I bought a G56JR and I'm having problems with the sound

[zpedro]

Hi,

So first of all I know that the G56JR is not a much liked machine around here because it's a new pc with an old gpu but let's get that out of the way. I was looking for a N550JK/JV but for the price I got my G56JR it was worth it for my needs. 😛

So I got the G56JR and immediately I had to have it replace at the store because it wouldn't recognize any speakers.

The unit was swapped and this one has a slight problem in the sound.

Whenever I play youtube videos, play music from spotify or play a movie (so it's not related only with streaming) on my G56, from time to time and randomly the sound sort of stops for milliseconds. Think of it like a cd you are playing on a cd player and you bump the player. The sound will somewhat stutter.

What should I do? Maybe install the sound drivers? I did nothing besides windows update until now...

Do any of you had any sound related problems before? Is it a thing on these G56?

Thank you in advance

[theclaw37]

The stutters are probably from hardware interrupts. Try going to playback devices -> click properties on your current playback device -> Enhancements -> Disable all sound effects. See if this fixes it.

[zpedro]

theclaw37 wrote:
The stutters are probably from hardware interrupts. Try going to playback devices -> click properties on your current playback device -> Enhancements -> Disable all sound effects. See if this fixes it.

Thank you for you input but all enhancements already seem to be disabled...any other idea?

[theclaw37]

Try uninstalling the audio driver from Realtek and use the default one from Microsoft. Check if the MS driver does the same thing.

[zpedro]

So this is what actually happens:

http://youtu.be/OhM0ynhD3l4

Should I try what you said anyway?

Is it just me or the video also freezes?? =S

[theclaw37]

Yes, try that. You can reinstall audio drivers from the asus website after that no problem. Also, install all the latest drivers from gpu etc. I'm 80% sure this is a CPU load problem. Probably some hw interrupts (a lot of them) are taking priority over the audio. (Audio service is pretty low on priority in Windows).

[zpedro]

I uninstalled the realtek sound driver. The problem persist.

I've since reintalled it, and also nvidia, intel gpu, wireless adapter and chipset drivers.

The problem is still there... =/

Any other thoughts? Doesn't anybody else has this laptop so I can know if I'm the only one getting this problem?

[hmscott]

zpedro wrote:
I uninstalled the realtek sound driver. The problem persist.

I've since reintalled it, and also nvidia, intel gpu, wireless adapter and chipset drivers.

The problem is still there... =/

Any other thoughts? Doesn't anybody else has this laptop so I can know if I'm the only one getting this problem?

Outside chance, but it has solved lag/stutters before.

quiethdd disables APM - head parking during streaming causes lag.
https://sites.google.com/site/quiethdd/

Put this in the quiethdd.ini

FirstRun = 0
AC_APM_Value = 255
DC_APM_Value = 255
AC_AAM_Value = 254
DC_AAM_Value = 254
AAMEnabled = 1
APMEnabled = 1

It looks like the G56R download site has the Realtek V6.0.1.7161 driver, there is a newer one here:

Latest Audio drivers for Asus Laptops
Here is the latest Notebook Audio - for G750 => Realtek driver package Version V6.0.1.7224
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Audio&os=30

[zpedro]

So I got my G56 replaced and this new one has the same problem which leads me to believe this a model issue... =/

The QuietHDD that you mention seems to fix a clicking related to the hdd itself. My case seems to be a software related issue and not an hardware one.

I'll try installing the drivers you mentioned from G750 but before I do so, is it cool to switch drivers from one model to another just like that?

[hmscott]

zpedro wrote:
So I got my G56 replaced and this new one has the same problem which leads me to believe this a model issue... =/

The QuietHDD that you mention seems to fix a clicking related to the hdd itself. My case seems to be a software related issue and not an hardware one.

I'll try installing the drivers you mentioned from G750 but before I do so, is it cool to switch drivers from one model to another just like that?

zpedro, cool, the clicks were head "parking", which causes a delay when the next disk request comes in - so it got rid of that lag - too bad it wasn't the cause of the stuttering in the audio. Streaming can cache/buffer to the disk and QuietHDD gets rid of delay there.

Are you streaming video over wifi or ethernet? If wifi, you might want briefly hook up with ethernet and see if the stuttering stops.

Your G56R has a download area:
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&m=G56JR&hashedid=tCZDiOYKS1xofh85

Those files are likely the same ones you already have installed, but you can use the list of files there, along with what shows up in Programs and Features to find out what drivers/packages/apps you can update - compare the version installed with what is in the G56JR download area, the G750JM/JS/JZ download areas, along with these central Notebook driver repositories:

G750 support areas - The JM download area has the latest of all the G750, with JS/JZ next:
http://support.asus.com/Search.aspx?SLanguage=en&keyword=g750&ps=10&pn=1

Here is the latest Notebook Audio - for G750 and G56JR => Realtek driver package Version V6.0.1.7235
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Audio&os=30

Here are the latest Notebook Bluetooth drivers
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Bluetooth&p=3&ft=27&os=30

Here are the latest Notebook WLAN drivers
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=WLAN&os=3

Here are the latest Notebook LAN drivers
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&s=589&m=LAN&os=&hashedid=n%2fa

Here are the Asus posted VGA drivers, the G56JR may only allow install of the ones in the G56JR download area until Nvidia's next release
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=VGA&p=3&s=111

You might as well update whatever drivers you have that have updates, and in case you are getting stutter on Wifi, updating your Wifi / BT drivers are a good idea too.

Let us know if the updates fix the problem 🙂