[Solved] New Laptop - audio dropouts

How I Solved This Issue

My original post is below, but in case you’re reading this to find out how I solved the problem, I’ve inserted this edit to list all the changes I made:-

1. Created my own power plan by cloning the High Performance Plan and then modifying it so that (a) it never switches the laptop off/sleeps, (b) the disc never sleeps when connected to the mains.
2. Used the Device Manager to switch off  “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” on all USB hubs (right click on each hub > Properties > Power Management)
3. Used the Device Manager to disable:-
   1. The onboard soundcard (Realtek)
   2. The Ethernet (Realtek PCIe GBE)
   3. Microsoft ACPI – Compliant Control Method Battery
   4. All Bluetooth devices (I don’t use them)
   5. High Definition Audio Controller (under System devices)

I found using Latency Monitor especially helpful to find the problem areas.  There are other ideas you can try.  The following, that I found along the way, was the most straightforward guide, containing the above and more:-
https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/209571729-Windows-Tuning-Tips-for-Audio-Processing
I am extremely grateful to everyone who contributed to the solution, but I feel I should make a special mention of Geoff (gswitz) who went to the trouble of making a YouTube video!  You can find it here:-
https://youtu.be/eOVuzOja-yE
 
This concludes the edit I made after I was happy I’d found the solution; the following is the original post:-
 
 ______________________________________________________________

 ORIGINAL POST

My previous laptop (3rd gen i7 4-core) crashed and burned after 3 years use but it didn't have much of a problem with Sonar X3 through to Platinum.  My new laptop has a 7th gen i7 2-core and I was expecting great things but I'm just getting audio dropouts.  Most recently I was recording a sermon at church (so 1 audio channel - that's it) and there was an audio dropout halfway through so I lost the recording.  It was also accompanied by an insufficient memory message which makes no sense since I have 8GB of RAM.
With the new laptop I have tried to keep things simple so have removed bloatware and only installed Sonar Platinum (Feb 2017) with NI Komplete 9U.

Things I have tried so far:-

Most up to date driver for soundcard (Cakewalk/Roland UA-25EX)
  -  Couldn't do anything with this because Roland website only tells you that Win10 does this automatically, no file is available to download
Set Power Option to High Performance
 -  Actually, I modified it so it the laptop does not sleep
Set Power Option to High Performance
 -  Actually, I modified it so it the laptop does not sleep
Disabled Wi-Fi
 -  This was all I had to do on my old laptop.
Disabled Bluetooth
  -  Don't use it, but Cakewalk Windows Optimisation Guidelines (CWOG) recommended it so I did it
Disabled Power Management for USB Root Hubs
  -  At home I use a USB hub connected to USB 3 port.  This means there are 8 hubs to disable on device manager every time I use Sonar.  I was not using the hub for the dropout at church.  
Removed as much as possible from Windows Startup

Things I have NOT tried:-

BIOS Changes
  -  I don't feel sufficiently knowledgeable and I'm afraid something could go wrong
Raised a support call with Cakewalk
  -  Thought I'd try you guys first and I heard the support section is struggling with staffing at the moment
Exclude audio drives from search indexing
  -  Don't understand what this is (CWOG recommended it)
Disable anti-virus
  -  The wifi is disabled so how can this have an effect (I use Avast Free btw)?
Changed Preferences in Sonar
 
  -  I did change the ASIO latency at one point but it made little difference so I'm just using the settings that default for the UA-25EX.  Cakewalk did recommend using a "Wave Profiler" in something I read, but it's not where they said it was.
 
Now I'm getting concerned that every time I want to use Sonar I'm going to have to do about 10 different actions first.  This laptop is way above the minimum spec., so I can't understand why things are not "working out of the box".  Please don't tell me I should be using a desktop machine because (a) it's not an option, (b) I refuse to accept that Sonar Platinum won't work on a standard laptop, and (c) I understood that Sonar Platinum had been getting more and more efficient with resources.  Surely there must be something simple I've missed?  Please help!

There are a few things left to try, but most importantly, download resplendent latency monitor and it will show the dll that is messing you up.

Things I can think of now include turning off power saving on the network card by opening it from device manager and choosing properties.

It may be necessary to disable the battery charger, but latency monitor will answer that.

I am not sure what your ASIO Buffer Size is set to - but that might be an issue, if too small for example.  I COULD set mine down to 32 samples, but I usually leave it set to 129, because that is a pretty easy balance between latency and how hard the CPU has to work.
 
Additionally, please list every plugin your project had loaded into it - when you were recording your church service.  IF you use effects that are meant to be used in mixing, rather than in recording/tracking, such as any that use something called 'Look-Ahead Processing'.  Convoluted Reverb plugins tend to use that, and I believe Boost 11 is another one that may add a bunch of latency.
 
So, if you list all the effects plugins for that project, I would be happy to look them over and post back any thoughts I have on particular ones. (you could perhaps swap latency-inducing ones out for less consumptive ones until you finished your tracking/recording, and then swap them back in and bump your ASIO Buffer Size WAY up when you move on to mixing - then things like convoluted reverb plugins will function just fine - due to the increased buffer size.)
 
Also, you could take that project and try to temporarily BYPASS all of the effects - to very quickly see if that helps get rid of latency issues and audio problems.  To do that, Sonar has a key binding set to toggle the Bypass All Effects either on or off - so to toggle ON the bypass of all effects, you would hit the letter 'E' on your computer keyboard, and Sonar would not process anything through the loaded effects plugins.  If your audio latency/drop-out issues go away - that is a BIG clue that one or more of those effects plugins is probably not designed to be used when recording, because of its nature - needing a much larger ASIO Buffer Size, etc..  By the way, to turn OFF the bypassing of all effects, you would simply hit the letter 'E' again on the computer keyboard, and Sonar would toggle the effects processing back on.
 
Give the above a shot and please post back with the list of effects, as well as on the testing of the bypassing of effects.  Additionally, I would like to know what your ASIO Buffer Size is set to when recording in that project.
 
One more thing - your laptop MAY have CPU Parking in effect, where you aren't getting the full use of your multi-core processor.  You can launch Windows Task Manager (right click on Task Bar and click on Task Manager), then click on the Performance tab, then at the bottom left, click on Open Resource Monitor, then click on the CPU tab, and look at the cores displayed vertically on the right side.  You should see a display for CPU Total, then under that one for Service CPU Usage, then under that you should see each of your cores listed (CPU 0, CPU 1, CPU 2, CPU 3).  IF CPU cores 2-4 show Parked, you will likely benefit from disabling the CPU Core Parking.
 
So - please also take a look at the above and post back on whether or not the CPU cores are parked.
 
Thanks, 
 
Bob Bone
 

gswitz
There are a few things left to try, but most importantly, download resplendent latency monitor and it will show the dll that is messing you up.

Things I can think of now include turning off power saving on the network card by opening it from device manager and choosing properties.

It may be necessary to disable the battery charger, but latency monitor will answer that.

I loaded the Latency Monitor, ran it for an hour and it said the system was suitable for real-time audio without dropouts.  Before running the monitor I went into Device Manager and disabled wifi, bluetooth and USB hub power management.  
 

dwardzala
What speed is your hard disk that you are recording to and is it an external or USB drive?

Hi Dave,
It's a standard 1TB disk, I assume it runs at 5400rpm but I can't find any more info on it, it's internal.

Output from Latency Monitor:-
 
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system seems to be having difficulty handling real-time audio and other tasks. You may experience drop outs, clicks or pops due to buffer underruns. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 2:07:21 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: DESKTOP-VQCRM33
OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 14393 (x64)
Hardware: X556UAK, ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz
Logical processors: 4
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 8072 MB total

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 2904 MHz
Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.
Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 1165.752272
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 3.495820
Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1105.454740
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 0.810277

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.
Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 521.829890
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation
Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.000601
Driver with highest ISR total time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation
Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.001005
ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 51078
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 4
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.
Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 672.180785
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: iaStorA.sys - Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology driver - x64, Intel Corporation
Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.035147
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: rspLLL64.sys - Resplendence Latency Monitoring and Auxiliary Kernel Library, Resplendence Software Projects Sp.
Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.102961
DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 27772914
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 12739
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.
NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.
Process with highest pagefault count: latmon.exe
Total number of hard pagefaults 274
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 189
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs): 160113.330234
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%): 0.002339
Number of processes hit: 7

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 56.041795
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 521.829890
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.307066
CPU 0 ISR count: 51066
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 672.180785
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 21.419945
CPU 0 DPC count: 23539002
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 296.077930
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 1.262052
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000014
CPU 1 ISR count: 16
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 528.688705
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.357785
CPU 1 DPC count: 144570
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 43.848973
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 2 ISR count: 0
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 541.422865
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 9.145670
CPU 2 DPC count: 3907024
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 291.409569
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 520.603650
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.545627
CPU 3 DPC count: 195057
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi, I got a new fast i7 laptop with 32GB RAM and have the same UA25-EX interface. I got LatencyMon to give me stability by disabling the Ethernet port in device manager. My WiFi can stay on all the time. No problems here now. I use my UA25-EX at my office and a RME Babyface Pro in my studio... the RME is way better, but the UA25-EX can still handle 50+ tracks with plugins.
Mark.

Oh Yeah, I also disable my onboard Realtek audio card in device manager.
Mark.

Hi Mark,
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I could not find an ethernet device to disable (even though I believe I have a socket for it), but I am now disabling the following:-

• Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
• Realtek High Definition Audio
• Realtek High Definition Audio Controller

I've also found a Bluetooth heading with "enumerators" entries in it, but having already disabled the Bluetooth device, I won't touch those for the time being.
 
I'm going to run the Latency Monitor for a while now and see what happens.

@SGodfrey
 
It may be that the real problem is somewhat hidden from view behind the Windows related DLL.
 
The good news is now you have a way of testing whether or not your changes have fixed the issue!! :-)
 
So, at this point, you want to test some of those remaining items like the battery charger for your laptop (is it a laptop?).
 
Check whether the your NIC has a power saving setting. Most do. You want to disable this.
Right click My Computer > Computer Management > Device Manager > Network Adapters > Properties > Power Management

Thanks Craig,
I confess I had to look up what a "Toast Notification" is and I'm still not sure if I would need to be connected to the internet to follow the process through (obviously I have the internet connection disabled when working in Sonar).  But if it comes up again I will follow your advice.
 
@gswitz
Thanks buddy, yes it is a laptop and I checked Device Manager > Network Adapters > Properties but there were no Power Management options.  Is it similar to the Minimum/Maximum Processor State that you find within Power Options?  I have both of those set to 100% when plugged into Mains.
 
The changes appear to be working so far (highest Interrupt To Process Latency is currently 236µs after nearly 2 hours - much improved compared to the 1100µs I had earlier), but I plan to leave Latency Monitoring running all night and then we'll see in the morning.
 
Thanks again for all the advice.

On most laptops I've disabled just the Wi Fi, using the toggle and I always disable Battery management in device manager. 
HDMI audio is now also on my list and I think that's on your report is it not? 
There is a audio drive used when you hook up a monitor or projector using HDMI and that driver is pesky. 
 
But I would also question the stability of the Roland driver. That's sucks that they tell you to let windows update deal with it. I don't buy that at all. 
 
You might want to try running in WASAPI eclusive mode as it will certainly work for just recording. 
I record 16 tracks of audio to a W7 laptop in WDM mode all night long without issues. That's using a Tascam interface. 
 
I would also use a wave editor for plain stereo recordings, much lighter load and simple to use. 
Wave Lab will auto number the tracks everytime you hit the spacebar so you can break it down into shorter tracks but never miss a second of recording. 
Either that or pick up a Tascam or Zoom handy recorder, they are bullet proof. 
 

SG : there is a letter missing in your model number you posted (Asus X556U<<< ? .. how have you made out so far ?
https://www.asus.com/Note...6UA/HelpDesk_Download/

The Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller IS the Ethernet port/network controller I disable... if that helps. That, combined with disabling the onboard sound and sound on the video card/hdmi (High Definition Audio Device) is what made my laptop great with Sonar.

ryecatchermark
...combined with disabling the onboard sound and sound on the video card/hdmi (High Definition Audio Device) is what made my laptop great with Sonar.

The latter can make a huge difference with laptop and desktop systems...or no difference at all, depending how aggressive the driver is about controlling your audio. In my case, disabling the "HD Driver" was extremely beneficial - it allowed for much lower latency.