PC sound droping out and restarts when gaming

Ruddys

Ruddys

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Messages
79
Hi.
I tried everything available at my hand to solve the issue on my own but without any luck so maybe someone here will know where to look for and resolve issue.

So two days ago noticed my audio device disappears and appears randomly when starting the game.
Now once I start game PC reboots without any BSOD or error in event viewer.

No overheating detected in system GPU does not reach over 63c and CPU 70c while gaming.
Did re plug every cable in PC to make sure nothing came lose.
Reinstalled clean windows 10.
Tried lowering Audio quality to bare minimum and remove all enchantments.
Removed recent windows 10 updates.
Did roll back BIOS version.

But nothing in the list helped.

So would appreciate any guidance or info what could be the issue.

After some more testing.
Tried to use just my Astro A50 with digital output and then connected speakers with digital cable and issue seems to be stooped .No sound cut outs or restarts.So issue only persists when anything is connected to 3.5mm audio port.
So any way I could fix it on my own ?


System Spec

Ryzen 5900x Stock
RTX 2080
32GB 3600mhz cl16 RAM
X570 Taichi
1tb 970 evo
2x2tb RAID0
NZXT X62 AIO
1000w Corsair PSU
 
Last edited:
Looks like you have a Realtek ALC1220, maybe make sure latest drivers and there is not anything funky with case front audio ports. If you Either unplug HD audio cable or disable front audio plug in detection in drivers. I had similar issue on my case where it would jump around.
 
Removed front audio but still same issue sound drops out couple times and then PC restarts.
Curious how can soundcard in board break out of nowhere ? Maybe sound card did suicide due my music taste.
If I get some generic USB to 3.5mm adapter will I lose much audio quality ?
Ans thanks for taking time to answer .
 
Check the sound chip isnt overheating.
If so, you may be able to save it by gluing a heatsink to it.
I did this a long time back on a Creative card, cant remember which.

A USB soundcard if chosen well can far exceed PC soundcard quality.
But you wont get multichannel, only stereo.
There are multichannel HDMI soundcards (and home theatre AVRs) but they arent usually cheap, and HDMI is not the best connection method for quality (high end) but could suit you fine, depending on your expectation.

Alternative is a better PC soundcard.
 
Just a small updated.
Seems something is really wrong with my electricity in apartment. Boiler broke then next day washing machine and other weird things. So decided to transfer my PC to different place. And so far everything seems to be working find even with 3.5mm jack plugged in.
 
Thats not good, even in a different location in the same apartment.
I'd get some filtering and maybe an UPS.
 
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My first guess would have been heat, improve your general cooling. Bad power shouldn't be a huge deal unless its really bad, or you have a low quality PSU. A UPS is always a good idea.
 
I have 9 120mm fans and 2 140mm fans on AIO . And GPU is cooled with nzxt g12 and 120mm AIO .Also temps seem fine under stress tests.
Called electrician for the next week to sort things out before I try to put PC back in my man cave. Also will get new extension leads just to be sure to avoid as much risk possible.

At this point I am just happy my PC seems to be healthy.

Any good UPS anyone could recommend as I have little to no knowledge about them.
 
Even though your audio problems are fixed, you may still want to install the genuine Realtek drivers. Windows generally uses a generic "HD Audio" driver which is missing tons of functionality and control over the sound chip. I've had problems with Realtek sound not working right with generic drivers installed and having erratic issues.

As for an UPS, I'd recommend an APC or Tripp-Lite unit. With a beefy system like yours, you'd want something in the 1200-1500VA range. UPSes in this range start to get pricey, but they are well worth the protection they provide. For the type of UPS, you'll definitely want at minimum a line-interactive model, rather than the lower tier standby type. The former regulates the mains all the time, while the latter just switches in the battery when a fault is detected. The best UPS you can get is an online type, but these are the most expensive. With an online UPS, the connected devices never see mains directly, the UPS does AC-DC and DC-AC conversion.

Avoid Cyberpower units like the plague. Many of their models use proprietary and non-user serviceable batteries, meaning once the battery expires, you have to throw the unit out. Their quality also is pretty bad, I've had to repair several of their units with blown power transistors/FETs because they forgot to put thermal compound on them to properly sink heat into the heatsinks they were attached to.

And don't forget to maintain your UPS if you buy one. The SLA batteries are consumable items and should be replaced every 2-4 years, even if they still appear to be good. Failing SLA batteries can cause catastrophic damage to an UPS and kill them. Due to the weird chemistry of SLA batteries, they're really hard to know when they're properly charged, so most UPSes just blindly charge them to some preprogrammed spec. If a cell in the battery fails (which is very common towards the end of the battery life), the charging circuitry can get confused and keep charging the battery until it inflates and cracks, sometimes leaking sulfuric acid everywhere.
 
Well another update from my end.

Same issue is back again. Once I start the game audio cuts out randomly.
Also had strange GPU glitching once , but after all stress tests no artifacts present.

Audio drops out only when using 3.5mm jack and when GPU is under load .Optical cable and USB audio dongle works fine .
Also no audio issues when using HDMI connection .

I am quite lost in this all as there is no error logs or BSOD to use as guidance .
 
Have you installed the proper drivers for the Realtek sound chip?

I also saw you rolled back to an older BIOS revision for your board, have you tried flashing the latest firmware on it again?
 
Tried Realtek driver from Motherboard site as well but no luck so found today Realtek 6.08924.1 driver so far have left PC on with a game on and Spotify on background without issue so far. But will give couple of days before I call it as a victory as there ware a couple days before when audio was fine.
I updated back to beta bios released couple days ago.


Cant thank enough for taking time to help out with this. This is 1st time I experience PC issue I have no idea how to deal with it .
 
And the issue is back again.
At this stage I need call ghostbusters ,supernatural and priest with holy water to help my PC :D
 
mine would drop audio ramdomly in games then green screen and reboot. bad memory module was replaced and sound problem was corrected.
 
Ruddys said:
Curious how can soundcard in board break out of nowhere ? Maybe sound card did suicide due my music taste.
Click to expand...
Just like any other equipment it does not last for infinity so at one point it goes bad.
Soundcards does not posses any other special anti breaking trait that other equipment does not.
 
Alright small update in case someone gets same problem in the future.
Did fix issue randomly.
So removing front audio did not solve the issue . But after troubleshooting I did put PC back together and forgot to plug back in front USB ports and issue seems to be solved .Once I plug back front USB ports issues starts again.
So far have been using PC for 2 days without single issue so far. Hopefully did not damage other components in long run

Wanted to say thanks to all who invested time to try to help out .
 
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