Guys I am in need of some help. I have all but pulled my hair out trying to fix this issue. I recently upgraded my computer to some slightly newer parts that I have plans to use until next year when Cannonlake releases. After installing Windows 8.1, everything seems somewhat normal as it was before when I was using it on my past computer, an i7 860 based PC, with an Intel DP55SB motherboard.
The only thing I have changed out from my past computer is the CPU, to a Xeon X5560, and the motherboard, to an Asrock X58 Extreme, at that point. Well after installing windows, tweaking it to the overclocked speed that I found had the best power/performance ratio, and gaming for a while, I noticed while watching YouTube videos, or sometimes in Spotify, that my sound would just cut out, and refuse to play anything.
Clicking on any other video or song would leave it at 0:00 and move no further. This troubled me as I couldn't figure out why. I attributed it to a onboard sound card issue, as Asrock motherboards are sometimes known to use crappy DAC's. The only way to fix it and go back to listening to music or watching anything would be either A: Restarting the computer, or B: Going to the sound control panel and changing the default format to a different setting, then back to the one I normally use, 24bit, 48000 Hz.
This is ANNOYING and while it seems like a simple quick fix, and well, it is, it gets on a persons nerves if this happens multiple times an hour while surfing YouTube or skipping songs. Figuring after a while that it was linked to the onboard sound, and wanting to eventually upgrade to a dedicated sound card, I acquired a ASUS Xonar DGX. So I turned off my computer, installed the new sound card, booted up, disabled the onboard one in bios, booted into windows, downloaded the UniXonar drivers, installed them, rebooted, done.
That was yesterday, and suddenly everything just sounded... clearer... It was almost like the difference between watching a 480P video, and a 720P video. Everything just became more ambient and seemingly more accurate... idk probably just a placebo.. But I thought all was well because suddenly I experienced no more of the past issues I had when using onboard sound. I sat there for like 6 hours last night playing around on YouTube, just to see if I could replicate the past issue again.. and I couldn't.
Well, I woke up today and got on my computer, started watching more stuff online and.... It's back. I instantly get angry and want to throw it out the window.. but that will not solve anything other than how stuffy it is in here. Guys, if anyone has any ideas, please help. I searched around Google, and unless I am missing something, everyone else that has any sort of similar issue has no sound at all, where as mine works, and then randomly stops. Could it be something I have installed that I have looked over? Is this common in Windows 8.1? Should I go back to 7 until 10 releases?