Cracking noise during startup and system sounds

edit

There could be many reasons for this, but there is one recent change related to power management that has a chance of causing a problem quite exactly like this.

If your audio output device is one of those controlled by the snd_hda_intel driver, please try if disabling the power management feature of that driver helps. One way to do so is to write a configuration file that adds parameters to the driver. Run this:

sudo -e /etc/modprobe.d/snd_hda_intel.conf

Then in the editor, add this content:

options snd_hda_intel power_save=0

Save the file and exit the editor, then try rebooting the computer. To verify that the power-saving feature is not enabled, run this and check that it prints a 0:

cat /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save

If this does not help, it is a good idea to revert the configuration change that was created earlier, so that it does not cause confusion during later investigation of the problem:

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/snd_hda_intel.conf

my older fedora systems had this bug too. one way I was able to resolve it was to open VLC, start a video, and move the slider along the bottom back and forth.

Sometimes it would take multiple slides, back / forth, but the staticy sound would revert to clean sound.