Audio Skipping in Vista

Hi guys, I need help with a problem that is driving me insane!

Everything was fine with my machine a few days ago, but something, somewhere changed and now whilst playing music, a YouTube video or a normal video the sound 'pops' like an old record.

And if I open a new tab in Firefox, my CPU goes to 100% and the music skips.

I haven't even changed anything on the system and it's like I have a 10 year old machine all of a sudden. :(

I've tried:

Virus Scanning
Disabling everything running
Changing audio drivers
Changing wireless drivers
Changing virus scanner
Changing soundcards (I normally run Realtek HD onboard sound. But the Santa Cruz had the same problems).

The weird thing is that on a cold boot, everything is fine for a while... and then the pops and skips start.

This problem is killing my enjoyment of music... I didn't realise I was so dependant on it!

Please help! *weep*

Under Device Manager, open the properties of your IDE controllers. Make sure they're set to DMA (and NOT PIO) if applicable. This isn't likely the cause, but it's worth checking.

If it was fine up until a few days ago maybe you can do a system restore to an earlier point?

-E-

My IDE controllers seem okay. I've taken out all the other disks apart from the main system disk to try and narrow the problem down.

The computer's been up for a few hours now and the problem hasn't come back; this is just after updating my wireless dongle drivers to the latest ones. I'm crossing my fingers.

You know, I really should have tried a System Restore before I started faffing about with all the other stuff! Will give it a go if the updated wireless drivers prove to be a red herring.

Thanks guys!

Okay, on further testing, it seems like it might be something to do with Firefox/Avast Antivirus. When the CPU was at 100% and the computer was crawling, shutting down Avast brought the computer back (but the music was still a little screwed).

And I can run for hours without loading Firefox; everything is fine, but when I load Firefox, after a while the 'DPC's (Deferred Procedure Calls) start going through the roof and the entire systems slows to a crawl.

Gonna try a System Restore.

In the hope this post might help someone else someday...

I did a System Restore. It failed (I love you Bill).

I did an earlier restore point. That worked. Well, the sound is okay for now... Firefox really didn't like the restore though, it's a bit frakked.

Fingers and toes crossed; it's hard to use the mouse like this...

I had problems in Oblivion and vista until I installed SP1 then after sound problems disappeared. Has been clear since.

Ah, interesting...! Is SP1 available via Windows Update yet? I can't find it in the list.

Another person with audio skipping problems....

I have those same type of problem and have windows XP...

http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?t=310145

Hey Mr. Bombastic look at this link....

http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windo...udio-Skip.html

I know this OS in question is XP, buttttttt........ Binz has a simple idea to try out.... I am hoping this works for me.

I bet if you tried the Santa Cruz sound card in another computer you will not get any problems with the sound card at all.

The above link failed for me.