# [SOLVED] Sound is choppy and distorted



## Serialkilla (Nov 6, 2005)

I have a desktop which was placed near a window, a sandstorm hit my area and so I decided to dust my pc's insides since I had a feeling the fans were clogged up. Mind you I didn't have any sound distortion or choppiness problem until I opened up my case and did my cleaning.

Cleaning Process:
Opened the PC case and cleaned the following with an LED screen brush;

CPU Heatsink/Fan (the one attached to the CPU)
Deattached GPU Card and brushed the fan and blew away dust(NVidia GTX470)
Lightly brushed off dust where applicable.

I've attached everything back as it was. Now the problem is when I am playing music be it an MP3 or YouTube, when the processor is idle, or basicly when I am not doing anything on the pc, the sound is fine. When I am on Facebook and I am browsing a big photo album and flicking through pictures, the sound starts to chop and distort, also when I am playing one of my games this happens too. So it seems when there is some activity going processor, graphics card, the sound starts to chop. I am not sure myself what is causing this exactly, but I am really scared at this is my new PC.

Please help me, much apreciated!


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

Open Task Manager and watch the cpu usage during the problem. If the cpu has high activity (ie: 90-100%), then check the processes and see what is using the cpu.

You may also want to update/reinstall the system and audio drivers.


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## Serialkilla (Nov 6, 2005)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*



Dogg said:


> Open Task Manager and watch the cpu usage during the problem. If the cpu has high activity (ie: 90-100%), then check the processes and see what is using the cpu.
> 
> You may also want to update/reinstall the system and audio drivers.


Ran a few tests, played heavy graphics requiring game whilst listening to an mp3 and the sound was quite choppy and distorted, it also sounded in slow mode (the music). CPU was showing maximum around 10-15% usuange, and the process utilised around 10 usage.

Don't know why but I just have a feeling I messed up something in the hardware while I was removing parts and putting them back in. But who am I to tell.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

Ensure all of the drivers are up to date. You may want to reinstall the system and audio drivers.


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## bennyh (Feb 26, 2011)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

was just wondering if anyone had any advice or could help me with a problem ive been plugging my emachines e3042 xp comp to a surround sound via a jack to jack in the back slot of my computer and earlier i heard a popping sound and now all the audio from my computer has been low in volume,fuzzy,distorted anyone have any ideas why


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

bennyh - loose cabling or most likely a failed audio chipset.


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## Awesome01 (Oct 18, 2009)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

I have this exact same problem. Hope there is a fix besides doing a fresh install.


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## Serialkilla (Nov 6, 2005)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*



Dogg said:


> Ensure all of the drivers are up to date. You may want to reinstall the system and audio drivers.


Dogg thanks for your continued support. I have updated my chipset driver, and my sound driver. Resinstalled to the latest driver available.

The problem still persists. Distorted and cutting noises, and occasional choppiness while playing a game or or loading a huge web page.

Will apreciate your further support! Thanks


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

Now we are starting to stray into multiple issues, or it's not a sound issue at all.

Choppiness in games could be any number of things, such as: the cpu is fully loaded, the gpu is overstressed (ie: too high a resolution for the gpu and cpu), drivers, fragmented HDD, ...the list goes on.

Web page issues: could be the browser, video drivers, multiple apps running (ie: overloaded cpu), etc.

Open Task Manager and watch the cpu usage during the "choppiness" and audio issues. Watch for spiking cpu...if it's high, check which process is using the cpu.


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## Serialkilla (Nov 6, 2005)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*



Dogg said:


> Now we are starting to stray into multiple issues, or it's not a sound issue at all.
> 
> Choppiness in games could be any number of things, such as: the cpu is fully loaded, the gpu is overstressed (ie: too high a resolution for the gpu and cpu), drivers, fragmented HDD, ...the list goes on.
> 
> ...


Dogg, I think I didn't phrase that sentance properly. What I meant to say is that the choppiness is in the sound and not the actual game itself or the web page being loaded. FPS in games is fantastic. Sorry for the confusion.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

OK. I would still check cpu usage. The first item to suffer when a cpu begins to max out is audio.

Aside from that, as it was working before the "cleaning", I would suspect a hardware issue.


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## Serialkilla (Nov 6, 2005)

Dogg said:


> OK. I would still check cpu usage. The first item to suffer when a cpu begins to max out is audio.
> 
> Aside from that, as it was working before the "cleaning", I would suspect a hardware issue.


ok so I followed your first post instructions and monitored the cpu usuage and process usuage.

I browsed on explorer, experienced sound distortion and some choppiness, cpu usuage max 5% and process usage IE Explore max 3-5

Steam.exe cpu usuage 10-15% max and cpu usuage 10ish. sound distortion and choppiness in this case too.

Looks like normal cpu usuage to me. I've always ran those programs before I cleaned my computer and never had that problem.

UPDATE!

I finally got around to fix this problem, I realized that I had the wrong audio driver this whole time!

I got the correct 'Realtek HD Audio Driver' instead of wrong 'High Definition Audio' !

Thanks for the help! No more choppy or distorted sounds...!


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Sound is choppy and distorted*

glad you have it sorted


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