m11x audio stuttering popping crackling problems

Hi.

Since getting my m11x I have noticed that during a lot of games, the audio pops, stutters and crackles.

I was testing the rig out last night. Here is a list of a few of the problem titles.

Crysis (pops regularly. Sometimes it's not that bad (every 20 seconds or so) Sometimes it is almost constant.
Bioshock (pops and stutters during the loading screen - and then pops and crackles for a few seconds during gameplay.
Batman Arkham (pops regularly - a few times a minute)

I spoke to AW tech support. First of all I ran the built in diagnostics from the boot menu. No problems there.
I was then asked to reinstall Windows 7. I have done this, and have updated all my drivers once again.

I am using the latest (dell listed) Realtek drivers and the beta (dell listed) nvidia drivers.

I have called support again today. They have asked me to physically remove the wifi card and disable it in the bios. If it is still a problem they have said that the motherboard will be replaced.

Does anyone else have this problem with any of the games I have mentioned.

Oh yeh, one other thing the audio is always perfect when using the HDMI cables. I only get this problem with the internal speaker and the headphones.

 

People have same problem in the M15x model and no have solution...
read this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/467386-alienware-m15x-sound-probs-please-help.html

 

Ok thanks. I'll read that. Anyone with the m11x have the same problem with any of these games.

If the wifi fix doesn't work for me tonight they have finally promised to swap the mobo. Hope this will work.

 

Ummm the mobo replace no are a 100% sure fix the problem, yesterday dell replace my mobo and the problem no are fixed.

 

Yeah, Bioshock crackles BAD on my M11x.

 

Well.... I took out the WLAN, and disabled it in the BIOS.

Problem is still there. I called tech support and made the guy listen to the crackling noises in Crysis and Bioshock. Right on cue the damn card popped and crackled worse than ever. I explained that I have had the problem since day one, but that it seems to be getting worse.

Finally they have agreed to replace the mobo. Technician arrives Thursday. Fingers crossed that it solves the problem. Obviously it makes the system practically useless for gaming when half the games crackle like mad.

 

Sounds weird.. but have you disabled the microphone? This is done in sound properties, and you right click on the mic and disable. Mine seems to always be enabled. I disable it unless I am playing a game with mic support ALA call of duty or something. Hope it all gets worked out.

StevenX

 

If i understand you correctly, its just some artificial noise there, in crysis? I've got it even on my desctop pc, it has something to do with realtek. But i don't remember anything from bisohock 2.

 

Stevenx. Thanks for the advice. Just tried disabling the MIC. No difference. Thanks for the tip though.

I have tried a load of other games. Others which cause a problem for me include. Mass Effect 1. Half life 2. Bizzarly MW and MW2 run flawlessly. Even though I went through all software options we could think of. I still wonder if it's just a driver flaw. Would appreciate some more feedback from gamers playing any of the games I have mentioned.

Also noticed I have an 'unknown device' in the devices list. Anyone else have that?

 

Yup, I have an "Unknown Device" too. I have been trying to figure out what that was for a while.

 

I know that Crysis has audio issues on some Windows 7 computers.

I also know that Bioshock and Batman Arkham Asylum have audio issues
in general with reltek and some other audio cards.

Try binging (or googling) solutions for each game.
It is most likely not the system it self.

 

Ut oh.. Try running ThrottleStop while gaming and see if you're getting Clock Modulation. Does your framerate go down at the same time?

 

I just found this:

Official Bioshock sound issues thread. - 2K Forums

Definitely not just an M11x issue.

 

Yes framerate drops.

The strange thing is that sometimes the issues are REALLY bad (unbearable) and the frame rate suffers. You can then quit, reboot the lappy and relaunch Crysis and then it MAY be fairly good the next time. (Albeit with the occasional pop and framerate jitter)

The problem seems to be getting worse though and manifesting itself in more and more games. At one point I lost audio completely last night, and then about 10 seconds later, total system freeze (including mouse).

I had this freezing problem 2 more times last night - both just after a reboot. It would start to play the launching windows sound clip. Cut out after about a second through the WAV.... and then freeze.

Hopefully the new mobo will help with some of these problems.

 

Well, from what i see fmod is a sound engine used in all of this games.

FMOD ? ?????????

 

Dell uses clock modulation in a wide variety of their laptops including the Alienware series. This is a feature built into Intel CPUs that can instantly slow the CPU down to about 10% or less of its rated performance. When this happens, the frame rates go into the toilet, DPC latency goes through the roof and stuttering audio is one of the many results.

Download ThrottleStop and run this program in Monitoring Mode.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

Play a game and keep track of what time you start having problems with stuttering, etc. If you're not sure what the log file is telling you then upload it to SendSpace and post a link so I can have a look at it.

This is a major problem for the other Alienware laptops like the M15x and M17x. The slow down typically happens when trying to use both the CPU and GPU at the same time like when you're gaming.

This problem has been part of the Dell laptop line up for 2 years now so I'd be very surprised if it is not also a problem for your M11x. Modern games that are learning how to better utilize the CPU and GPU are helping to uncover this problem. Too many Dells were under designed when it comes to power consumption which can lead to problems when you try to fully load them.

 

Hi Unclewebb. Thanks for the help. I tried it out with Crysis. The log file was saying no dip in clock or chipset (both 100% across the test). Sound was popping badly as usual though.

I'm pretty sure I set things up properly. Checking the log option, but leaving everything else as it was. The clock/chipset and multiplier checkboxes were left unchecked.

 

That sounds right. How was the reported multiplier? Was the CPU maintaining full speed or was the multiplier and MHz dropping down? Some laptops throttle the CPU that way first before using clock modulation.

Does your CPU have enough muscle to play Crysis? That's a pretty demanding game for a 1.3GHz CPU.

 

There is no such feature on m11x. Clock is constant.

 

Could be. You said you had video stuttering, too though. What other games did you have the same problem with?

 

Yeh multiplier and clocks all at 100% and 6.5.

Crysis is a little demanding for it... but I can get a fairly constant framerate of between 20 (absolute lowest) to 45 by switching to dx9 and lowering the settings to medium across the board. Still looks lovely too.

The weird thing is that using HDMI the popping problems go away. Also, less demanding games also have the problem. I'm getting the mobo replacement tomorrow. We'll see if it was software or hardware hopefully.

/Edit - main offenders. Crysis, Batman, Bioshock and Mass Effect 1. Thing is... they can work flawlessly one day. The next day the problem is back.

 

I guess you have some other issue here. Hopefully the new mobo fixes everything.

 

Thanks.

 

Seriously, this isn't an M11x issue. This is a common issue that Crysis and Bioshock have had for YEARS.

Google is your friend. LOTS of information on the web regarding this problem.

 

I understand what you are saying philburkhardt. What doesn't make sense is how intermittent the problem can be. Sometimes it can be fine. The next reboot the problem is back. The problem is getting more frequent. I have had 2 total lockups now when Windows was playing it's startup wav files.... and there is NEVER any audio problems when playing through HDMI.

When it is popping badly, the framerate dips and the audio sample playing stutters and pops to the point where game is unplayable.

 

Here is a Youtube video and discussion about it.

YouTube - Crysis Sound/Audio Issues

 

Just been on the machine for a couple of hours.

Motherboard swapped out today.

First of all, sound problems are gone. Crysis is back to it's occasional pop which is perfectly normal for the game. I loaded the same savegame I have been using to benchmark and the framerate has jumped from 17fps to 25fps with no serious sound issues. Mass Effect, Bioshock and Batman are now flawless for me.

Secondly I can now OC finally! (Must update my signature now!)
Ran the same test in Crysis again and saw a further significant boost to the framerate on the same savegame (30fps)

w00t - happy now - got the machine I paid for.

 

That's awesome! I was hoping you would get the ability to OC with the motherboard swap. Win + win for you

 

Thanks I can start enjoying it now...

 

Emm, so its hardware issue?

But i don't have any fps drop or sound dessapearings. Only some electronic noise.

 

Dell has released an update to the Realtek driver.

M11x Realtek - Driver Applies to: ALC665 5/27/2010 6.0.1.6083, A02

 

@vorob: Crysis DOES still pop for me. But it is not affecting framerate (like it was with the old mobo) and it is far far (far) less noticable. The other games I mentioned have no problem at all. (including Bioshock)

So - very happy with it now.

I will try the new Realtek drivers anyway...

 

Not to crap in this thread or anything, but I got the Realtek drivers installed this morning and they seem to work rather well.

 

Thanks for the feedback mb67. I will definately try them tonight.

One question - what's the best way to install them?

Straight over the top?
Uninstall first and then in safe mode?
Or using a driver cleaner?

 

Do you have something like this?
YouTube - Crysis sound issue on m11x
Its in main menu.

Or you had something similar on old mobo?

 

Yes, it was like that on the main menu. And then in game, the framerate would drop and sounds would distort and pop.

Since getting the new mobo, things seem to have improved. I ran Crysis a few times last night and even though there was still some popping, it's nowhere near what I was seeing with the old board.

As I said before though, I haven't had any sound issues in other games as yet. (will be doing some more testing tonight)

Also, this board allows me to OC the cpu, maybe that has made a difference? Have you tried the new Realtek drivers yet?

 

Played batman for an hour, no sound issue. And from what i understood you have sound issue everywhere in batman, right? On old mobo.

 

Yes. Batman had pretty bad audio popping and framerate issues also (on the old mobo).

Last night, with the new mobo (and OC'ed) it was flawless. No problem at all.

 

ok... than maybe crysis is the problem here, not mb... maybe OC solved some problems? Maybe cracking sounds because of weak processor

 

Thanks buddy, yes if it's just Crysis and it's a known problem... I can live with that. I'm satisfied now

 

Man, can you capture video of what you currently have in menu? Same video as mine. Wanna hear if you cave cracks there or not.

Btw, whats settings for crysis?

 

Lol, problem solved. I used 64bit exe file and no issue with sound.

 

Hey good one. I will have to try that in the bin64 folder eh?

Thanks for the tip!

/edit

Oh yes - I run in dx9 mode. (adds a good 5fps) - just add -dx9 to the shortcut.
I also set mine to run on Medium across the board apart from textures which I crank up to High, and motion blur which I drop to low (because I hate the effect anyway)

 

Yep, something like this
D:\Games\Crysis\Bin64\Crysis.exe

Downloaded via steam bioshock 1, and i've got similar with sound during loading screen. Are you sure yours ok now with new mb?

 

Yep tried Bioshock last night with no problems at all. Have you got EAX enabled in Bioshock. Might be worth disabling it....

Also, have you tried the new Realtek driver yet. Mines been downloading it for around 2-3 hours now. Really slow ftp connection!

 

Ye, realtek ftp suck much, i use mirrors on other sites.

YouTube - Bioshock sound issue on m11x

Will try about eax.

UPD: reverb is off, and eax too. Still sound issues during loading screen.

 

Hey vorob, just seen your videos... what is Just Cause 2 like on the m11x. Played the demo and was pretty impressed. Do you manage to get a decent stable framerate when the action hots up and lot of things are happening?

Tempted to buy it over steam....

/edit

Well I will try the new Dell Realtek drivers. Nearly downloaded now. But I dont have the problem you are getting with Bioshock. On my old mobo, I was getting popping noises during gameplay not during the loading screen.

 

Bioshock (pops and stutters during the loading screen - and then pops and crackles for a few seconds during gameplay.

I hear this crap only while loading. In game all is ok...
Also tried new realtek drivers, but from dell page. No changes. Now i'm downloading bioshock on my desktop pc to check it. Crysis 32 bit issue exists on desktop.

what is Just Cause 2 like on the m11x. Played the demo and was pretty impressed. Do you manage to get a decent stable framerate when the action hots up and lot of things are happening?
Hardly. Runs ~20 fps during usual gameplay and drops to 15 in heat. Its very cpu dependent game... But you can try playing demo

 

Thanks for the feedback on JC2.... Like I said, I enjoyed the demo, but wasn't sure about the full game... I'll wait for a steam sale

Yes you are right I contadicted myself. I did get static during the loading screen and during the game (bioshock). I tried last night and had no such problem. I will try again (tomorrow now) and post a video if you'de like. Thanks for the Crysis tip. Big help there.

 

Repost from steam forum:


Hello guys,

I’ve got 2 computers, one with core2duo 3000mhz and another one with c2d ulv 1700mhz, both have 2 cores. Also both uses realtek as soundcard. Both computers packed with latest sound driver.

One is my desktop and another one is my laptop alienware m11x

And both have some crackin stuttering sounds in some games that use FMOD sound technology. 2 examples:

Bioshock
YouTube - Bioshock sound issue on m11x
Crysis
YouTube - Crysis sound issue on m11x

But, this technology is also used in mafia 2, so here it is:
(i was sitting in car looking on ship in port, but it doesn't matter, same happens when i ride through town)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5020311/Permanent/mafia2audiofail.mp3
Listen carefully especially after 00:09

So, 2 questions, anyone faces same sound problem? And what’s the solution?