Clipping and clicking

[cutcopypaste]

I've got constant clipping and clicking on my computer lately.. whether with headphones or speakers. Sounds like it's a really bad rip or something but it's doing it for all the audio. I'm using just the onboard soundcard in the MSI 870A-G54.
It's getting pretty annoying and I'm not really sure of any way to go about troubleshooting something like this. If it was just the speakers or just the headphones I'd suspect connection problem, but the headphone jack is in the front of my case and the speakers plugged in at the back.
Just wondering of some things I could try.
And sorry if this isn't really the correct forum.. Thanks!

 

[aford10]

Unplug the speakers and headphones. Do you still hear it? I'm curious if it's coming from inside the tower.

 

[cutcopypaste]

No it's definitely part of the audio out.. I never hear it unless I've got audio playing somewhere whether itunes, mediamonkey, videos or games. it's like hiccups in the audio.. so it's not just a sound, it's like a skip or blip.. sounds basically like a distorted audio artifact like when a cell phone gets called near your speakers but just for a split second

 

[cutcopypaste]

I guess there might be some kind of short around the sound card I can take the sides off and make sure things are looking good in there.. can't think of what else it might be..

 

[aford10]

Do you get the same thing when playing an audio CD?

 

[cutcopypaste]

Forgot those existed! lemme check!

 

[cutcopypaste]

Audio CD still does it.. seems less frequent.. but it's kind of unpredictable.. it'll go a few minutes without doing it.. then do it a bunch.. that's the same withother audio types as well

 

[aford10]

Is there something near your tower that would cause interference?

 

[cutcopypaste]

not as far as i can tell. I unplugged or removed anything i thought might be interfering (speakers, chargers, audio preamp) and it still was doing it. I rebooted the computer and it seems generally better so far... wonder if this is a case of charge building up the longer the computer's on or something? I'm no expert in these things..

 

[aford10]

That's a strange one. You could try reinstalling the audio driver, but something tells me that's not going to fix the problem.

How long has it been doing this?

 

[cutcopypaste]

Not sure exactly when it started... maybe about a week or so that I noticed.. but it is pretty subtle.. until you know it's there, at which point it is very maddening!
It has been ok since my reboot, still. (also opened my case and checked power cable connections.. didn't find any loose or anything).

I had a similar thing going on before with an external soundboard/keyboard combo (edirol pcr-a30), which I attributed to either the pcr or involved cabling and moved back to my onboard sound, which fixed things then.. that was maybe a month ago.

 

[aford10]

Maybe you'll get lucky, and it's gone.

 

[Furieux]

It's probably you wireless network that's causing interference....

I had the same exact problem with my laptop and when i turned off the wireless, the clipping and clicking were gone.

 

[mhelm1]

Also check if your CPU is at max (task manager,performance)

 

[cutcopypaste]

Hmm wireless is an idea.. the signal is pretty weak where i am though.. it's the opposite side of the house and one floor down from the router.. disabling isn't an option bc of other people in the house needing it... is there any way to protect against it?
CPU definitely not at max.. i have a hexacore and I'm not doing anything particularly intensive the times it happens and haven't noticed an increase/decrease when I am

I have noticed, now that I've been paying attention, though, that it tends to happen more the longer my computer is on and will get better with a restart. What could that mean, do you think?

 

[Computerrock1]

Try the integrated audio.

 

[Computerrock1]

It may be one your computer parts exherting a generous amount of heat and its current is being blown on to the card, which would explain the worsening as the computer runs longer.

 

[cutcopypaste]

I'm using the integrated audio already actually.
Your second idea makes a bit of sense.. It's pretty cool in my case, though, so that'd have to be from something defective I'd think. According to everest: cpu is 23C, GPU is 43C and hard drives range from 24 to 29C right now. Mind you I'm not getting the clicking too bad right now. I'll defnitely been on the lookout for any sort of correlations

 

[aford10]

Check to see if you have any bulging capacitors.

 

[Computerrock1]

If you have hdmi enabled, try the gpu audio and see if it still is affected, if which case, it could be corrupted drivers, codecs gone bad, too many codecs running at once, the list isn't endless but there are multiple things it could be...

 

[cutcopypaste]

i will have a look tonight. the capacitors better be ok though, this mobo is only 2 months old.

 

[aford10]

It's just a thought. If you have some swollen capacitors, it should still be covered by the warranty.

 

[Computerrock1]

One quick idea, my friend was having an issue with his integrated audio randomly spuritng out digital beeps and screeches, really wierd, he fixed it by removing the cases front audio connector from the motherboard, he never had the issue again. Don't ask me how that would work.

 

[cutcopypaste]

Yeah I guess if there was something amiss with the front connection it could cause problems.. I might try that for kicks next time I open the sucker up.
It's actually been pretty good today. I'm waiting till it gets bad again (never?never?please?lol) to open 'er up.
I tried disabling hdmi audio though since i'm not using it anyway

 

[cutcopypaste]

Just to update.. still haven't figured out what the heck is going on here. It's being super bad right now. frustration! I would take apart my tower again and doublecheck there's no issues with the wiring, but I don't know exactly what I'm looking for.