Weird sound/interference when scrolling

[Rk1012]

When I'm on Firefox and scroll down the page, I'll hear a weird crackly interference noise. Does anybody know what could be causing this? I have tried plugging headphones into the front and back ports on my PC and the problem occurs with both.

Motherboard ASUS® Z97M-PLUS: m-ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6.0, XFIRE
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just purely speculative here, but if you plug the mouse into another usb port does it still happen?

 

[Rk1012]

Just purely speculative here, but if you plug the mouse into another usb port does it still happen?

The problem persists if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into the front of the PC

 

[SpyderTracks]

The problem persists if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into the front of the PC

Ok, was ruling out if it was perhaps a grounding issue with the mouse. Which headphones do you have?

 

[Rk1012]

Ok, was ruling out if it was perhaps a grounding issue with the mouse. Which headphones do you have?

Just standard iPod headphones. What's a grounding issue?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just standard iPod headphones. What's a grounding issue?

Electronics tend to use a ground to prevent buildup of static (and other reasons). That's putting it as cleverly as I know if there's a part of the circuit that's not grounded sufficiently then the static buildup could cause excess noise. If you're lucky, by trying things in different ports can sometimes identify a specific port as causing the issue, but sometimes it is down to a sub par sound card.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_(electricity)

Guess the only other thing to try is with another pair of headphones, see if the issue is still there.

 

[Rk1012]

Electronics tend to use a ground to prevent buildup of static (and other reasons). That's putting it as cleverly as I know if there's a part of the circuit that's not grounded sufficiently then the static buildup could cause excess noise. If you're lucky, by trying things in different ports can sometimes identify a specific port as causing the issue, but sometimes it is down to a sub par sound card.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_(electricity)

Guess the only other thing to try is with another pair of headphones, see if the issue is still there.

Oh okay. I've tried with multiple pairs of headphones and still have the same issue. Is there anything else that could be causuing it, or could anything else be causing a grounding issue?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Oh okay. I've tried with multiple pairs of headphones and still have the same issue. Is there anything else that could be causuing it, or could anything else be causing a grounding issue?

Try uninstalling and reinstalling the latest audio drivers. They're Version 6.0.1.7255 from here:
http://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/45/6/10/30/

 

[Rk1012]

Bump

 

[steaky360]

Bump

Did you follow spiders advice above?

 

[LFFPicard]

Silly suggestion/question but have you tried some speakers? If so is it noticeable then as well, if it not put the volume right up and try again. It may sound really silly even though you said you have tried multiple headphones but not specified what ones. So if they are all the same make i.e. all iPhone headphones it could just be those headphones so try normal PC headphones or any other pair if you have them.

 

[nathanjrb]

I used to get this issue occasionally with my speakers. When I scrolled the speakers would buzz. I never really found out what the issue was... it was a little strange. I reckon some kind of interference with the certain 'signal' from the mouse, but no idea what!

 

[Rk1012]

Silly suggestion/question but have you tried some speakers? If so is it noticeable then as well, if it not put the volume right up and try again. It may sound really silly even though you said you have tried multiple headphones but not specified what ones. So if they are all the same make i.e. all iPhone headphones it could just be those headphones so try normal PC headphones or any other pair if you have them.

I've tried Sony and iPhone headphones and a Plantronics headset. The sound does not occur with my speakers when they are plugged into the back of my PC (the green audio port).

 

[Rk1012]

Did you follow spiders advice above?

Yes, didn't help

 

[nathanjrb]

Please try having a look here for a little more information that may help enlighten:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/122110/noise-while-scrolling-etc/

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=39182

What you're seeing - hearing, even - is a combination of interrupts and power surges.

You move the mouse and the port pulls an interrupt - The user wants something to happen RIGHT NOW. The CPU must then jump into activity and service this interrupt (that causes a power surge), then the video card, handling the hardware pointer and the display, does the same.

The power surge out of the PSU means that the PSU's other rails jump a tiny bit. A short, instantaneous, load out of one rail of an SMPS means the voltages of the other rails rise for that instant. That's just the nature of the beast.

That tiny voltage spike then affects your sound DAC, causing a series of rapid clicks which can be heard as a drone or a buzz.

Hard disks can do the same, as can any I/O task performed at low CPU use. If you load your CPU first with some background task (e.g. Prime95), the noise goes away, since the CPU never transitions rapidly from low power to high power.

I find it mostly affects add-in sound cards and not often onboard sound, since onboard sound has a cleaner connection to power planes.

 

[nathanjrb]

This one seems to have found a solution: