Microphone Stutters (somtimes doesnt capture)

wookiebandit

New Member
This issue is a bit difficult to describe:

Mic stutters while in-game
- when out of game, no problem
- Once the game loads in, my mic goes to shit
- happens while game is full screen, borderless, windowed
- when alt-tabbed, its fixed
- when in game - it stutters
heres a link to the problem, i can post OBS settings if needed

its also sporadic, sometimes it starts working while in game
sometimes when i alt tab back and fourth enough, it works...

i have updated drivers, applications, turned off antivirus, set priority, launch as admin


Microphone - Blue yeti
Recording - No problems, both game audio and microphone are captured fine

While Streaming
Apps Open - OBS - Discord talking with friends - Game

This was only happening with evil dead but now occurs with Tarkov as well

3700x
3080

Please help :)
 

Kraezy

Member
Is this happening on Discord (I assume it's discord you're using) or which ever comms software you're using?
Could be local to the comms software?
Try a solo recording test, see if mic still has issues

Check if Windows has allowed control of your mic to APPs you don't use
Settings > Privacy > Microphone

Turn off access to everything you don't use.

Check you're using the same Format (Sample Rate) in Advance Audio Tab in OBS as you are using in your MIC's Windows Advanced Audio Properties.
I.e 48khz / 44khz

Sound issues can also be due to DPC latency issues.
Download LatencyMon

Run it whilst IDLE for a few mins whilst doing NOTHING,
If all OK, keep it running again in the background whilst running applications/games
If you see any major (red spiking) one of your drivers is causing a Latency issue , hence the dropouts

Up to date drivers don't always necessarily mean the "best" for your system.
 

wookiebandit

New Member
Is this happening on Discord (I assume it's discord you're using) or which ever comms software you're using?
- Yes, friends cant hear me, it also happens with the in-game mic
- Once it starts happening, turning disc off doesnt help but then suddenly fixes itself
- The one thing i havnt isolated and explicitly tested is if this occurs while streaming with discord open or if it would happen while streaming anyway, however there have been full 4-5 hour streams not on disc and it doesnt happen when i re-watch the videos


Could be local to the comms software?
Try a solo recording test, see if mic still has issues

Check if Windows has allowed control of your mic to APPs you don't use
Settings > Privacy > Microphone
- All are turned off, i did this a few weeks back.

Turn off access to everything you don't use.

Check you're using the same Format (Sample Rate) in Advance Audio Tab in OBS as you are using in your MIC's Windows Advanced Audio Properties.
I.e 48khz / 44khz
- HZ is the same in OBS and within Mic settings

Sound issues can also be due to DPC latency issues.
Download LatencyMon
- Just downloaded, thank you


Run it whilst IDLE for a few mins whilst doing NOTHING,
If all OK, keep it running again in the background whilst running applications/games
If you see any major (red spiking) one of your drivers is causing a Latency issue , hence the dropouts
- Awesome, thank you, doing that now and will run after a restart :)

Up to date drivers don't always necessarily mean the "best" for your system.
 

wookiebandit

New Member
Edits: Found i did have out of date bios/audio drivers and i changed those
Latmon has definitely given me some guidance

"
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. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
"

Ill look into bios settings for the above, should i post other results from Drivers/CPU tab?
 

wookiebandit

New Member
1660148442219.png
 

wookiebandit

New Member
DPC Count for Nvidia is insane... no?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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. 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 1:19:45 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: BRADPC
OS version: Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19044 (x64)
Hardware: System Product Name, System manufacturer
BIOS: 6042
CPU: AuthenticAMD AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor
Logical processors: 16
Processor groups: 1
Processor group size: 16
RAM: 32676 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed (WMI): 4051 MHz
Reported CPU speed (registry): 4050 MHz

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.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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): 3121.80
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 6.985346

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 3118.60
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 3.816995


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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): 113.209877
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.000907
Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.001401

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 1020484
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
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): 3138.009877
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 516.59 , NVIDIA Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.031247
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 516.59 , NVIDIA Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.084830

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 6837446
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 6741
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 169
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 14
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 207.518666
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 113.209877
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.890251
CPU 0 ISR count: 700519
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3138.009877
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 60.225231
CPU 0 DPC count: 5788058
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.792321
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 22.430123
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.055387
CPU 1 ISR count: 57823
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 192.050123
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.989516
CPU 1 DPC count: 68032
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.799696
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 14.790123
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005356
CPU 2 ISR count: 3551
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 553.669877
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.836740
CPU 2 DPC count: 148711
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.912825
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 5.909877
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000152
CPU 3 ISR count: 93
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 311.180
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.329824
CPU 3 DPC count: 109742
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.525898
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 89.560
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.153460
CPU 4 DPC count: 52522
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 7.946873
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 83.189877
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.020685
CPU 5 DPC count: 6837
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.145399
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 315.220
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.363898
CPU 6 DPC count: 92360
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.149952
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 295.020
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.307595
CPU 7 DPC count: 86156
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.541754
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR count: 0
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 307.169877
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.592933
CPU 8 DPC count: 190782
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 11.329339
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR count: 0
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 105.540
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.402405
CPU 9 DPC count: 127509
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 11.246680
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 10 ISR count: 0
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 305.669877
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.162109
CPU 10 DPC count: 41936
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.555199
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR count: 0
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 73.060
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.055192
CPU 11 DPC count: 17975
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 12 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.625969
CPU 12 ISR highest execution time (µs): 27.180
CPU 12 ISR total execution time (s): 0.108465
CPU 12 ISR count: 237059
CPU 12 DPC highest execution time (µs): 97.280
CPU 12 DPC total execution time (s): 0.246777
CPU 12 DPC count: 66202
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 13 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.364702
CPU 13 ISR highest execution time (µs): 3.760
CPU 13 ISR total execution time (s): 0.002717
CPU 13 ISR count: 4774
CPU 13 DPC highest execution time (µs): 90.860
CPU 13 DPC total execution time (s): 0.033761
CPU 13 DPC count: 8600
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 14 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.573545
CPU 14 ISR highest execution time (µs): 3.989877
CPU 14 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005248
CPU 14 ISR count: 7896
CPU 14 DPC highest execution time (µs): 123.770123
CPU 14 DPC total execution time (s): 0.151768
CPU 14 DPC count: 27742
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 15 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.315609
CPU 15 ISR highest execution time (µs): 12.270123
CPU 15 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005380
CPU 15 ISR count: 8769
CPU 15 DPC highest execution time (µs): 80.249877
CPU 15 DPC total execution time (s): 0.077412
CPU 15 DPC count: 11206
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 

Kraezy

Member
Hi there,

Looks like you've isolated your issue to those 2 dependencies

Assuming you're on the latest NVIDIA drivers, some of the older drivers are actually a lot better in terms of latency.
Though what fixed my issue with my nvidia card and dpc spikes was to go onto the latest driver but ensure you're running max performance in nvidia control (power management) and ensure the card is running under Message Signal-Based Interrupts (MSI)

See link.

WDF0100.sys is a handle for numerous drivers , I'd check all your peripherals are up to date inc . network drivers etc.
Though this may resolve itself if you rectify your NVIDIA driver spikes first.
 

wookiebandit

New Member
Im at a loss @Kraezy
Iv done both the above, unless i am mising something my Nvidia was already set as MSI
Im not familiar with these things but i have alot of negative IRQ values but im a bit over myhead at this point

1660155819643.png


I did change it to max performance so that was different. Had some startup tasks i disabled, disabled other audio devices that werent being used...
 

wookiebandit

New Member
Edit: the change was closing nvidia gforce experience...
Im not going to celebrate but it ususally goes to shit around the 2.min mark and were doing much better right now

1660156827332.png
 

wookiebandit

New Member
Were on the 5th restart... i closed some startup apps, nvidia control panel and safe to say i have no idea.
Time to see if this fixes OBS issue
Streaming + Discord
 

Kraezy

Member
Sorry, was spending time with the family.

Fingers crossed.

I'm not going to say it's GFE either but I would normally always recommend to NOT rely on or even use GFE (basic optimisation should be done by the end user)
Strange as I've not seen any reports of GFE causing DPC spikes but PC's are PC's, can be the oddest thing that's causing the issue.

Im at a loss @Kraezy
Iv done both the above, unless i am mising something my Nvidia was already set as MSI
Im not familiar with these things but i have alot of negative IRQ values but im a bit over myhead at this point

View attachment 85455

I did change it to max performance so that was different. Had some startup tasks i disabled, disabled other audio devices that werent being used...

Most modern cards 20x/30x > usually have MSI pre-ticked, it's just a guide to ensure it IS ticked, so nothing to worry about there.

Negative IRQ's are fine, they are just placeholders for the request lanes. The only time you would need to worry is if you see an IRQ lane number being used twice by two different sources.
 
Last edited:

wookiebandit

New Member
All Great information to have.
i had it running for the last hour (no stream but i had discord open, recording and playing)

No Red flag so numbers are good so we have definitely made some improvements

1660163685085.png


Once streaming tomorrow i will be able to know if this really did anything :P

1660163715151.png


appreciate all of the help.
 

wookiebandit

New Member
So, found out that its not when i am just streaming. Could be a hardware limit i suppose?
Started happening while doing an OBS recording, in disc my buddy was mentioning that i was choppy.
Left the Latencymon running all night and it had alot of flags. the big one are the nvidia and graphics, they hit DPC of up to 11ms!

iv now re-installed my nvidia graphics, uninstalled gforce experience as a whole and will try that

Driver file Description ISR count DPC count Highest execution (ms) Total execution (ms) Image base Image size Company Product Version Path
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
nvlddmkm.sys NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 516.94 0 24889426 11.592220 181781.443101 0xFFFFF806'60680000 44752896 NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 516.94 31.0.15.1694
dxgkrnl.sys DirectX Graphics Kernel 0 20083256 10.754520 183551.532466 0xFFFFF806'56400000 3842048 Microsoft Corporation Microsoft® Windows® Operating System 10.0.19041.1865
 

wookiebandit

New Member
1660230966195.png


Nvidia is lower

1660231163653.png


I cant imagine some of the window stuff is influencable.
all of the power settings are to high performance now, no limtits, also did an AMD/Asus auto overlock and all of the stats around that showed i could bring up the CPU clock to around 4.05 (3700x).
No windows auto update
No gamebar turned on
 

Kraezy

Member
Yeah unfortunately, I'm not the goto guy for LatencyMon
Like I said before I made sure my GPU was in MSI mode and tried several different Nvidia drivers and this cured my issues.
One thing I did different that time around also, was when reinstalling windows (which I do every 3-4 months) , I used to ALWAYS install my drivers manually (i.e unplug ethernet and use Mobo site drivers)
This time around, I left the Ethernet cable in and let Windows do it's thing, this in conjunction with the MSI mode / Nvidia driver change results in the below.

latencymon.png
I do know of a friend whom had the same issue and he managed to resolve both his ingame stuttering / audio dropouts with this video.
Take from it what you will and use it if you wish but can't say it'll directly resolve your issue.

 

wookiebandit

New Member
So! Issue is completely resolved.
I said fuck it at one point, reinstalled windows and decided to change my MOBO and go from ryzen to intel (for gaming reasons)
Anyway, on re-install. No problem... then! THEN!

I install my LOGITECH Ghub, oh boy did i install GHub...
well, Ghub is fine, but in my SETTINGS! In those lovely, beautiful settings nvidia has a new config partnered with blue microphones called Nvidia broadcast,

I turned it on, on tuesday. within minutes my friend confirms that radio brad is back but this time. THIS TIME I KNEW WHAT IT WAS!

turned that shit off and no more probem

TLDR: Nvidia broadcast was interfearing with my microphone, im not sure why but that was the root cause of the above problems.
 
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