Lag and popping from speakers when audio begins to play

I have recently purchase an Aspire A515-51G with Intel i5-8250U, NVIDIA MX150, 8 GB DDR4, 256 GB SSD.

I have noticed that whenever I begin to play audio, either through the speakers or headphones, right when the audio begins to play there is a slight delay followed by a short, loud popping noise, then the audio begins to play normally. It is the same issue mentioned here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/Popping-short-noise-through-headphone-before-play-any-sound/td-p/5388740, but the given solution does not work for me. It is believed that the sound card shuts itself down after 10-20 seconds with no use, so the lag and popping noise are the result of the sound card starting up again.

Any help or thoughts on this issue would be appreciated.

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IronFly

first thing to try is a BIOS update but first check your installed version:
windows logo key + r
type
msinfo32
read BIOS date/version string

if it's lower than 1.10, please update it
https://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Acer_1.10_A_A.zip?acerid=636427794988817042&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE A515-51G&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

unzip and run the exe with battery at 100% and AC charger connected

kquillin34

> @IronFly said:
> first thing to try is a BIOS update but first check your installed version:
> windows logo key + r
> type
> msinfo32
> read BIOS date/version string
>
> if it's lower than 1.10, please update it
> https://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Acer_1.10_A_A.zip?acerid=636427794988817042&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE A515-51G&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6
>
> unzip and run the exe with battery at 100% and AC charger connected

My BIOS was indeed out of date, so I installed the update. However, the delay and popping noise still occurs when the audio begins to play. Somehow I need to turn off power management for the Realtek sound card. Other users have been able to do this with a registry change or changing the setting in Realtek Audio Manager, but none of these solutions have worked for me

IronFly

can you check if it pops even with the wifi turned Off? (airplane mode)

kquillin34

Yes, the popping still occurs in airplane mode

IronFly

tried to update Realtek drivers using the latest from Realtek website?
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsCheck.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

you can also try to set windows power plan to high performance and check but i doubt it will fix it.
have you checked if CPU or HDD is at 100% when hearing the pops?
press left ctrl+shift+esc keys, on task manager click on More details and then on Performance tab.

JackE

>>> It is believed that the sound card shuts itself down after 10-20 seconds with no use, so the lag and popping noise are the result of the sound card starting up again.>>>

I agree with this. This seems common for audio amps and preamps in general. A power spike can happen with the amp turning both on & off. My solution is either mute the speakers or delay putting my headphones on to save what's left of my hearing till I know the spike has passed as its timing is always the same and quite predictable on my system. Jack E/NJ

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