Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1.3K Posts
0
263904
The Official Front Panel Jacks Buzzing Thread
Folks,
First, a disclaimer -- I am
not a Dell employee. I am doing this for the betterment of the XPS Community. With that out of the way...
I've seen far too many threads speaking of buzzing noises when using the headphone / microphone jacks on the front of the XPS 720. As such, I am going to be proactive and try to get everyone to collect our information into one thread which may help Dell track down the issue.
There appears to be two categories of buzzing. Please try to identify which one you are experiencing.
Category 1: The buzzing is related to the LEDs
Some people have an issue that certain combinations of LED colors and brightness causes a buzzing noise. Generally, this buzzing is
not related to mouse scrolling, etc. This buzzing, though faint, is evident in the BIOS which clearly points to a hardware problem To determine if you suffer from this problem do the following:
1. Ensure the
Microphone Boost is turned on
2. Plug in a microphone into the front panel
3. Turn your volume above normal
4. Using Quickset or nTune, adjust the LED colors and/or the brightness
5. If the pitch/tone and/or volume of the buzz fluctuates with the changes you call into
at least category 1.
Category 2: Everyone else
It seems many people have complained about buzzing caused by a variety of things, though mouse scrolling is a common theme. Since the LED is a single item that has caused buzzing for some, at this time it has been set as its own category. If new trends emerge, I may create additional categories.
So, here's what I am asking. If you are experiencing a buzzing noise when you use the front panel headphone / microphone jack on your XPS 720 (or XPS 700/710 with the upgraded motherboard)
please post in this thread. Please include the following:
- System Model (XPS 720 [Red / Black], 720 H2C, 700/710 w/ Upgrade)
- BIOS Version
- Operating System (XP MCE, Vista, etc)
- Sound Card (X-fi (D), On-board, etc)
- Any unsuccessful or successful fixes you have found
- System ship-date
- Mouse Make/Model & Connection type (USB Wired, PS/2, Wireless[Bluetooth / Other])
- Headphone Make/Model
To mirror DCF suggestions,
DO NOT POST YOUR SERVICE TAG. If Dell wishes to collect service tags, a moderator will handle that through PM. I would respectfully ask that this thread
NOT BE USED FOR DELL BASHING. Feel free to voice your frustrations, but do so in a constructive way.
-Cade
Relevant Threads:
Message Edited by cademetz on 10-04-2007 11:39 AM
BloopEr
1 Message
0
March 23rd, 2008 13:00
Very informative thread.
I came here looking to solve popping and cracking whilst playing any music, dvd's etc.... After an hour or so on the phone to Dell tech support today they put this down to a dodgy sound card. Hence I have a new sound card to be shipped out. I have a brand new XPS 720 btw.
I just read this thread about buzzing with the headphones, which was happening with me also but quite faint whilst using the headphones.
So I simply turned off the LED effects in the dell QuickSet - Hey presto non of those irritating clicks (and yes they are irritating when you have spent that much on a new pc)
Now as a simple check to see it this was causing the problem I stopped the music playing and turned up the volume. I cycled through the various LED effects. With the headphones in, you can clearly hear the different versions of popping and clicking associated with each mode.
So simply turn the LED's off and it should solve all your woes.
Just goes to show how useful forums are.
It would be nice though if Dell could actually fix this as the lights are pretty cool. It would be nice to know what is causing this to happen!!!
villagedoctor
4 Posts
0
March 24th, 2008 02:00
Madparade7
52 Posts
0
March 27th, 2008 17:00
cademetz
1.3K Posts
0
March 27th, 2008 19:00
RRF985
563 Posts
0
March 29th, 2008 14:00
Ken A. Dienne
74 Posts
0
April 15th, 2008 19:00
Well, I just read through all ten pages, and I'm still at a loss for the buzz that I get when scrolling / moving around webpages (I have an XPS 720 with the XFI sound card). I get the buzz when using earphones through the front jack - but more surprisingly, I also get it from the back of my machine (not my desktop speakers). Is there an onboard speaker back there somewhere? Anyway, I hope we can get this issue solved in the near future. It's not the end of the world, but like many posters have pointed out, when you spend this much money on a new machine, you want it to be ship-shape!
Ken A. Dienne
villagedoctor
4 Posts
0
April 21st, 2008 13:00
Chris,
Is Dell working on this issue, or is it still happily shipping XPS units out the door with buzzing front panel jacks?
When, if ever, is Dell expected to bring final resolution to this issue?
villagedoctor
Madparade7
52 Posts
0
April 24th, 2008 15:00
Madparade7
52 Posts
0
April 29th, 2008 15:00
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
54.1K Posts
0
April 29th, 2008 18:00
Has anyone tried attaching a ferrite bead to the cable connecting the sound card to the front to see if it will eliminate the buzzing?
quivver
21 Posts
0
May 7th, 2008 06:00
Great idea Chris!
I just tried this with a pretty high quality TDK one that came with my Samsung HDTV. To my suprise, it did suppress the buzzing sound by a bit (maybe 25% or so) but it was still there...
electricice
5 Posts
0
July 11th, 2008 00:00
vvspy
133 Posts
0
September 10th, 2008 09:00
Fall under category two.
XPS 720 AIR COOL
A05
VISTA 32 BIT HOME PREMIUM
X-FI
NO FIX SO FAR (USE REAR PORTS, NO PROBLEM)
MARCH 2008
MS HABU USB WIRED
SENNHEISER HD201
roxpace
37 Posts
0
October 24th, 2008 13:00
Today I was speaking with Dell about my issue which still seems to be the same as your others.
Four times have they been to my place and exchanging parts in my computer and no positive result, still the static noise are there.
Now they wants me to send in the computer, yes sure after over one year with endless discussions, they never trust their customers or their own technicians (those that visits their customers).
But they revealed something very interesting to me today.
They told me that the static buzzing sound is normal and they know about it, appearently they keep it secret because this was the first time ever I heard about it. And I have to live with the problem since it is related to the CPU (power saving mode) and soundcard together with the PCI bus, I sincerely doubt that since it feels like an electrical ground problem rather than CPU and soundcard.
They also told me that they so far has closed the other cases, like most in this thread because it is something the customer must accept as normal.
But this is where it becomes interesting, this is NOT normal, this unnormal and because of that they are fooling their own customers, showing absolutely no respect for the customers or the consumer laws at all.
I hope you people still wants to fight for making your machines working correctly, do not be silent, and use the law if they do not listen, in most western countries the consumers have the law on their side in this case.
I think this is so tragic because I have always liked Dell, and bought many Dell machines and recommended others to buy them, but from now I don't know if I dare to do that.
I hope Dell really do the right and admit also in public and take responsibility for this.
ebstlr
1 Message
0
March 4th, 2009 19:00
I have a new (02/2009) red XPS. There is a definite buzz from the front panel audio out. It is not related to the mouse or window movement. The buzzing is not noticeable through the laptop speakers, but very noticeable with amplified external speakers. However, the buzzing goes away when the laptop is on battery ONLY power. The inbound power is coming through a top line Tipp LIte power conditioner (not just a UPS) - so there is no noise from external lines/sources. I wonder if it is not a poorly designed AC/DC box used by Dell.
Has Dell done anything yet? Replacing the laptop will not likely help.