Audio and Trackpoint Problems

Hey,

I have a T61 but never owned a thinkpad before so I'm still trying to get used to some of the things on this laptop.
I'm using the 14.1" widescreen version, shipped with vista business. I did a full clean install of winxp (personal copy).
Two problems I'm having that I'm hoping you guys could shed some light on:

1) Just a week or two ago, my RIGHT speaker stopped working. As in, there's no audio output coming from the right speaker. Plugging in a headphone or external speakers from the headphone output also gives only left speaker output. Since this was working just 2 weeks ago, I'm sure something weird happened with the driver or something. Any ideas?

2) When I open my screen lid, I see a faint impression of the trackpoint on my LCD screen. Is this normal? Won't this damage the screen in some way since there's pressure being applied to one small area of the screen every time the lid is closed?

Edit, another related problem:

3) My cursor seems to drift a lot when I use my trackpoint to move it. I have to let the cursor go wherever it wants to and then resume using the trackpoint otherwise I feel as if the trackpoint is trying to move the opposite direction (I feel so sort of force working against me). Is the cap not positioned properly? I can't push the cap in and it seems pretty secure to me.

4) (new) whenever I scroll a page, even when the volume is muted, I can hear a weird clicking type noise. It's not the cpu-whine, which I rarely hear. It's something different.

Thanks

 

2) Pull the cap off and push it back on, make sure it is correctly in place. Also which trackpoint are you using? Another good idea might be to take a screw driver and tighten the screws in the back to ensure the keyboard is tightened down and not sitting higher then it should be.

 

Regarding Question 1. Do you hear hiss on the right side in your headphones when you first boot up the machine? If you hear absolutely no hiss when you system initally boots up, it's a hardware problem. If you hear hiss on the right side. check your sound balance settings as you may have accidently set your balance settings all the way to the left... I've done that once or twice before.

Regarding Question 2. I have this same problem when I use the 'suction cup' trackpoint. And this is because it has the largest profile from the keyboard. as it's rubber, I don't think it's 'damaging' the screen so much as leaving rubber residue. But I have a friend who uses the suction cup trackpoint on his T43 and it has the same circle on the center of the screen. Not sure what to tell ya other than to clean the screen regularly or make sure it's seated fully to reduce its profile. After I cleaned the screen from the first time I noticed it, it haven't come back yet.

Regarding Question 3. I have the same problem on my T61 work laptop and not so much a problem on my personal T61p. I found with the T61 that when I rest my right palmer heavily on the palm rest it drifts when I let go of the trackpoint. When I raise my right hand from the palm rest, the drift stops. It's not a major annoyance, just a nuance I learn to not do as much when I'm typing and using the trackpoint.

 

^
Q1: I tried just now and yes I hear a hiss on both the left and right headphones when I boot up the machine. However, when I'm in winxp, i can only hear sound from the left headphone. I guess I'll try playing around with the audio drivers. Why can't things just keep working the way they're supposed to.

 

have you tried checking your sound balance settings ?

 

^yes, even tried playing around with the slider (i used sndvol32...i'm not missing another hidden mixer am i?)

 

For the speaker issue, just to throw one possibility out of the way, is how are you testing the sound output? Could it possibly be a video file that has a single side audio track? Or how about the media player?

And my trackpoint also leaves a smudge on the screen, though I don't feel like it's going to damage the screen.

The drifting issue I just had to get used to:

http://drafts.intelliot.com/2006/12/thinkpad-trackpoint-bounce-back.html

It basically explains that the trackpoint recalibrates itself constantly, and when that happens I just let it do its thing then get on with my merry ways.

 

hehe I tried two different files. One was a mp3 in winamp that is confirmed to have both the left and right audio tracks. One was a video that I watched halfway 1-2 weeks ago before trying to resume it yesterday. The same video using the same software to play it from the same source was giving two speaker output. Now it gives 1 speaker (left) output only. So I'm pretty sure it's not the source

Interesting. It seems the reason why it keeps on recalibrating when I use it is because I keep applying pressure to the trackpoint when not needed (i.e. when reading a long page, I'll just keep slight pressure on the trackpoint while reading it so I can scroll down without having to move my hands much hehe). Alright, time to change my trackpoint using habits. Thanks!

edit: You know what's weird? I called IBM tech support yesterday (Canada) and asked them the same questions.
For the audio problem they said "oh it's a hardware issue" right away. "Take it to an authorized dealer or ship it to us and we'll have a look"
For the trackpoint drift they also said it's probably a hardware problem that needs fixing!
And for the trackpoint impression on the screen, they said I should go bring it in and have it looked at.
Maybe I should apply for a job there heh. For any problem that comes my way I'll just tell them to go to an authorized dealer or have it shipped back to lenovo.

 

Another problem I must add: whenever I scroll a page, even when the volume is muted, I can hear a weird clicking type noise. It's not the cpu-whine, which I rarely hear. It's something different.

 

for those who have a similar issue, i fixed the audio problem where only the left speaker output was being heard by reinstalling the drivers. Just in case someone else has this problem.

 

Where did you find the drivers for this?
I am having the same exact audio problem on my T61p.

Thanks