Mysterious Chrome OS bug causes some Chromebooks’ right speakers to crackle

A fix is on the way

Google markets Chromebooks as "easy to use" devices that are unlike other laptops, all thanks to Chrome OS. While that might be true to a certain extent, Chromebooks sometimes suffer from the same set of problems that Windows and Mac computers run into, too. One such bug plaguing a few Chrome OS users for a while now is crackling sounds from the right speaker and poor audio output.

Since late January, there have been several reports from Chrome OS users on the Google issue tracker about hearing crackling sounds from the right speaker of their device while on Zoom calls, watching videos on YouTube, or streaming any audio. The bug is not related to hardware since it affects Chromebooks from different manufacturers, including those from Asus, Acer, and Lenovo, irrespective of whether they are old or new. The crackling sound also does not happen all the time, making it difficult to ascertain what's causing it.

The snag appears to be a low-level audio driver issue since the problem exclusively targets the right speaker of affected devices. As it seems to have started suddenly across different Chrome OS versions, it is difficult to pinpoint which update is the culprit here.

Some Acer Spin 713 owners got the speaker replaced under warranty to no avail, assuming it was a hardware issue. Others tried to powercycle or even reset their Chromebook, but the problem persists. The crackling sound only happens when playing audio from the device speaker and not over Bluetooth. A reboot does seem to work temporarily, but the bug seems to pop up reliably again after putting the device on standby/sleep mode.

The good news is that Google has identified the possible cause behind the issue, and the fix will "be pushed out to M98 next spin after more verification." Until then, all you have to do is show a little patience.

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