How can I test the soundcard?

I am having some strange audio issues with KODI lately. I will start watching something and the audio will buzz or pop slightly to begin with then start looping and eventually freeze everything. I will then have to force close KODI via task mgr in order to get out of it. I have checked my GPU and my temps are all ok. Is there some way i can test the soundcard so I will know if its my laptop or the software that has the issue?

 

You can always run the built in diagnostics, but if you are only experiencing the problem with a specific app, then I think it's safe to assume that that particular app is the issue. I'm not familiar with that app, but I did use XBMC for a while. Maybe there's an issue with the codec support. Perhaps try installing a codec package like K-lite?

 

thanks for the suggestion ,, I tried installing the K-Lite basic package (it didn't give an option for KODI just media player , VLC or other),,picked other. Unfortunately it didn't work,,in fact it actually was worse the next time I tried playing a KODI episode right after,, although that could just have been coincidence. Played Dead Space 2 last night for hours with no issues whatsoever so going to have to go over to the KODI forums I think and see if someone on them may have an idea or know how to update the audio files for that app ,,, cheers anyway

 

Beginning to think that this a Hardware issue and I think it may be related to Windows 10. I installed the demo today for FIFA 17 and for the first time in a game or other application I experienced the issue (not as sever tho). When I first installed the demo it noticed that my Nvidia drivers where not up to date, so it redirected me to the Nvidia website where I then installed the new updated driver (these drivers are designed for windows 10),,, when I first played the game I noticed a crackling sound in the background whilst the music intro was playing,, and in game on 2 or 3 occasions there was a slight buzzing for a sec,,,other than that tho the game play was smooth and unaffected.

I have got nowhere with KODI support as I use 3rd party addons/build which they do not support so any correspondence on their forum meets with my threads just being closed.

I have been talking on twitter with Alienware Support and have so far been given various stress tests and monitoring software to try find whats causing it. So far every test has passed and all temps are fine. They have asked me tonight to try uninstalling and clean installing the Nvidia and Intel graphics drivers. However when I go onto the link they give me to the Dell website it states that there are no drivers supported for windows 10. Beginning to wish I had never upgraded to windows 10. If tho I went back to windows 8 then I guess newer games like FIFA 17 wouldn't be compatible as it clearly required the latest up to date Nvidia driver which is 10 based?

Here is an example of what I am getting when playing video through KODI in case anyone has come across similar

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154464636454898

 

You can get a utility that will download the latest Intel Graphics drivers here: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html
You can get the latest Nvidia drivers from their web site. They have always worked for me. Note there is a sound component to the Nvidia driver - that might fix your problem (or it might be the problem) - you can try with and without.
Good luck,

joe

 

I downloaded the latest drivers from Nvidia but how do you try the sound component part ?