Audio Crackling on the 15x - Discussion Thread

Audio is going to the system speakers on the M15X, volume is at 40% on the speakers, recording volume on the mic is 48% with the suppression of background noise enabled. LCD was closed with the mic seated in between both speakers on top of the closed screen.

Got a call earlier today from the Technician, he'll be here between 4-5pm with the mobo and lcd but no touchpad. I'll do some tests post install so hopefully it fixes the audio. The part number I was given for the motherboard doesn't match the number I currently have nor the number that was posted in this thread that claimed a fix.

 

Tech came by, new LCD installed and new motherboard. Turns out the old motherboard is the same P/N as the one that offers the fix and the replacement has the same P/N as well. The audio continues to crackle/static when listening to pretty much anything.

The tech told me to call them and request a system exchange and not to take no for an answer. After trying to troubleshoot the problem with him for over an hour, and even putting some new speakers that he had extra in his bag the problem still continues. Guess it's time to send Dell/Alienware an email.

Wish me luck.

 

I honestly don't like the M17X but if that's what it takes to get something that's problem free I'll have to push for that. I decided on the M15X cause it was smaller and powerful than most gaming laptops out there but man I can't even do my work (video editing/ audio encoding) on this machine without sounding like . I'm forced to do it on an old G5 Mac.

Post mobo installation the right hand USB port seems faulty... I took apart the M15X checked the connection, everything is making as best contact as possible. The E-sata/USB port seems fine, but when I connect my iphone in the USB port it constantly connects and disconnects same happen for flash drives and my keyboard. anyone know if there's a fix for this?

 

Replaced the Speakers today it sounded better for a few but started to notice its bad so guessing maybe i had bad speakers also

any tricks on how to convince them to send another mobo because what they tried to tell me yesterday was oh its got to do with the Bios our tech team is working on it trying to come up with a new bios but if it was the bios wouldnt it be a problem on evyerone system ? and a new board would not help it if it was a problem with the bios right ?

 

i has told a similar thing with my 260m when i had the throttling. they told me to wait for a new bios, but i kept on pushing them until they gave in.

i tested for crackling and have not found it. so i think i may of lucked out or deaf, hahah

 

The first thing I did was ask for the motherboard replacement with the very first agent I talked to. I was very stern in my position as to knowing exactly what was the problem, I told him exactly what I needed and even gave out the part number the agent told me that he couldn't authorize anything including a motherboard swap without there being an evident issue with it. I stopped him mid sentence and said that if he couldn't authorize it get me someone who can. Wait as long as it takes and be nice about it. If they tell you there's none available at the moment tell them that you'll wait until there is one. Make sure you take down the agents name and badge number just in case you "accidentally" get hung up on.

 

Si?

I'm hopeing when I get my m15x I do not have these issues, I will post bout it right away. My question is, is this happening with or without headphones? I mainly play with out sound, however when raiding((wow)) i use vent and such with headphones

 

it's happening on both.

 

Whats the currently level for volume for it to NOT crackle in the headphones?

 

20%? I barely hear crackling but it's still there, not in everything though, but in certain types of bass or frequencies no matter how low it's still showing up

 

Recorded a bunch of different audio files on the M15X which clearly shows the difference between the proper audio and the distortion that's coming out of the speakers.

I got an email from Alienware saying my case has been escalated hopefully something can be done about this. I'll upload all of them once I convert them to mp3 format from WMA.

 

Is this present in ALL M15xs? What exactly does it sound like?

I'm going to have to take my headphones home to listen to this in a quieter environment, because I think I have constant background hiss, but it's sort of subtle here.

It seems to happen regardless of whether the speakers are muted or not!

Also, I haven't installed the IDT drivers or whatever they are-just using Windows. I don't know if that would make things better or worse.

 

Some people say they can't hear it, others like had it grow worse and worse over time. It's heard in both headphones and internal speakers. If you want an example go a couple of pages back and look for a post where I post a comparison. You can clearly hear the difference in both recordings.

 

im gona get on there buts again tomorow and call and get them to send out another mobo just so much going on right now moving this comming week wich sucks so gona be on them like glue tomrorow

 

Wow...okay my work is loud so I wasn't 110% sure, but I just brought my headphones home and tested...it's obvious on Microsoft's drivers...there's a hiss, tapping, crackling through the headphones. Both ports.

I Installed the IDT drivers, and that actually made it much WORSE. Uninstalled and it's back to just bad.

I compared it to my Asus n80nv, and MAYBE there's SOMETHING on that, but if so it's so subtle I can't even convince myself I hear it all the time.

Dang. So this is a universal problem? I've heard this before on a 4-5 year old Dell Latitude, just like this.

Okay, I'm backing stuff up, formatting, and returning it. I'm not accepting something that hisses and crackles (my $270 iPod doesn't hiss and crackle!)

If there's some fix...let me know fast!

 

I have to say this. A freshly shipped m15x has got to me today, and there is no crackling in headphones or speakers, at 100% so i dont know if that helps or not ((knowing that mines a freshly shipped and no wipes)) factory drivers

 

nice congrats on the new lappie, you can wipe the drool from your face now, hahaha

 

What kind of headphones? I only tried in my Sonys. Possibly my iPod ones would mask it?

 

i use some generic old brand...sentry R...but liek is aid i dont get it out of the speakers easy..jsut watched 2 movies straight nad some youtube videos. i dont know how els eto stress test it, all i can think of is maybe the speakers are easily blown but you guys have reported it with headphones ..so *shrugs* try the dell drivers?

 

I only hear it through headphones. It could be that the built in speakers just aren't good enough for me to hear it, but both headphone jacks do it equally on mine.

I did try Dell's drivers...it actually made the problem much worse, though it was already totally unacceptable. In a quiet environment on my Sony headphones the audio garbage was almost as loud as dialog on a DVD.

I've initiated a return online...will hope for the best with that. Dang, I've heard the same thing on Dell Latitude's before.

Maybe I'm being silly because I could use some external audio device? Like Creative has USB devices? I'm not sure how well they work though, or if there are issues with games or whatever. Plus my Asus works fine without that.

So...hopefully the return will go smoothly at least.

They are still getting some of my money as I bought a 24" LED backlit monitor, which hopefully I'll have better luck with!

 

before you return it try a system wipe? *shrugs*

 

ok this is the crazy
i just tunred system on today first time its been on in about 10 hours or so
and went to play a song knowing it was gona crackle but i was bored and had nothign to do whyll packing stuff

and no audio crackling at all hmmm after its been doing it the crackling constantly now it doenst at all

anyone know what could be the problem ? or whats going pon pehraps

 

Never has crackled for me, ever. Maybe it's something your laptop grows into. This is really a real enigmatic problem......... o.o

I dunno if this is crackling, but the sound from the speakers has always... sounded fuzzish on certain sounds or songs. I dunno if this is what you guys are experiencing, but I've found the speakers to be fine otherwise...


http://www.laptops-drivers.com/alienware/fixing-alienware-m15x-audio-crackling.html
According to this, it maybe be because of a poor power distribution...

 

Wow, that's a weirdly written little article that doesn't say much LOL.

I had the keyboard lights off, because they're not light controlled apparently , and I don't like them blazing on all the time. I didn't test it with that off, but I don't want to have to have them on, I mean even if that fixes it it's still defective. (I need my computer to be as non-conspicuous as possible, 'cause I'm using it at work.)

I couldn't hear it through the speakers, but then they're not real great, so I may just not be able to hear it. Very obvious through my Sony headphones though. Like I said, I've only ever heard this on Dell Latidude's before

 

It's never happened to me on headphones, only distortion on the speakers and some fuzziness.

 

if your only having the issue threw the headphone jacks then it chances are iethere the driver is bad or the slave sister board for the headphone jacks that are bad

 

just like you i have the problem only through the headphone port.
everything fine with the speakers

 

might try to get them to send out a Refurb model wich most likly will be new from a stoped order or somthing like that

 

Right now the technician came and replaced my motherboard completely because of the audio crackling in the headphones (also the lcd and speakers, this 2 i didn't know why ).

I dont have anymore the problem, and now i can use the music with the headphones at 100% without problems or crackling.

Also he gave me some isopropyl alcohol to clean correctly the thermal paste and both GPU/CPU, now i can see real improvements with the MX-4 (50-55c in idle with my 720QM and 40c idle in the GPU).

I think that my mobo is a new revision because i saw the older a bit different than the new one, right now im happy with the warranty's service and no more problems present

 

Congrats.

I'm getting some sort of replacement. Not sure what yet. I was told that there are multiple possible fixes but none that could guarantee me a permanent fix. No details on what's happening yet.

I listen to a lot of classical music. Anything with cellos or violins completely destroy the speakers to the point where you can barely hear the music. On any other system it sounds perfect. It's a shame such an awesome laptop suffers from such issues.

The headphone jacks seems fine now. Every now and then I get a little static but it seems cleared up. Going back to me previous post the recordings that I made were lost when my USB drive corrupted I'll try to get some more when I get my mic back.

 

i knew that the moment i realized there was nothing physically with my laptop. (which is after a little driver experimenting, i was able to remove the crackling only for it to comeback a few minutes later).
doesnt bother me too much as i dont use headphones much right now, and i still love my M15x very much.

i STILL have hope alienware will fix it one day.

 

I had it only on headphones, both ports. It could have been there on the speakers too...like it could just be that they're too low quality to hear it or something, but it's definitely there on the headphone ports.

 

okay so i think i have figured it out, and this is why alienware/dell are...sorry testers....anyway, when i got my laptop at first never heard crackling, and tonight i heard it, it sounds like blown speaker crackling..so if you get it in yrou speakers and not your headphones!!!!! there you go!!! ...proably from having it at 100%...constantly...just my thoughts

 

what was you doing when you hear the cracking ? so what are you going to do? return ?

 

It's not from a blown speaker. Considering the speakers in my unit have been replaced and are brand new and have never been to 100% volume level

 

i was watching youtube..and it only occured recently..and hell no im not returning

 

this has got to a new level of bad, this started on Monday, it's off and on. Can anyone explain this? I wasn't doing anything other than surfing the web and listening to music. The M15X is on my desktop with the 9cell and AC adapter connected. Logitech MX Performance mouse is the only device connected to it. Using Winamp to play my music and Opera browser to surf. Laptop is not overheating, not according to HWInfo.

Distortion

 

sound really bad!, i have same Mouse this is my second AW M15x and no have sounds problems in my frist m15x yes dell acept change for a one new unit.
you have install any codecs packs? try to test listen music in VLC player.

 

Feel free to prove me wrong, but I don't think codec packs or the like could fix an issue like this.

I don't know...maybe I just should have bought a USB/Expresscard sound card, but I was thinking I didn't know if that would work, and it would burn up at least another half week of my return period :-/

 

i just bought the steel series gaming headset with 7.1 virtual surround soundcard and i have no more audio issues but that is due to me using an external sound card so i do believe that the M15X sound card is not suitable at all for something of this caliber for whom it appeals to.

 

I had this issue with my old xps1340 system. What are the chances that I will have this problem with a new m15x that I just got a few days ago?

 

You already got your system? Well, did you already encounter this crackling? No need to worry before you got some problems... my M15x was perfectly fine from the first day I got it until now, and that's a year now.

 

I do remember some people on here saying...well hmm...did they say they didn't have a problem at first, and then it developed? Or that they had it but it steadily got worse? I'm not sure.

At any rate sounds like you may never get it if you don't have it, though I'd test for it.

Mine was pretty obvious through both headphone ports with a quality set of Sony headphones.

 

I have this problem now.
I did not have this problem a year ago, I sent my laptop in for repair they replaced the mobo, and now I have crackling.

It only comes through when I have headphones connected like everyone else. but when connected to external speakers it works fine.

Just out of curiosity what external soundcards have people bought and recommend?

 

I don't have crackling on my recently purchased m15x but I noticed alot of interference whilst headphones in use, it's the same with all laptop souncards I've come across - sound isn't considered I high priority hence often the poorer quality onboard sound in use subseptable to interference from the other componants. I'd personally look for a USB souncards that will bypass the issue.

 

pretty sad that with a high quality brand this still isnt fixed...

 

Yeah, I'm always amazed when products like this have issues like this. I could see it on some $50 MP3 player, but not on something costing over $100. (And really NO product should have it regardless of price.)

 

I still experience crackling, but I've found out how to deal with the low quality audio permanently. Basically, you have to uninstall the IDT audio drivers, restart the M15x and Windows will automatically install Windows default drivers. Then, hook up your speakers/headphones to the headphone port nearest to the eSATA port (not the line-in port). It has to be this one as the other port isn't recognised by the system for some reason (it gets recognised but still plays from your m15x's speakers).

 

For me that didn't help. With or without the IDT drivers it was crackly on mine (actually I didn't install the IDT drivers until after I noticed the crackling...although I think it may have been worse with them? Can't remember for sure, but I had it with or without unfortunately.)

So is this just a thing that it's not built right? Or is it an IDT problem?

 

I had the same problem for about 3 months I got tired of it. I had to call Alienware 3 times to finally get them to change my motherboard and the problem has been fixed since then. I purchased my laptop 12/10 if that has any relevance.