If you’re hearing cracking sounds when playing audio, or if the sound keeps cutting out when shifting between applications, your audio driver is usually the cause of the issue. Don’t worry if there are any other possibilities. Let’s try the following potential fixes that have been reported helpful.

  1. Update your audio driver
  2. Roll back the audio driver
  3. Disable Audio Enhancements
  4. Run an SFC scan

Before we start troubleshooting, please restart your computer to flush the buffer. Then, proceed with the steps below.

1. Update your audio driver

When the sound keeps cutting out on your Windows 11 PC, one of the first things you should do is to update your audio driver, since an up-to-date audio driver always ensures the best user experience and fewer bugs.

To update your sound card driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Sound, video and game controllers. Then right-click your audio card driver and click Uninstall driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then follow the pop-out prompt to comfirm the uninstallation.
  4. Once done, restart your computer and Windows will automatically reinstall the newest audio driver for you.

If Windows doesn’t reinstall the latest driver for you, then you should consider updating your audio driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the “Windows 11 sound cutting out” problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

2. Roll back the audio driver

If it happens that the cracking sound occurs right after your driver update, you should consider rolling it back to the previous version instead.

In this case, follow the steps below:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Sound, video and game controllers. Then double-click your audio card driver to open the Properties page of it.
  3. Click the Driver tab from the top menu and if you see a Roll Back Driver button available, click it to get it work.
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to perform the driver roll-back.
  5. Once complete, restart your computer for changes to take effect.

Check if the issue persists. If this is not the solution for you, try the next one.

3. Disable Audio Enhancements

In some cases, Audio Enhancements will cause your computer to have sound problems, like sound cutting out. So, if fixing the driver doesn’t work, you can check if you need to disable the Audio Enhancements.

Here’s what we can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I together to open Windows Settings. In the System tab, click Sound.
  2. Scroll down the Sound setting page, and select More sound settings.
  3. On the pop-up sound settings wizard, click the Communications tab from the top, and select Do nothing. Then, click Apply and OK.
  4. Go to the sound setting wizard again, under the Playback tab, right-click your sound device, and select Properties.
  5. On the Speakers Properties page, click the Enhancements tab from the top, and then select Disable all sound effects. Click Apply and OK to apply changes.

Check if the issue is resolved. If not, move on to the next workaround.

4. Run an SFC scan

If none of the methods above fixes the cracking sound issue for you, then you should consider the possibility of corrupted system files that are causing the issue. In this case, you can try an SFC scan and DISM check to get it fixed.

Here’s what we can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type cmd and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to launch the command prompt as an administrator.
  2. Paste the following commands and press Enter to execute:
    SFC /scannow
    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
    (Please do not miss out on the blank space in the command lines.)
  3. Wait for the process to complete, then restart your computer.

Hopefully, one of the fixes above should fix the cracking sound issue for you. If you have any questions or any ideas to share, please feel free to comment down below.