I Fixed My iTunes “Choppy Audio” Problem
Intro
First of all, I want to say that I’m not exactly sure how I fixed this problem. What I do know is that I did fix it. With that being said, let us continue.
Previously, I was unable to use iTunes while browsing the Internet (or using other programs) without the audio output being extremely choppy. As soon as I would click on a link, the audio would immediately begin to get choppy. I was incensed by the fact that there is no reason for this to be happening. I have an AMD Phenom 64 Quad-Core processor and 3 GB of RAM running Windows Vista Home Premium. iTunes should have no problems.
At this point I should probably clarify that I cannot say that I don’t have any idea, whatsoever, of how I fixed the problem. What I’ll do now is give a list of the things that I did in an attempt to solve it.
Something in this list fixed the problem, though I’m not sure exactly what.
The List
First, I went into Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services and disabled the following services…
- Windows Firewall – I already have a firewall running (COMODO Pro), and I figured it was using unnecessary resources.
- Windows Defender – I already have anti-spyware and anti-virus protection running. Again, a redundancy.
- Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger – I don’t use this feature.
I also made the following modifications to the BIOS. Here’s the list…
Under the “Advanced Chipset Features” menu:
- Set “PCIe Spread Spectrum” to Disabled.
- Set “SATA Spread Spectrum” to Disabled.
- Set “HT Spread Spectrum” to Disabled.
Here’s a link explaining what exactly “Spread Spectrum” means.
I also set the “OS Select For DRAM > 64MB” to “OS/2,” as opposed to “Non-OS/2.”
Conclusion
So if anyone out there reading this has any more technical information as to what, specifically, in this list fixed the problem I was having, I (as well as a great many other people) would greatly appreciate some elaboration. I’d also found that people all over the net have been having this same problem – with no resolution to speak of.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got.
Read a book. It’s good for you.
Update As Of 3/28/2009
I spoke too soon. This worked for a few days, but my iTunes is back to being choppy. This is insanely frustrating. And there’s no help from Apple on this.
Update As Of 4/2/2009
Ok, so I fiddled with some more BIOS settings and the choppy audio is gone again. I set “HD Audio” to “Disabled,” along with a few other things. Turned all the Spread Spectrum settings back on. So apparently they didn’t have anything to do with this problem.
So far, so good. No choppy audio.
I don’t know what’s going on, but this is driving me up a wall. If the audio gets choppy again, I think I’m going to lose it. Maybe the only way to fix this problem is to continually fiddle with BIOS settings?
Another thing that helps is to restart the computer when the audio starts getting choppy. I don’t know if that says anything about what’s wrong?
Update As Of 6/6/2009
Simply restarting the computer when the audio becomes choppy seems to work. Maybe scratch all that other stuff??
I’m having the exact same problem – choppy audio/static when I browse the Internet. It happens with iTunes as well as foobar2000. I haven’t tried any bios changes yet but it looks like a good place to start!
Yeah I have the exact same problem too, and same here restart temporarily clears it up, Im running vista ultimate with quad 2.66 and gig ram wtf?
How long does it clear up for? And do you use MySpace? I’ve discovered that it usually happens after using MySpace (another reason I only use Facebook now). Might have something to do with all of the flash and other scripts running on there, interfering with iTunes?
it seems to only clear up for about half a day or so, I don’t really go on myspace that often but do check it now and then, maybe ill have to try that, also I found on my computer its not only itunes, windows media player does it too. Let me know if yours does.
After trying every fix under the sun I finally fixed this problem by restarting the “ipod service” and the “apple mobile device service” from the task manager. I just closed iTunes when it started to act up, then used the task manager to end these two processes and restarted iTunes (which, in turn, restarted the processes). Not sure why this worked, but hopefully it will work with your systems as well… If it does, then it might be possible to disable these processes entirely if you don’t use an ipod or iphone. Cheers.
yeah it seems dell has fixed my computer from this problem by uninstalling all the sound drivers and installing the latest ones. I hope im not speaking too soon, but its been about a week now
I too been having this problem ever since I used my free Dell Vista upgrade from XP back in 2007. I notice it happens mostly with iTunes. Starts out fine and as time goes on it get worse and worse, especially when I’m listening to iTunes and start downloading torrents or youtube videos. I researched this problem constantly and most common solution seems to be to uninstall the “high def audio device” drivers that automatically download and install and instead install the latest Sigma Tel audio drivers from the Dell support page. However now of them will install properly and I have no reason not to believe that’s the type of audio device I have in my pc (A Dimension E521). Still, I read stories stating even THAT doesn’t fix the problem. It’s been more than frustrating that this problem has yet to be fixed and one of the reasons why I will not buy a dell ever again.
I wanted to ask you a question though. Did Dell install the correct drivers for you free of charge and if so where they able to without deleting everything on your pc? I ask because I have 1 year left on my warranty and if this will actually solve this problem once and for all I might as well go for it.
And just so you know I too have AMD Athlon X2 64 processor (4200+ 2.2 ghz). I also have a Nvidia 9600GT which I upgraded to from the 7300 LE that came with the system, a 550W peak PC Power and Colling PSU which I upgraded from the 301W and 3gb memory, so the problem as far as I can tell is neither a power, memory, or graphics problem.