- Feb 17, 2014
- 35
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Since day one -- from the day I built the PC back in May 2014 to now -- I've had an issue where the audio will stutter for a second or two then usually go back to normal, and sometimes go into a BSOD. It seems mostly random how often it occurs, sometimes it'll only happen once or twice in a day, usually it happens about 6-10 times in a day, but almost every day or every other day it will cause a BSOD or two (ntoskrnl.exe, sometimes combined with AvidMboxMini.sys but not always). Sometimes it happens while gaming, but it seems to happen most often when loading a new page in a new tab. All of the times it's happened in the last year or so, I think gaming has only sent it into a BSOD once. In fact, the last couple of days I've been listening to music and opening links on Reddit that lead to Imgur, and 90% of the time that I open an Imgur link, the music/audio stutters. Ironically, when I remotely accessed my PC from work to confirm the "ntoskrnl.exe" BSOD error while typing this, it came to my surprise that I was logging in after... drumroll please... A BSOD restart. While I was at work. Not even using my home PC.
To clarify on what the stuttering issue is, this is what happens every single time:
What I've already tried:
For a long time I thought it was because of my Avid Mbox Mini 3rd gen (AvidMboxMini.sys), which doesn't have great Windows support in the first place. So I tried re-installing the drivers and changing the buffer around, but neither helped. Since it's used for actively recording, it's recommended that it be plugged directly into the computer and not via a powered USB hub but I tried it out anyway and that didn't fix the issue either.
Then I realized a lot of BSODs were happening because of ntoskrnl.exe by itself, not just the combination of the two. It also worked perfectly fine on my laptop, which is what I was using for years before I built this PC. So I tried updating my BIOS a few months ago. Weirdly enough, I don't know why but, the issue seemed to be fixed for at least a week or two and then started back up again.
The only thing I can think of is that I either need to replace my Mbox Mini with something else, or I need to get new memory at a lower clock speed to better match the CPU clock. Right now, I have an i7-4770K at 3.5GHz (stock speed) and G.SKILL TridentX 2x8GB DDR3-2400 (10-12-12-31) (F3-2400C10D-16GTX). The FSB : DRAM ratio in CPU-Z is 1:5, and I know that it's preferable for it to be 1:1. My motherboard has even automatically underclocked the memory to 666MHz.
Before I go spending $100-$140 on new DDR3-1600 memory, I wanted to ask if this is even the issue. If it's not the issue, what is the issue? I'm great with computers, have been since even my preteen days, and I even work in IT, but I'm at a complete and utter loss here.
Full Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS Z87-EXPERT
CPU: i7-4770K @ 3.5GHz (stock)
Memory: G.SKILL TridentX 2x8GB DDR3-2400 (10-12-12-31)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB SC
Main Storage: Samsung 840 EVO SSD - 500GB
Secondary Storage: WD Black 7200RPM - 3TB
PSU: Corsair HX850 (850W)
To clarify on what the stuttering issue is, this is what happens every single time:
1.) Video continues, but audio stutters; seemingly rapidly repeating the last 1-5ms of audio for about 1-2 seconds.
2.) Audio goes back to normal, but the video stops in order to catch up and resync
3.) Video starts again once the two are synced up, and things are back to normal until it happens again
What I've already tried:
For a long time I thought it was because of my Avid Mbox Mini 3rd gen (AvidMboxMini.sys), which doesn't have great Windows support in the first place. So I tried re-installing the drivers and changing the buffer around, but neither helped. Since it's used for actively recording, it's recommended that it be plugged directly into the computer and not via a powered USB hub but I tried it out anyway and that didn't fix the issue either.
Then I realized a lot of BSODs were happening because of ntoskrnl.exe by itself, not just the combination of the two. It also worked perfectly fine on my laptop, which is what I was using for years before I built this PC. So I tried updating my BIOS a few months ago. Weirdly enough, I don't know why but, the issue seemed to be fixed for at least a week or two and then started back up again.
The only thing I can think of is that I either need to replace my Mbox Mini with something else, or I need to get new memory at a lower clock speed to better match the CPU clock. Right now, I have an i7-4770K at 3.5GHz (stock speed) and G.SKILL TridentX 2x8GB DDR3-2400 (10-12-12-31) (F3-2400C10D-16GTX). The FSB : DRAM ratio in CPU-Z is 1:5, and I know that it's preferable for it to be 1:1. My motherboard has even automatically underclocked the memory to 666MHz.
Before I go spending $100-$140 on new DDR3-1600 memory, I wanted to ask if this is even the issue. If it's not the issue, what is the issue? I'm great with computers, have been since even my preteen days, and I even work in IT, but I'm at a complete and utter loss here.
Full Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS Z87-EXPERT
CPU: i7-4770K @ 3.5GHz (stock)
Memory: G.SKILL TridentX 2x8GB DDR3-2400 (10-12-12-31)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB SC
Main Storage: Samsung 840 EVO SSD - 500GB
Secondary Storage: WD Black 7200RPM - 3TB
PSU: Corsair HX850 (850W)
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