Services/ Disable: Nvidia Stereoscopic 3D

Reboot

It could also be a resource conflict, such as the video card sharing the same IRQ with the sound card.

If you have a PCI sound card, perhaps switching slots would clear the problem - if yrag's suggestion doesn't help.

That'd likely be a first....

Hey.

There's always a first time. No one's perfect.

I was just chiming in from my own experiences.

Yrag, thanks for the suggestion... it sounded promising, but no luck, still crackling and popping. I'm using the boards integrated sound and it doesnt start acting up until I install the NVIDIA Driver, so I'm not sure. I was thinking of trying a dedicated soundcard.

What board are you using?

nforce 4 chipset? If so, go to Realtek and get the latest 64 bit sound card drivers.

It worked for me.

motherboard is a FoxConn, G33M (I think). The chipset is Intel G33 Express "Bearlake" (ICH9). That came stock with this Dell Vostro 200 Mini Tower. I never did install the Realtek audio drivers in this install, but I thought those were optional, and only if you wanted 5.1 sound. The last time I tried installing the 32-bit Realtek driver in Win 7 64-bit it didnt work out so well.

Realtek has a 64 bit version also

Realtek  drivers- http://tinyurl.com/4t4b7p

That's not the problem.

Control Panel/ System/ Advanced System Settings/ Hardware/ Device Installation Settings - check 'No'.

Turn off Windows Update Auto install.

Nvidia- http://tinyurl.com/kocrp7 download 186.18.

Uninstall 190.38. Reboot

Install: 186.18. Reboot

Open Windows Update, check for Updates and Hide Nvidia Update.

Change the Update and Auto installation back to their original settings. 

http://www.evga.com/precision/  Download (create an account) and install. You'll have to trust me on this one..... you'll like it. 

Yrags right about uninstalling 190.38, they suck.

I spent last weekend trying to repair the damage they did to my Vista Ultimate system. I was getting continual BSODs until I finally got them uninstalled.

I also agree on the EVGA precision control panel. I like to crank the fan up to the max to aid in cooling my card.

I wish I knew about this last weekend. I bet this one step would have saved me the trouble of getting rid of the nvcpl.dll missing error.

Alright, I rolled back the Nvidia driver to the older 186.18 version as suggested and then I managed to find a working Realtek driver for my onboard ALC888 HD Audio.

http://www.esoft.web.id/drivers/realtek-high-definition-audio-driver-2-20-now-compatible-windows-7.html

It took a little voodoo to find and install the Realtek driver, but its in now and i have 5.1 sound. It's definitley a whole lot better sounding, but i'm not sure if the pop is totally gone. If it isn't its definitley much better. I'll have to use it for a while to know for sure. One weird thing about this is Windows Update.. It never suggests any updates for this card as it did with my older card.

Try a BIOs update? See if you can force IRQs to change in the BIOS.

Try a BIOS update? See if you can force IRQs to change in the BIOS.

Drat, its a very subtle case, but its still there. Every once and a while, the sound will stutter. I ordered a dedicated sound card from newegg and when it comes on Teusday I will disable the built-in sound and try it in both PCI slots. if that doesnt clear it up I will try a BIOS upgrade. I'm not seeing any conflicts in the IRQ but I'm not an expert in it. This is what it looks like in the device manager.