Jump to content

Static and Scratching in Audio - Clean your heatsinks/fans/check block size


Terry Kelley

Recommended Posts

This might help someone fighting static and noise in audio.  This is on my HP 8560p Elitebook laptop with i5/16GB ram/dual SSD drives.

I've been fighting a situation where Cakewalk with audio tracks (several) would start off fine (noise free) but slowly start giving static/scratching noises during recording and playback. I might get 30 minutes before it started. I messed with just about everything possible. If you suggest something, I already tried it. :)

I was sitting here and noticed the fan was running at full speed. I loaded a CPU temperature app and the temps were very high. Hmmm. I pulled the bottom cover off and the processor heat-sink and air channels were full of dust. Some compressed air later and the fan is either off or at slow speed all the time and the static/scratching is gone. I've gone 8 hours with no noise. I believe the processor was slowing down from the heat or in technical terms "going goofy."

I know this might not be a typical problem for people but it's something to rule out if you are fighting the noise.

And anyone that knows of a theme that matches or is similar to the original Cakewalk for Windows from the Twelve Tone era I'd love to try it. I don't like the dark themes. 

AWATS

Edited by Awats
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great Advice! Check your fan!

This is one of the main reason for computer failures. I have rescued more than a handful from friends and family just degunking the dust build up.

It is probably the no. 1 cause for upgrading a computer and overheating leading to CPU failures.

Most don't realize that  dust builds up static and effects the very low voltage traces within a computer causing starting errors when left too long.

Clearing the dust should be part of anyone's maintenance schedule. Glad you brought it up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Bart Nettle said:

Most don't realize that  dust builds up static and effects the very low voltage traces within a computer causing starting errors when left too long.

 

I am not at all convinced that the "static" the OP describes has anything to do with static electricity. It seems likely that overheating was causing processing errors and dropouts. Most good motherboards these days have a way to set an alarm when the CPU and sometimes other components are out of range in temperature. That is not a substitute for good cooling hygiene, but it is probably a good idea in any case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, slartabartfast said:

I am not at all convinced that the "static" the OP describes has anything to do with static electricity. It seems likely that overheating was causing processing errors and dropouts. Most good motherboards these days have a way to set an alarm when the CPU and sometimes other components are out of range in temperature. That is not a substitute for good cooling hygiene, but it is probably a good idea in any case.

Yeah, I don't dispute that dust can cause issues on high speed traces with no coating but this was definitely heat related. Laptops are especially prone.

Edited by Awats
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Good advice to keep those notebook air vents clean. I forget to do it.

I don't know what the Twelve Tone era Cakewalk looked like, but as far as "light" themes go, head down to the Coffee House subforum and check out the "Boston Flowers" theme that Mariano just dropped. It's my new favorite light theme.

It was white everything with black or colored text/graphics. Very readable. I suspect the developers are using super bright monitors where the gray looks nearly white. :)Now if I was working in a dark room, I might prefer a darker theme so I don't get a sunburn but I work in a well lit studio. I'll check this out. Thanks!

If Sonar 8 had something light I never found it. Maybe I missed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, slartabartfast said:

I am not at all convinced that the "static" the OP describes has anything to do with static electricity. It seems likely that overheating was causing processing errors and dropouts. Most good motherboards these days have a way to set an alarm when the CPU and sometimes other components are out of range in temperature. That is not a substitute for good cooling hygiene, but it is probably a good idea in any case.

Yeah,  obviously not the OPs issue, totally a personal aside as a reaffirmation of  the OPs purpose in posting.

I thought it read that way

Sorry if you duplicated otherwise!

 

Edited by Bart Nettle
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

I wanted to add some addition information. This is more relevant to laptops as DAWs vs desktops with large fans.

Cleaning my heat sinks and fans on my laptop really helped keep the CPU from going into speed limitations but I would still get the occasional static and the temps would go north of 70C. But not all of the time. I was wondering if some setting was causing a problem with the CPU load since I mess with them a lot.

The issue was the block size for the interface. With small sizes to keep the latency down (like 32/64/128) the CPU could easily keep up but the cooling couldn’t. Raising the block size to 256 or larger dropped the temps 10C minimum. The cooling just couldn’t keep up with the demand on the CPU. I added a fan under the air inlet and it worked fine but that’s not practical. One thing that doesn’t help either is the ambient temperature in the room is nearly 80F (yeah, I’m mixing units.) When  it’s cooler here,  the CPU cooling can keep up better. CPU heatsink compound is fine and not the issue. I have set the fan to 100% and it’s just not enough. 128 is right on the edge but the delay forces me to kill the effects or look-ahead.

So at this point I just leave the block size at 256 and turn off all effects or look-ahead when I am recording. No noticeable delay on Midi and the CPU stays down in the 50C range. I have some pretty large midi/audio tracks and it keeps up fine.  

This laptop clearly isn’t the right tool for a DAW and someday I will go to something with cooling more in line with my needs. 😀 The laptop is an HP 8560p with an i5-2540M processor and 16gb of ram. The 8560p isn’t known for its excessive cooling! 😁

Awats

Edited by Awats
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Laptop was known for its heating dissipation issues. Im surprised there wasn't a class action lawsuit against HP. They came out in late 2010 at the height of the laptop craze. I had one similar to yours the over heating was so bad it would cause a graphics card failure and the screen would go black. The graphics card was placed in a horrible place in these early designs. It would get so hot, it would actually melt the solder joints.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I second the checking of fans. Also wipe down the blades, which often attract dust.

On a related topic, last night the fan on the NUC in my office was going non-stop. I had Studio One, LibreOffice, and Edge running. That wouldn't seem so terrible, right? First I closed Studio One, figuring that was probably taxing the CPU the heaviest. But it was having multiple docs open in LibreOffice, and multiple tabs on Edge, that were the culprits. I could hear the fan throttle down every time I closed another Edge tab or LibreOffice document. In Task Manager, I was pretty surprised by how heavily Edge taxed the system, but then again, so does Chrome...whacha gonna do... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One minor mod to an 8560p is to remove the RFI screen mesh over the bottom vents. Those restrict the air intake.  

I think at this point I am well outside the forums scope. Hopefully this information helps reinforce the need to clean fans and heatsink and the impact of block size on CPU temps. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interestingly I watched the clock speeds and the noise started before the clock showed a change but I assume it was a delayed readout.

For fun I swapped in an i7 and for the same temps I can drop the block to 64 but there is still too much delay so in the end it really didn’t solve the problem. The workaround is minor. Again, this isn’t the right machine for the job. But it’s fun trying!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...