I'll start off this post with a recording of the problem.


You might not be able to guess what is going on from this short video, but it seems to me that the audio is continuing to play very small increments of whatever was playing every 2 seconds. For example if the audio being played was saying "hello" it would sound like h...h...he...he...e...e...el... etc. But the effect is more dramatic than this example.

I had this problem very briefly when I had Windows 10 installed on my HDD and it resolved itself very quickly and I'm not sure what did it. I now have Windows 10 ver. 1607 on my SSD, but the issue was happening before 1607 as well.

Anyways, the issue seems to happen whenever any audio is playing and doesn'tseem to be caused by any particular audio playback programs. It happens when I'm using either Firefox or Chrome on YouTube, Chrome + Winamp at the same time, or watching a video with just VLC alone. The issue resolves itself if I close the audio playback program(s) when it happens. However, if I let it run too long before closing the program(s) the audio glitch persists much longer. VLC video will keep playing normally but the audio will be glitched. YouTube, however will stutter along with the audio and will play a frame for every other audio "blip". Usually when I close the program to stop it, the "blips" will gradually fade out until it's gone which means I can load up a program to start playing audio again. Or it will just stop immediately if I am quick about it.

This audio problem seems truly random - it could reoccur 1 minute later, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 hours, etc. which makes it hard to test solutions or try to replicate it. It doesn't seem to log any errors or warnings in Event Viewer unless I let it go long enough to where programs will be reported as hanging. I've been trying to solve this for about a month now.

I don't think it's my power supply because all of the voltages are within the normal ranges AFAIK. I have tried many solutions, but I don't think I found someone with this same issue. This seems like a "buffering" problem to me and not "popping".

I will post the things I've tried if anyone thinks it necessary.

Possible culprits:
-HyperX Cloud II (updated firmware to rev. 5) - I am using the sound card for 7.1 virtual surround sound, but it happens whether it is turned on or off.
-New hardware: The issue seemed to happen after I reinstalled windows 7 and updated to 10 on my SSD. I also started using a new keyboard and mouse: Corsair RGB MX SIlent Keyboard and the SteelSeries Rival 100 mouse. (If anything I suspect the keyboard which seemed to give off the most problems early on).
-Volumouse: very useful audio changing software that didn't give me problems when I had Windows on my HDD.

Additional Info:
I have the power settings set to turn off hard drives after 5 minutes. I am using a wireless internet USB card (A6100). I have turned off Page File and my computer will not sleep (hyberfil.sys has been "removed"). I have disabled/uninstalled onboard audio to prevent conflicts (issue persists whether onboard drivers are installed or not). I have run SFC /scannow multiple times. RAM has been tested. Hard drives have been scanned for errors. Scanned computer for malware. BIOS and all drivers are up-to-date AFAIK.

Specs:
Windows 10 ver. 1607
Gigabyte Intel Z77 LGA 1155 [GA-Z77X-UD3H]
Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz
ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 960 Overclocked 2 GB DDR5
(x2) Kingston HyperX FURY 8 GB 1866MHz DDR3
Samsung 850 EVO - 500 GB SSD [MZ-75E500B/AM]
Seagate Momentus XT - 750 GB SSHD [sT750LX003]
Hitachi - 160 GB HDD [HDS721616PLA380]
Netgear A6100 WiFi USB adapter
Antivirus is Windows Defender with Firewall turned On
HyperX Cloud II Headset
Corsair RGB MX SIlent Keyboard
SteelSeries Rival 100 Mouse

I'll start off this post with a recording of the problem.

 

 

You might not be able to guess what is going on from this short video, but it seems to me that the audio is continuing to play very small games ringtone increments of whatever was playing every 2 seconds. For example if the audio being played was saying "hello" it would sound like h...h...he...he...e...e...el... etc. But the effect is more dramatic than this example.

 

I had this problem very briefly when I had Windows 10 installed on my HDD and it resolved itself very quickly and I'm not sure what did it. I now have Windows 10 ver. 1607 on my SSD, but the issue was happening before 1607 as well.

 

Anyways, watch suicide squad movie the issue seems to happen whenever any audio is playing and doesn'tseem to be caused by any particular audio playback programs. It happens when I'm using either Firefox or Chrome on YouTube, Chrome + Winamp at the same time,  or watching a video with just VLC alone. The issue resolves itself if I close the audio playback program(s) when it happens. However, if I let it run too long before closing the program(s) the audio glitch persists much longer. VLC video will keep playing normally but the audio will be glitched. YouTube, however will stutter along with the audio and will play a frame for every other audio "blip". Usually when I close the program to stop it, the "blips" will gradually fade out until it's gone which means I can load up a program to start playing audio again. Or it will just stop immediately if I am quick about it.

 

This audio problem seems truly random - it could reoccur 1 minute later, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 hours, etc. which makes it hard to test solutions or try to replicate it. It doesn't seem to log any errors or warnings in Event Viewer unless I let it go long enough to where programs will be reported as hanging. I've been trying to solve this for about a month now.

 

I don't think it's my power supply because all of the voltages are within the normal ranges AFAIK. I have tried many solutions, but I don't think I found someone with this same issue. This seems like a "buffering" problem to me and not "popping".

 

I will post the things I've tried if anyone thinks it necessary.

 

Possible culprits:

-HyperX Cloud II (updated firmware to rev. 5) - I am using the sound card for 7.1 virtual surround sound, but it happens whether it is turned on or off.

-New hardware: The issue seemed to happen after I reinstalled windows 7 and updated to 10 on my SSD. I also started using a new keyboard and mouse: Corsair RGB MX SIlent Keyboard and the SteelSeries Rival 100 mouse. (If anything I suspect the keyboard which seemed to give off the most problems early on).

-Volumouse: very useful audio changing software that didn't give me problems when I had Windows on my HDD.

 

Additional Info:

I have the power  settings set to turn off hard drives after 5 minutes. I am using a wireless internet USB card (A6100). I have turned off Page File and my computer will not sleep (hyberfil.sys has been "removed"). I have disabled/uninstalled onboard audio to prevent conflicts (issue persists whether onboard drivers are installed or not). I have run SFC /scannow multiple times. RAM has been tested. Hard drives have been scanned for errors. Scanned computer for malware. BIOS and all drivers are up-to-date AFAIK.

 

Specs:

Windows 10 ver. 1607

Gigabyte Intel Z77 LGA 1155 [GA-Z77X-UD3H]

Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz

ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 960 Overclocked 2 GB DDR5

(x2) Kingston HyperX FURY 8 GB 1866MHz DDR3

Samsung 850 EVO - 500 GB SSD [MZ-75E500B/AM]

Seagate Momentus XT - 750 GB SSHD [sT750LX003]

Hitachi - 160 GB HDD [HDS721616PLA380]

Netgear A6100 WiFi USB adapter

Antivirus is Windows Defender with Firewall turned On

HyperX Cloud II Headset

Corsair RGB MX SIlent Keyboard

SteelSeries Rival 100 Mouse

It's a 2006 Dell Inspiron E1505 with 2GB RAM, 120GB SSD but just W10 without any hyper cloud, volumouse or such. It's stock and clean. I don't get any audio buffering issue.

 

I also didn't set the drive or any device to sleep. It's a clean W10 install and it was so weird not having to find any driver.

 

Your machine is far better than my oldest iron on W10 and so it must be something added after W10. I can't guess which it is.

 

HOWEVER IF I WAS TO GUESS, I've lost count of Seagates that cause odd delays and issues. I'd try this without the old drives. They can create odd issues as the read or write can cause the OS to pause.