is listed with a down arrow, the device is disabled. Right-click the sound device name and select Enable to re-enable the device.
4. With the sound device enabled, right-click the sound device and select Update Driver Software.
5. Click Search automatically for updated driver software.
6. Windows checks for and installs any updated drivers found. The window displays whether the computer already has the latest available driver or if Windows was able to successfully update the audio driver.
7. If a window opens asking you to restart the computer, restart the computer.
8. Test for sound. If the audio problem persists after updating the driver, continue to the next step.

If you completed these steps and the latest driver was already installed, use the following steps to uninstall and then reinstall the driver:

1. In Windows, search for and open Device Manager.
2. Double-click Sound, video and game controllers.
3. Right-click the sound device and select Uninstall.
4. Restart the computer to reinstall the driver.
5. Test for sound. If the audio problem persists after reinstalling the driver, continue to the next step.

BIOS Update: Follow steps from the link: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c00042629

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.