e6500 crackling audio

Hi,

yet another dell e6500 user with the crackling audio problem. The first day of usage this problem didn't occur (inet was connected through cable).
The second day however when connecting wireless it all started to go wrong, crackling, skipping of audio files. I think it's due to the wireless adapter, when the radio button was turned off there was no crackling.

When cruising the internet for solutions I found this thread...THANKS a lot for the efforts guys (and girls)!

I disabled the "A" band on the wireless networking adapter (thx 4 the tip) and since then the problem disapeared.

The audio on the dell isn't that great though (lots of background noises),so I hope i can improve this by using a dac. I ordered an M-Audio transit usb.
Hopefully I can post some good user comments on that one within a week or so...

greetz 2 all

 

suddenly,

my e6400 started to have crackling sound the day before... after more than 1 month working fine... interesting...

tried to update the latest intel matrix storage, reinstall idt audio driver, uninstall idt audio driver, vista audio driver, disable WiFi5300, disable band A wifi.... no helps...

no matter which programs i use and the internal speakers or the headphones, all happen to have the crackling problem.... sigh!!!

frustrating... maybe i should call dell.... but doubt if they have any solutions...

 

Clink on the link listed below,download the program and run
Latency is the key,I had 7 Dell xpsm1530's and every one of them had audio problems. This program confirmed high latency in all of them...
I decided that the best solution for myself was just to avoid Dell altogether,because I utilize laptops for sound recording/playback in my studio.
Just an aside,I am currently using a HP DV5z w ati igp and latency is the Lowest of any of the 12 laptops I have had in the last 15 months.Needless to say the HP has been flawless for audio reproduction and has never skipped or stuttered even once.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

For me solving the problem was a complex issue. I used the proposed DPC Lateny checker (see one post above) to check progress. The problem now depends on the A-Band of my Dell Wireless 1510 card. Activated I get huge Latency times and crackling noise deactivated it works just fine.

I'm running Vista32 on a Latitude E6400, upgraded to Bios A06, upgraded to the Intel Storage Matrix v8.6 and switched the Bios from IRRT to AHCI mode for storage access.

 

Using the latency checker, I get periodic latency issues when the laptop is just idling. I have no idea why. I tried disbaling things one at a time to no avil. Even disabling the wireless card (1397) had no effects on the lattency spikes. I have the A06 BIOs, and Intel installed. I would rather keep DCP since I would rather have funtions such as ALS and the bars for volumes, brightness, etc. I tried audio before I installed DCP anyway, and it still crackled. Everything points to a bad driver. IDT and the default HD Audio driver for Vista cause crackling though. I don't know what the hell is going on...

 

Tried to inactivate the WLAN but the popping was still there.
After disabling eSATA Ports under Miscellaneous Devices in BIOS it sounds much better.

 

Wow, I guess I'm not the only one with audio problems!

Dell is picking up my E6500 tomorrow to take a look at it. I fought with an audio problem with it for over a week and gave up on Saturday after Dell support couldn't help me by remote.

Just a note that I ordered my E6500 all decked out with pretty much every option. $3000 and a couple weeks later I got it and I was VERY excited about my new toy. This is my sixth Dell laptop and fourth of the Latitude line. I've had nothing but GREAT luck with my previous Dells.

Anyway, in my case I would refer to this as more of a "chop" in audio rather than crackle, pop, or anything of that nature. I ordered the machine with XP on it and also had problems with my external HD and external DVD writer disconnecting and reconnecting at random. After a few days of that I decided to bite the bullet and do the Vista upgrade. That solved the external drive problem, but not the sound. So then I ordered an Express card audio card thinking the problem was the cheap built-in audio. No luck, though I will say the overall audio quality was much better. Then I decided to just wipe the drive and reinstall everything clean with Vista Business. Once all booted up before I installed any extra drivers or software I tested the sound. Still choppy. At this point I finally decided to try playing a DVD. What do you know, at the same time the audio would chop the video would stop too. This is when I decided I better contact Dell tech support. After a couple hours with tech support reconfiguring things by remote I was still having problems...infact I think it actually got worse. They were going to send me a new optical drive until I reminded them that it's not just audio coming from the drive, as my MP3's suffer this issue too.

So, tomorrow they pick it up and it goes back. I've had less than two weeks with my new toy and most of that time was spent trying to make it work at least as well as a $400 Wal-Mart computer. I am very disappointed, but I will give Dell a chance to make it right or replace it with one that is right. My last Latitude was a D600 that I bought used for $400 and it had perfect sound and video. Infact, I'd still be using it if it weren't for the fact that it wouldn't drive my widescreen monitor and didn't have USB 2.0.

I will post a follow-up once I get the system back from Dell. I really hope they can fix it because I'd hate to have the first brand new laptop I've purchased spoil my opinion of Dell!

 

My office mate who listens to a lot of music during work, has been with Dell support to resolve the crackling audio problem on her e6400 since her unit was delivered. After changing out the system board, speakers and multi audio driver re-installs, she finally demanded for a Whole Unit Replacement (WUR) from Dell. The new unit was delivered yesterday and ... the new unit has identical problem as her old unit.

I think its a problem which can't be solved via hardware replacement. Perhaps better drivers in the future?

 

My post was pre-mature. We solve the crackling sound on one of the E6400s experiencing this by tweaking the BIOS settings. Not sure what was the exact setting which fixed it but try this as it resolved the problem for us:

In BIOS settings:
1) Disable Intel Speed Step
2) Disable eSATA
3) Enable Intel VT

 

Hello,

I am an owner of the e6500 latitude and I too seem to be having the crackling audio problem. I read some information in a link from this thread. A person stated that he did upgrade his x64 windows vista to the brink thus relying on the microsoft HD audio driver instead on the IDT one (meaning he had it removed). This seemed to work for him. Now I do not know if it would indeed work but I shall try it out and tell you if it does.