Painful popping noise through headphones when audio starts/stops

[Paul110]

Somehow the previous thread got deleted  and cannot be found, so re-posting...

UPDATE - 7th October 2017: Still not fixed!

Temporary fix: Have fixed the popping issue by switching the Realtek driver for the Microsoft generic driver, however, the speakers are now quieter and the quality is no where near as good as it was under the Realtek/DTS Sound stuff. Quality through headphones is the same just without that stupid popping. 

Instructions for the switch are on this thread:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/Popping-short-noise-through-headphone-before-play-any-s...

Some quotes from thread above, which describe my problem:

"

I hear a pop noise through headphone every time I play a music or even it plays Windows System sounds.

The noise is short, it is like once you plug your headphone in. 

I feel it has something to do with the power management, becuase it appears the sound system goes into the offline mode when nothing is played and once it turns on to play something it makes the noise.

I have found similar issues that people have faced but none of the worked for me.

For example:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-PC-Sound-and-Audio/Hp-pavilion-g6-2240sq-strange-sound-speaker...

"

Not happy though, seems I can only have either good speakers and awful headphone experiance or below average speakers and a good headphone experience. Going to look for some sort of equilizer that works with the Microsoft driver, if such a thing exists... That might put things right. If not, HP and/or Realtek need to sort themselves out big time!

Original post below:

Also having this problem on my new HP notebook 15-ay106na. This was quite a difficult subject to track down via internet searches as nearly all the results I am getting are about different audio issues.

Like others, this only occurs when using headphones and I can't hear the popping noise through the speakers (which are actually pretty good IMO). I cannot put up with this though, the noise is so loud sometimes it actually hurts... My laptop has DTS Audio Control installed and also the Realtek High Defination Audio Device (both stock software).

I've had Realtek sound stuff in the past and never had anything like this! Sometimes the power savings they put in these machines go way too far, this one is beyond a joke. Seeing how old this thread is, I'm guessing HP don't care too much about what is, I think, quite a serious problem?

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Paul110,

Thanks for engaging in HP support Forums! This is a wonderful location to converse with the community, get assistance and find tips! As I understand you have an HP notebook and seems to have an issue with the popping noise from the headphones. Don't worry I'll do my best to help you resolve this issue.

As I see that you have already tried all possible troubleshooting steps starting from uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, updating the drivers and still seems to have an issue with the headphones, More over you are able to hear sound from speakers without any noise. This clearly indicates that it could be an issue with the port itself.

I would recommend you contact our HP phone support for further assistance.

HP Technical Support can be reached by clicking on the following link: http://h22207.www2.hp.com/us-en/?openCLC=true

(1) Once the support page opens please select the country in which you're located. Next, enter your HP model number on the right.

(2) Next, choose the 'Contact Support' tab at the top and scroll down to the bottom of the 'HP Support- Contact' page to fill out the form provided with your contact information.

(3) Once completed click the 'Show Options' icon on the bottom right.

(4) Lastly, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select 'Get the phone number.' A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

If you have any troubles, let me know and I will do my best to help!

Hope this helps, for any further queries reply to the post and feel free to join us again

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,

[Paul110]

It's not an issue with the port, because...

1. The problem goes away completely if I use the generic Microsoft driver.

2. Other people have had this same issue with HP laptops, not just me and have also "fixed" it by using the above mentioned Microsoft driver.

The problem is a bug in your HP supplied Realtek High Definition Audio driver. I don't want to to use the Microsoft driver as it makes the speakers too quiet and sound rubbish. I use both headphones and speakers so need good sound from both. 

The OP of this thread here in another forum explains my exact problem perfectly:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?59248-G751-Sound-Crackling-Thread-(The-one-thread-to-rule-...)

This is a Realtek driver problem and I have also tried the Registry Editor tweaks (in both HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) on my laptop but the driver ignores these settings. This should be a user configuable option on the DTS Audio Control software GUI but it isn't!

As the other guy, Mousepad, says, "Another thing to note is that this crackling issue has threads for other laptop manufacturers so we all think given the evidence that this is driver based. If I uninstall the Realtek drivers the issue goes away but then the sound sucks and I'm not really getting what I paid for! "

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Paul110,

I have escalated your concern to HP’s Support Team in your region to have it reviewed for available options if any.

You should be contacted within 4 business days (Excluding Holidays & Weekends).

Response times may vary by region.

Please send a Private Message, if you aren’t contacted within 4-5 business days.

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forum.

Regards,