Audio Cracking, LatencyMon Reporting HDAudBus.sys as culprit, No idea what to do.

[codelode]

So I upgraded my computer components 2 days ago and I've been plagued with this problem ever since.

CPU: i5 6600k
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1
Mobo: ASUS Z170A
RAM: G.SKILL DDR4 16gb 3200mhz

All of those components are new. I've wiped my drives and done a fresh install of windows, along with all of the drivers listed on ASUS website for the mobo. In every application, even the windows notifaction sounds, I get very annoying and prevalent crackling. Some games get performance loss, randomly dropping from 200+fps to frozen for seconds at a time, consistently. I did some research and got LatencyMon and ran it for a bit, and saw the culprit to be the HDAudBus.sys driver:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. Also one or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. At least one detected problem appears to be network related. In case you are using a WLAN adapter, try disabling it to get better results. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:02:13 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: AXCEL-PC
OS version: Windows 8 , 6.2, build: 9200 (x64)
Hardware: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., Z170-A
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Logical processors: 4
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 16296 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 3504 MHz
Measured CPU speed: 1 MHz (approx.)

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 2180.384199
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 2.257288

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 2148.530308
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 0.796867


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 2982.386986
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.404350
Driver with highest ISR total time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.492606

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 294301
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 10
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 2885.948630
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.180994
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.503758

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 804949
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 2
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 6
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: chrome.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 77
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 14
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs): 18744.646404
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%): 0.015698
Number of processes hit: 6


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 6.673112
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 2982.386986
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 2.601830
CPU 0 ISR count: 279864
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 2885.948630
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 2.120010
CPU 0 DPC count: 736221
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.239393
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 70.119863
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005056
CPU 1 ISR count: 3138
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 2719.796233
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.168742
CPU 1 DPC count: 26669
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.291277
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 95.054795
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.013779
CPU 2 ISR count: 11309
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 687.163813
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.334572
CPU 2 DPC count: 28174
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.894521
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 2057.651826
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.056668
CPU 3 DPC count: 13893
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I don't know what to make of this though, or how to begin to fix it. Any help is appreciated. I just closed a question because I thought I had fixed it, but I was just too eager to believe apparently.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I do have the hotfix driver from nVidia regarding DPC latency in Pascal cards.

 

[Colif]

See if the advice offered here helps, its the same motherboard and almost same CPU and same latency/crackling: https://www.sysnative.com/forums/windows-10-a/20201-audio-stuttering-popping-high-latency-brand-new-build.html

 

[codelode]

See if the advice offered here helps, its the same motherboard and almost same CPU and same latency/crackling: https://www.sysnative.com/forums/windows-10-a/20201-audio-stuttering-popping-high-latency-brand-new-build.html

I did everything I could that was suggested in that other forum you linked to, and it helped a tiny bit. The audio cracking was significantly reduced, but still there. I took 3 screenshots of LatencyMon after running WarThunder for ~15m.

Overview
Pagefaults
DPC

I hope this helps anyone diagnose what's wrong with me.

 

[codelode]

I'm still trying to fix this problem. I've installed NVidia's latest driver, 369.09 I believe, and it hasn't helped much.

 

[Colif]

We reported recently how the ASUS ROG offerings were showing ridiculously high DPC latency with their AI Suite III software. ...
What’s interesting is that we’ve tested a multitude of Z170 motherboards at this point and only very recently have we seen DPC latency issues crop up. At this point I am not sure of the cause but it seems likely that ME firmware or something else common to multiple manufacturers. We will further investigate this problem, but for now I’d advise installing the software that came with this motherboard and go with the latest versions from the website. If you still have issues I’d recommend disabling all of it, and waiting for an update.

Don't suppose you running AI Suite?

It doesn't help MSI have a mobo by name of Z170A and the only difference in names between it and yours is the Z170-A has a dash in name. Makes searching for it interesting and why two links on here were for MSI.

I wish I could help, i don't know where to begin with this. Looking at reviews your DPC latency should be the same as mine, yet it clearly isn't or you wouldn't be here. http://www.anandtech.com/show/9729/the-asus-z170-a-motherboard-review/5

I would suggest posting on the web site I linked above as they seem to know how to fix this. https://www.sysnative.com/forums/windows-10-a/

 

[noxvil]

Reading the nvidia forums, it seems like lots of people still have this issue even after installing the hotfix driver so it could still be nvidia's fault.

However, I had this same problem a few years ago and I ended up fixing it by installing the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" driver. If you don't have that driver installed, there is a good chance that it will fix your problem.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/technologies/intel-rapid-storage-technology-intel-rst.html

 

[Corsa1r]

I have the exact same mobo and the exact same problem. Audio pops/crackles all the time and I have tried EVERYTHING.