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November 6th, 2012 10:00

R4 A06 BIOS update broke my sound

Last night after a rollercoaster of nonsense trying to get my GTX680 installed and working properly I noticed something bizarre.  Now when I have my speakers plugged into the rear audio jack on the pc I get a low static through the speakers.  This wasn't happening before the BIOS updates so what gives?

And by the way I'd love to find out if there's a way to revert back to A05.  I had A03 and my machine got a bsod after installing the gtx680, updated to A05 without an issue then thought ok, I'll update to A06 which it looks like may have been a mistake.

Tonight I'm planning on pulling my HDD and switching it out with a SSD for my OS and using the SATA HDD as a storage drive...can't wait to see how the new BIOS plays with my new hardware at this point.

And whats incredibly frustrating is I called tech support who tried to tell me that even though I bought the Alienware AND this gtx680 from Dell because I installed the card myself I voided all my warranties because we should be calling Dell to do this for us.  Yeah...this is the same tech agent who said that the only drivers that work are ones from the Dell site, and that my static issue was because I must have damaged something installing the video card.  

Anyone else running into issues with their sound after this BIOS update also?  For who knows what reason the front audio jack seems alright and USB sound is fine, but the rear audio jack is horrible now.

8 Wizard

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17K Posts

November 6th, 2012 12:00

Last night after a rollercoaster of nonsense trying to get my GTX680 installed and working properly I noticed something bizarre.  Now when I have my speakers plugged into the rear audio jack on the pc I get a low static through the speakers.  This wasn't happening before the BIOS updates so what gives?

 

For who knows what reason the front audio jack seems alright and USB sound is fine, but the rear audio jack is horrible now.

 
It was never revealed what was tweaked in Aurora-R4 BIOS to resolve nVidia BSOD problems. Likely something to do with PCIe bus, right?
 
It's usually the front port that picks up a little static due to the long cable carrying an analog audio signal to the front ... and it picking up EMI along the way. I wonder if the rear 1/8" jack has just gone out? Be sure to try other speaker or headphones.
 
USB sound is a valid test, but remember that it uses the "sound card" in the USB device (so your questionable on-board sound card is disabled or side-stepped).

68 Posts

November 6th, 2012 13:00

Take a look at this from Dell....there's a new Audio driver out and posted here....hope it helps you.

en.community.dell.com/.../4221.alienware-aurora-r4-windows-8-64-bit.aspx

68 Posts

November 6th, 2012 13:00

68 Posts

November 6th, 2012 13:00

When I look at the link and the driver...this date is there

10/29/2012  3:34 AM    

November 6th, 2012 13:00

Nope, I'm still on Windows 7.  I'm hoping that these new sound drivers will take care of the static I'm hearing and I can just move on from there.

November 6th, 2012 13:00

Yeah, I found out the hard way that A03 doesn't like NVIDIA cards last night and jumped to A05.  I should have probably stopped there as I'm seeing a lot of people raging about A06 causing them problems.  I've tried a number of different speakers and headphones and they're all picking up static off that back audio jack.  There was no issue prior to this BIOS update so my question at this point would be is there a way to revert back to A05?  

Dell's tech support was beyond rude this morning when I called in and the woman seemed more interested in trying to tell me that Dell wouldn't cover anything that I installed myself (despite ordering it from Dell) and that the only way that I can expect to get any further assistance is to extend my warranty since its "almost expired" (didn't know that owning a system for 5 months meant your warranty was almost out).

A response from Dell on this would be greatly appreciated

68 Posts

November 6th, 2012 13:00

I was on this site and found it just looking at the problems people are posting. (I'll try to find the link to the original post that takes you to this driver page).

Not sure if you installed Windows 8, I have BIOS A06, but I'm still on Windows 7 on my Alienware and don't have any sound issues. (have an older XPS 410 and installed Win 8 there and it's running very well, no problems).

 

 

Here's the person that posted (from their profile, they sound very educated):

Posted by                               

 

Sticky

Alienware - Windows 8 Drivers Direct Links

                                    Posted to:                                     Alienware Forum
Popular Post
Latest post                                    by                                   

 

November 6th, 2012 13:00

When was that audio driver released?  The one I pulled from the downloads page for my system last night was from back in like...April

68 Posts

November 6th, 2012 13:00

jamescer751....you're right about support...I had someone with a spanish accent call me from Dell and nearly ordering me to extend my waranty. I told her if I want to I will, but I haven't found much help with them and I doubt I would pay extra money to extend mine.

November 6th, 2012 13:00

Alright I'll give these drivers a shot tonight after I install my new SSD.  I'm going to be installing a SSD with a fresh copy of Win 7 Pro and using my current sata hdd as a storage drive.  I appreciate these new drivers, I'll give them a shot tonight when I get home from work.

Out of curiosity where did you find those?  It would be helpful if Dell made these drivers a bit easier to find

8 Wizard

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17K Posts

November 6th, 2012 14:00

It would be helpful if Dell made these drivers a bit easier to find

 
File Area is generally kinda messed up these days. Dell is working on it.
 
Try entering from generic machine list (without Service Tag). That should show the updated files.

8 Wizard

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17K Posts

November 6th, 2012 14:00

Nope, I'm still on Windows 7.  I'm hoping that these new sound drivers will take care of the static I'm hearing and I can just move on from there.

 
Ya, try those first. Maybe try clean installing them a couple of times to make sure they "take".
 
If that doesn't work ... before you give up, try:
 
Uninstall them and anything you see related to them (Realtek Audio Driver Suite, etc.).
Reboot.
Delete the main Audio Device from Device Manager.
Reboot and let Windows re-detect it.
See if it will load the generic Microsoft HD-Audio Device hardware drivers from Windows Update.
Try and Test those.

November 6th, 2012 15:00

What was with the tech support rep trying to tell me that my warranty was voided because I installed the gtx 680 that i bought from Dell myself?  I bought the Alienware and card from Dell and the rep told me repeatedly that she didn't have to help me but would make an exception.  My machine is well under warranty, and when they turn around and tell me the only way she'll help further is if i buy an extended warranty to me screams go get help from somewhere else because Dell tech either A) doesn't know what they're doing, B) doesn't care about helping  you, or C) both A & B

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