xps L501X: Ticking sound from jbl subwoofer

I just received my new custom built L501X on Tuesday (30th Nov) and I have the exact same problem.  It is a minor clicking / popping noise that occurs seemingly at random whether I am on the desktop, running an application or even playing a game.  I noticed it first coming from the built in speakers but now have external speakers plugged in and can hear it coming though them as well.  Also when wearing headphones it is quite noticable so I have to assume it is something to do with the sound card.  It's not the worst thing in the world but as with any new expensive long term purchase like a laptop we want it to be as perfect as possible.

Same basic observations as the above post.  I have also tried disabling the built in mic as I figured this might be causing some interference but popping noise still occurs.  One thing I have noticed is that the noise seems to occur much more frequently when I am navigating around "my computer" or when I am working in the control panel windows.  I also notice the popping noise just before the windows sound effect when I click to transition back or forth into folders and then it will always occur again 4 seconds after.

Aha....I think I might have actually just solved the problem while writing this!!  I have gone into control panel, sounds, and turned off the sound effect for "start navigation" and presto...I'm not hearing the click at all any more.  Will have to see if this fixes it across the board but seems to have eradicated it.  Yay!

Ok, turning off that sound has certainly stopped some of the clicking noises when working in folders but has not got rid of it entirely.  The clicking noise seems to occur just before windows sound effects.  Will need to run a few more applications and see where it occurs.

I reinstalled the audio driver (from the dell website) and that seems to dismiss the ticking noise completely. Does it works for you? 

Very happy to hear that you have found a fix.  Is it the Realtek ALC665 Audio driver (101mb)?

Yes that's the one i used. 

I've had this issue as well. Nice to see there's a possible simple fix.

Before your driver re-install, did you guys have any issues  with noise coming from the speakers or (especially) headphones when the microphone is enabled?

Haven't heard the noise since. Very happy that the driver download has fixed the problem.  :emotion-2: Cheers MichielC

FIx for this problem:

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to post your resolutions (and attempted resolutions) to the clicking sound coming from the XPS L501X. My new system is also making the strange, intermittent ticking/clicking/popping sound, and it is extremely bothersome.

I reinstalled the driver, as suggested, however my system continues to click/pop. It never went away. So, I am truly baffled now. Has anyone else who updated the driver continued to have the issues? Any additional suggested fixes?

Thanks, in advance, for any and all replies!

I just received my new XPS 15 and having the same problem (popping coming from the subwoofer). It appears to be related to the Power Management feature of Realtek.

Go into the Realtek audio settings by pressing waves button. Click advanced and turn off power management feature. Problem gone.

Hopefully Dell will fix this in a future driver update.

I'm having a similar issue myself. It happened after I updated to the A02 audio driver (to which I still get random crackling noises in my audio so no fix there). On the other hand my laptop dose recognise a driver (the version numbers match but I don't see the A02 part and the date states 11/9/2010 not 11/23/2010 like the one on the website) but I do get audio perfectly fine except for the issue in this thread we are talking about. so now not only do I have random audio crackles when I play music or watch videos, but the Waves Maxxaudio control panel has disappeared as well :(

food for thought: I'd just like to let everyone know that I'm a noob at this sort of thing but I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw out an idea (or observation) for the more technical oriented to chew on.

see a similar issue like this has happened before with Dell, specifically on their Alienware line. the community concluded that the laptop models in question showed a lot of spikes on a DPC Latency test (or in simple terms when this test spikes you could see problems such as audio skipping/popping/crackling). Could DPC Latency tests possibly help in this situation?

link: http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/Direct2Dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2009/11/18/dell-dpc-latency-and-you.aspx

I too have this problem with popping audio with the internal speakers or external ones.

Updated to the latest driver and disabled the windows sound as suggested but still occurring.

Only fix I have found is to turn off Waves MaxxAudio in the application which is ok, but not ideal as it is a good feature I would like kept on.

So cannot be a hardware problem.

Would be interested to hear about any updates.

I agree, additionally I took the time to install and run Ubuntu 10.10 to which the audio and all it's glory worked without a hitch so I will also agree it's not a hardware issue.

now we just have to pick on Dell to give us a fix :)

that's great to hear, but I still have the problem :( what media player are you using?

also has anyone looked into a fix for the Waves Maxxaudio 3 touch key issue? i found the software on my computer but the hot key doesn't work to launch it and i can't find where you can configure the audio touch button.

it seems that u have to restart twice after u reinstall the audio driver.