Audio Slip-Ups

[Surzsha]

[Day 4 / Ending Edit:] After checking the audio drivers and attempting two system restores that did nothing to fix this problem, it turns out that the issue was not only Flash-related but it was mostly coming from Firefox itself. I've switched to using Chrome and the intensive video browsing test yielded no problems I had been experiencing.

It may be because of Firefox's newest updates, though the whole situation had started a day before I noticed the browser had updated itself (and before the Windows update). I guess until I can see for sure what Firefox might be doing to cause this audio conflict I'll be sticking with Chrome.
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So I'm experiencing something new this week and I could use some help wherever possible. Apparently all audio in my computer crackles then cuts off after a while of use. For the first couple of days I would have to restart the laptop to get everything going again but now I just need to close my browser and the sound returns for everything else.

Let me run a quick timeline of what I did the past couple of days:

Day 1: Sound crackles followed by songs in Windows Media Player appearing to be missing from library (though the source files are still present).
- Antivirus, Anti-malware, and anti-spyware scans. Malware detected and deleted.
- Simple Windows sounds seem to play just fine.
-Restart computer, sound returns for a while before problem starts over.

Day 2: Sound crackles then dies completely. WMP cannot find and play song files though they are still there.
- Anti-malware and anti-spyware scan again. Additional malware detected and deleted(medium to low risk. May be unaffiliated to problem).
- Antivirus boot scan. No viruses detected.
- Before restart, simple windows sounds play just fine.
- Sound returns upon restart, then dies after a while. Disabling and re-enabling main sound device (speakers and headphone) brings sound back, albeit with less bass (returns to normal sound upon next computer startup).
- Windows 7 updated, new restore point created.

Day 3: Sound dies completely after a few minutes of thorough video browsing in browser (via Vine. Sound skips replays then dies out completely). During sound loss WMP cannot find music files and VLC media player and browser does not play sound.
- Quick antivirus scan. No viruses detected.
- Close browser upon sound loss. Sound returns to both WMP and VLC. Sound returns to browser upon restart.
- Playing WMP and VLC alone does not kill audio at any time.
- Flash uninstalled and reinstalled. Problem still persists.

Since reinstalling Flash twice didn't solve all this, I'll see if  maybe updating the drivers should do it (they appear fine, but you'll never know). And if that doesn't work then I'll have to see if the sound card probably needs cleaning.

And if that doesn't work then I'll have to live with this for a while until I can come across enough money to see a technician about this. If anyone here knows of any other issues that might be contributing to this problem just let me know. I'd appreciate it.
-Surzsha