Crackling Audio, onboard -and- USB.

This has me stumped like a quad amputee.
TL;DR = scroll straight to the bottom of the post.
I upgraded my computer almost entirely. Prior to upgrading, my sound was perfect both onboard and USB.
Now I've added the following:
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Mobo: GA-MA78GPM-DS2H (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2859)
And 4GB of RAM.


Now.. nothing on my HDD/installation of XP has changed, other than installing drivers for the new stuff.

But since I upgraded, I'm getting crackling audio randomly.. through games, music and videos. It seems random but it possibly has something to do with CPU usage. Sometimes if I'm ingame it'll stop crackling if I alt-tab but it can still crackle if the game isn't onscreen.

It's not a speaker problem. It's happening with both my USB headphones and Logitech X530's. I can't see it being a driver fault because the onboard sound of course is a seperate driver to the driver for my USB headphones.

I've tried turning off AMD's Cool & Quiet thing in BIOS which apparently helped some issues, but didn't help. Tried disabling onboard sound but I still got the crackling through my USB headphones.

I'm certain there's something in Windows that's fucked up somewhere. Tried reinstalling Direct X and updating it, but that didn't seem to fix the problem.

So, I guess my question is, do any of you guys know what would cause crackling audio in both onboard audio and USB audio, and how I'd be able to fix it without reinstalling the OS?

I rememebr I had an XP installation where the Windows Audio service would always hog memory and CPU for some unknown reason.

If you open task manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) and sort processes by CPU usage, there might be an instance of svchost.exe with an unusually high cpu usage.

If this is the case, just restart the Windows Audio service (services.msc from run dialog), right click Windows Audio and select restart.

Even if the CPU seems normal, still worth a try. Worked for me anyway

>>2
None of the svchost.exe processes are consuming CPU usage at all according to task manager. Tried restarting the service but didn't fix it. :(

http://www.digitalnasties.com/forum/topic138.html

You could try booting into Safe Mode, uninstall all drivers associated with sound. If you can hunt down the actual files (since Windows won't actually delete them) that comprise the drivers you're uninstalling, it would be best. Then reboot in Normal mode, allow Windows to re-detect everything, and reinstall the drivers from the most current versions.

If that doesn't work.. do you have a spare hard disk you can use to try installing XP onto (just bare-bones) and see if you still have the same problems? It's a pain in the ass to have to do, but sometimes it's necessary and useful to do that as a reality check rather than chasing your tail for days because some hardware problem or a bad driver is to blame.

Nothing has worked.

I think I'll have to reinstall Windows. Nothing I can think of is fixing the problem. I really don't understand what the hell's going on... NOTHING in Windows itself should have changed.. the only relevant thing that has changed is the audio drivers from the new motherboard.. it should NOT effect the USB sound driver.

in the morning with them.The construction of the shoe as a whole is very good. http://www.comeboot.com/  cheap UGG Boots under 100. http://www.comeboot.com/  cheap UGG Boots under 100 They are thick http://www.comeboot.com/  UGG Winter Boots. http://www.comeboot.com/  UGG Winter Boots, strong and a good feeling with his feet. The heat they offer is wonderful. I'm very happy I purchased this title. I http://www.comeboot.com/  Black UGG. http://www.comeboot.com/  Black UGG

http://www.portdress.net/  cheap summer 2012 dresses Aarav. Twinkle knows her every wish is my command. Whatever she desires, be it diamonds, a car or a villa; she has to ask and it will be hers. But the beauty of the whole thing is, that in the decade gone by http://www.portdress.net/  cheap wedding dresses summer , I have realised that what my wife really craves for, is my time. She has made me promise that I will always spend quality time with her and  Aarav."  <br> So the Kumars have a set routine. Every weekend is a do-not-disturb affair. "On Saturdays we usually dine with Aarav http://www.portdress.net/  wedding dresses summer 2012 . However, on Sundays it is just the two of us who go out for a romantic meal and a drive," he smiles.  <br> A little known fact about Akshay is that he has the image of an action hero. He has even done several comedies