issue with crackling Left speaker

[jordaniandude]

Hi, I have the HP Spectre X360 15 inch 4K edition and Im having an issue where  my Left speaker is producing crackling noises when playing audio! Sometimes the speaker will go in and out also! I tried updating the BIOS to the newest F.34 version, that did not work, and when I updated the Realtech High Def Audio Driver (SST) to the 2017 version, it gave me an issue where No audio would come out of the speakers at all! So I reverted back to the 2016 driver, Anyone have experience with this? Im thinking of sending it in for repairs, since it is under warranty. but wanted to check here first to see if its a hardware of software (driver, etc) issue. thanks!

[EddyK]

Hi jordaniandude, 

I feel like it's most likely a driver issue.

A specific model/product number would be appreciated. (Please do not post serial numbers on the HP Support Forum)

Information on how to find a laptop's model/product number is detailed in this HP document: https://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c00033108

You can also try to install the audio drivers through Device Manager. And speaking of Device Manager, please try these steps:

1. Search Device Manager
2. Expand Sound, video and game controllers
3. Right click your audio driver entity
4. Select Update Driver
5. Select Browse my computer for driver software
6. Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer
7. Select High Definition Audio Device 
8. Select next and follow the remaining steps to install
9. Restart

If you really want to check whether or not it's a hardware issue, you can do so through HP's UEFI Diagnostics.

1. Repeatedly press Esc upon startup
2. Select F2 (System Diagnostics)
3. Select the desired language
4. Navigate to component tests
5. Select Audio Tests

Hope this helps,

kem579

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[jordaniandude]

ITS an HP model 15-BL112DX. I Tried uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling different ones as other posts suggested.  such as this one 

To confirm you are experiencing the same problem (I found this issue all over the internet looking for a fix, so there is a lot of dialogue below to get everyone to the right solution for your system):

MY ISSUE: Any sound, be it a notification, trying to play music, etc. results in a loud crackling, popping, and/or hissing noise (for me it sounded exclusive to the front-right speaker, but other people have been experiencing from the front-left speaker as well.) I am using a 2017 HP Spectre x360 13t bought a couple weeks ago, without having any drops or spills…still in mint condition (8th Gen i7, 16GB RAM, Bang & Olufsen speakers – Although, this also appears to be an issue with HP laptops using Beats speakers, models other than the Spectre (including Envy), and has been ongoing since at least 2016. The issue initially appears to be with the Realtek driver. This is likely part of the issue, but a BIOS update may be needed as well (more on this below, but this will also allow the continued use of the B&O system rather than moving to a generic driver.) And, you need to find the BIOS update in the right place as well – HP Support Assistant did NOT have it (It was found at support.hp.com.) 

The solution posted in 2016 appears to have worked for most people (I will repost below to ensure that everyone has that available too), but as of February 19, 2018, the generic (non-Realtek) driver was no longer available to select from the Device Manager). Consider the following solution instead (this should work on older models as well, but the old solution may still work for old models, even if this new one does not.)

Also it is a good idea to create a restore point before attempting this in case you make a mistake.

2018 Solution (again, this worked for a 2017 edition HP Spectre x360 13t):

HP Support Assistant did not recognize that the audio driver was out-of-date, nor that there was a BIOS update available. My company’s third party IT support group, LeftClickHere (www.leftclickhere.com), was fortunately able to figure it out for me (Thank you, Adam! And, sorry everyone for the shameless plug, but I wasted a couple hours combing threads before calling Adam, so it was awesome when he was able to figure it out for me…his company is not affiliate with mine, nor am I an investor.) This problem is not unique to HP, either…just an FYI.) Anyway, Adam went directly to support.hp.com when the HP Support Assistant did not find any available updates. From there, Adam updated the sound driver (a new one is available as of this date), but the crackling persisted. Then he updated the BIOS – This fixed the error…no more cracking/popping/hissing/etc.

--

Apparent 2016 Solution to try if the above does not work (I’d give credit where due, but I’ve found the solution form about 20 people on different threads and cannot trace the original):

PERMANENTLY RESOLVE HP SPEAKER COMPRESSION (HISSING, CRACKLING DISTORTION WHEN PLAYING VIDEO, MUSIC, ETC)

The problem is caused by Bang and Olufsen audio correction compression - you need to change the driver from Realtek,

to the normal high definition device driver. This affects a lot of HP models with B&O sound. The first part disables the

Realtek driver - the second deletes it permanently.

It's simple and takes 2-3 minutes.

Click start - go to device manager

In the list click 'sound video and game controlers'

Right click 'realtek high definition audio device' - choose disable - ignore warning and continue

Right click same file choose 'update driver software' then 'browse computer for device software'

Choose 'let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'

Highlight 'high definition audio' (not realtek) click 'next' again ignore warning and click 'yes' -

Restart / reboot when prompted

Play a file - you now have normal laptop sound!

***IMPORTANT - The driver will revert to realtek the next time you reboot, unless you do the second part below)***

After reboot (to **permanently get rid of the problem**)

Click start - go to the control panel - 'uninstall a program'

Highlight realtek high definition audio device and uninstall

-- 

I hope this helps! Good luck all - Hopefully HP just fixes this before products ship going forward (I mean, it has been a 3 year problem already, with multiple speaker models.)

However, when i go to pick another driver , I dont see high definition audio as a choice, so i went to micrsoft section as the manufacturer and chose High defintiion audio, I am not sure if that is what the solution is talking about.  can anyone help?