Random stuttering/popping and audio dropouts

[KevinMP7]

I recently purchased a hp pavilion 15-au010wm laptop 6 days ago and right out of the box I noticed that the audio playback would stutter or make a popping sound and sometimes have dropouts randomly so I tried updating my audio, video, WLAN, BIOS and bluetooth drivers but the random stuttering and dropouts continued. Note that it doesn't affect video playback, just the audio. Any idea what could be causing this issue?

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @KevinMP7, Thank you for joining the HP Forums!

Great job on diagnosing the issue, before posting your query on HP forums. Kudos to you for that. 🙂 We greatly value your business with HP and it is paramount that the issue is addressed. 🙂

I understand that you have audio issues with your laptop.

Please try few steps recommened below.

Go to control panel on your PC select hardware and sound select sound icon. Select speaker or headphones and click properties. 
Check the “Enhancements Tab”. If you check “Disable all sound effects” does your issue resolve?

If the above steps do not work please try the steps mentioned below.

Go to control panel on your PC select hardware and sound select sound icon. Select speaker or headphones and click properties. 
Go to levels" tab, click Balance and turn the right speaker to zero.
Click apply and click ok to exit out of window.
Check if you get the popping noise from your PC.

If the issue persists, Please provide the BIOS version and audio driver version on your PC.

Please keep me updated.

Have a great day ahead! 🙂

[KevinMP7]

All of the enhancements are disabled, I forgot to mention I'm using a Bluetooth headset so I'll include those versions as well.

Edit:
Just tried the balance option to be only the left side and makes no difference.

I'd also like to note that when the dropouts occur, windows media player 12 starts to get sluggish when clicking through the progress bar instead of being instant before the dropout/stutter. Makes me wonder if the video is the culprit, but it would be causing more problems than just streaming audio.

BIOS Version: F.09

Realtek High Definition Audio: 6.0.1.7930

Intel Wireless Bluetooth: 19.11.1639.649

Intel HD 520:  20.19.15.4454

Thanks a ton for your help!

-Kevin

[A4Apollo]

@KevinMP7, thanks for the response.

Thanks for trying out the steps.

Please uninstall the audio driver and install the updated driver from this link.

Let me know if this works!

Have a beautiful day ahead! 🙂

[KevinMP7]

Thanks a ton for your help, the stuttering, dropouts and popping is gone! 😄

[A4Apollo]

Hi @KevinMP7! You're welcome and thanks for the quick response,

I am glad to hear that your issue got resolved.

If you have any queries in future related to any HP products, you can always reach out to us.

We will try our best to help you out.

Take care! 🙂

[KevinMP7]

I hate to break the bad news, but this isn't solved, the stuttering/dropouts have returned due to possibly my video driver since the screen flickers occasionally for no reason.

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply, as you mentioned that there could be a video driver issue, recommend you to visit NVidia website and download the graphics driver. 

Also, recommend you to run HP Support Assistant to check for updates and for diagnostics. Click here to know more.

Let me know if this helps. 

If the information I've provided was helpful,
Give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons,
That’ll help us and others see that we’ve got the answers!
Good Luck.

[KevinMP7]

The laptop I have uses Intel HD 520, not Nvidia unless its backwards compatible.

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply, request you to review the specifications of your computer. As per the specifications, your computer came with NVidia graphics card and Intel processor. 

Keep me posted.

If the information I've provided was helpful,
Give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons,
That’ll help us and others see that we’ve got the answers!
Good Luck.