Arc A770 16GB Dolby Atmos issues

[clayton86]

Hello,

I am getting some pretty persistent audio drops with this card. Basically, I'll be playing a game and the audio will cut out for a good minute or two and then come back. 

Originally this was happening with Spider-Man Remastered and Spider-Man Miles Morales, both of which have known issues with audio drops, so I thought it was the games. However, when I used my gaming headset, which is connected to the USB port on my MoBo, the issues went away. The audio drops are also happening in Starfield (Starfield is also pretty consistently crashing, too) and sometimes when I watch YouTube.

I'm certain this has something to do with Dolby Atmos/spatial sound, as when the audio comes back, my soundbar flashes to let me know that Dolby Atmos is re-enabled.

Steps I have taken so far: 

1. Changing the HDMI cable

2. Reseating the GPU

3. DDU uninstall of previous drivers and fresh install of new drivers

4. Confirmed I have the most recent drivers installed.

I did read some other posts on this forum indicating other users were having this issue. However, Intel reps advised that the issue had been patched in subsequent driver updates. I do not believe the issue has been sufficiently patched.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for your time.

I have been working on the investigation, we were unable to replicate the issue, it worked properly in our system. There are some steps you can follow to see if the behavior changes, please keep me informed of the results:

• Update Windows 11 to version 22H3. For updates steps, contact Microsoft.
• Perform a clean installation with Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to version 31.0.101.4952. If you still need guidance, How to Use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to Uninstall an Intel® Graphics Driver.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

I will follow the steps and report back to you. Would it help if I was able to capture a video of the problem?

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for letting me know you will follow the steps later.

I wait for it to provide you with the next steps. If you can take a video of the problem after follow the recommended steps, that will be helpful.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

Good news, the latest update seems to have mostly resolved the issue. I only noticed a couple of drops last night, but they were maybe a half a second long and not frequent enough that I could record them. Definitely a vast improvement.

Do you mind keeping this ticket open until next week so that I can continue to test and monitor over the weekend?

Secondly, while I have noticed some pretty big performance improvements with the last update, there are still a few lag/rendering issues with the Spider-man games. Is that something your team is aware of? Would it be helpful for me to open a separate ticket for that?

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for your response, happy to hear that seems the issue is fixed.

Related to the lag/rendering issue I recommend you open a new thread since this is another issue, to help in the best way, and keep this thread organized.

For sure, I can keep this thread open, for you to continue testing and monitoring your system.

Please keep me informed of the results.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Were you able to keep testing your system after the graphics driver update?   

Let us know if you still need assistance.    

Best regards,   

Andres P.   

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

I wasn't able to test it over the weekend because I was busy. However, when I just loaded WWE 2k23 to test a different issue, there was a fairly prolonged audio drop. I'm going to see if I can capture it on video.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for letting me know that.

I will wait for you to share the video, in the meantime please follow the steps below since we released a new graphics driver this week to check if the behavior changes:

• As you have done with previous drivers versions, clean install it to version 31.0.101.4953.
• If the issue persists, one more time attach a new report of the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows (SSU).

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

Okay, so an interesting development. I recorded a game where the audio issues popped up, but when I replayed the video the issue didn't show up on the video. So I'm guessing this means that the card is somehow dropping the connection with Atmos during the gaming session in a way that affects the external sound, but the sound is still playing properly for the recording. Super bizarre.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for that clarification, it help a lot. 

Did you have the same issue after the clean installation with DDU to the latest graphics 31.0.101.4953? If you have not done that, you can use this article for guidance, How to Use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to Uninstall an Intel® Graphics Driver.

Remember to provide us with the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows (SSU) report if the issue persists, this will help us to continue with the investigation.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Were you able to update the graphics driver to version 31.0.101.4953?   

Let us know if you still need assistance.    

Best regards,   

Andres P.   

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

Sorry for the delay. Yes, I had completed a clean install of the new drivers prior to posting my last reply. I've attached my most recent SSU report.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for completing the graphics driver clean installation.

I see in the last Intel® SSU report you shared that Windows is not updated yet, please update it to version 23H2 which includes fixes for audio drops. If you need the installation steps, you can contact Microsoft.

If the issue persists, please provide one more time with a new Intel® SSU report, to continue with the investigation.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

Have a few updates for you (issue is still persisting).

1. I completed a fresh install of the latest drivers

2. I've attached an updated SSU, which includes the latest windows update.

3. I flashed the latest BIOS for my MOBO

4. I've attached a video that sort of highlights the issue. You can hear audio on the playback but during the game, the first 40 seconds of the video (up until I toggled mono audio) had no audio on my end. I will keep testing and try to record the next instance with my smartphone so you can see how the soundbar reacts at the same time.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for letting me know the results you have followed.

I will wait for you to share the video using your smartphone, that will help us to continue with the investigation.

I noticed in the latest Intel® SSU report you attached, that Windows 11 still has not been updated, its version still be 22H2, and the latest one is 23H2, please make sure to update Windows to the latest version since it has some audio drop fixes.

Once you are sure it is updated, if the issue persists, one more time share another Intel® SSU report.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[clayton86]

Hi Andres,

The reason I did not have the current Windows update was because the update had not been released in my region yet. I have since updated it manually and attached the SSU report.

I have also attached a smartphone video that captures some of the audio issues while streaming from YouTube. The audio issues I encounter there are similar to the ones I experience during gaming.

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello clayton86

Thank you for sharing the information. We will continue to investigate with the new detail you provided, once we have an update we will post back and let you know.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[clayton86]

Hi Hugo, 

Here's an example of the audio drop in Cyberpunk. As you can see, it lasts for almost a minute before cutting back on. I haven't played Cyberpunk in a while, but the drops seem to be even more frequent than the last time I was playing it.

https://youtu.be/guaOUsKqOrE?si=o2LApUlJJ-I3t4xc

[clayton86]

Hi Hugo and Andres,

Just wondering if there's been any update on this. Here's the clip to the Cyberpunk glitch again - https://youtu.be/guaOUsKqOrE?si=o2LApUlJJ-I3t4xc

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for your time and for sharing the video showing the audio drop in Cyberpunk.

I want to let you know that we still working on getting equipment to attempt to replicate. 

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Andres_Intel]

Hello clayton86,

Thank you for all your time.

We have been working on the replication of your issue. We followed the steps to replicate it and we were not able to observe persistent audio drops in Cyberpunk or Spiderman.

Please contact the soundbar manufacturer for support since we cannot see the issue.

For now, we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician