Distorted audio on XPS 13

My problem with the distorted audio got worse and worse over time. In the beginning I had it 1 in 10 times. Lately 90%. Googling again for our problem I came to this page:

en.community.dell.com/.../19742876

It makes no sense that disabled C states for the CPU for an internally wired soundcard should help. Unless the Realtek is connected by USB, but that would be weird engineering. But for the last 10 songs with several different playback programs I do not have distorted sound.

Could anybody check whether the disabling of the C state in the bios helps them as well? If I am helped by a slightly worse battery life than that is fine with me.

I've been battling with this for a few months with my XPS 13. I have tried 101 things without luck.....the next step is a reformat and rebuild of OS and software. I'm on Win 10 Pro Anniversary.

However, I have noticed that it ONLY occurs when the Memory usage is at or above 70% (check Task Manager) - so if Chrome is open then pretty much guaranteed to distort sound :(

I have a high pressure Skype job interview coming up and now I'm concerned about the likely occurrence of this audio distortion happening in the middle of the interview.

Will my XPS 13 cost me a job opportunity? It shouldn't even be a factor.

Will my XPS 13 cost me a job opportunity? It shouldn't even be a factor.

I am yet another Dell XPS 13 with exactly this same problem.

You might be on to something with suggesting that it has to do with memory usage.

Distortion occurs randomly when streaming videos. When I close the browser, wait for the RAM usage to go down, reopen the same browser and stream the same video without touching any audio settings, the distortion is gone..

I get this issue on my XPS 13 as well. I've tried a variety of different drivers with no luck. I'm quite tired of it.

I haven't monitored RAM to see if there's coincidence... but it seems like it could be. After I reboot, the problem goes away for a while, then once it comes back it repeats pretty quickly.

A relatively quick workaround for the issue (in order to not have to reboot) is to disable and reenable the audio hardware. This makes the distortion stop for a while at least.

I found a script online which makes this doable by executing a command file. Put the following code (from "rem" thru "exit") into a .bat file, then double click to execute. It'll ask for permission, then it'll restart the appropriate audio hardware. I think it needs to be "run as administrator" which you can set by right-clicking the file, going to Properties, then setting the "run as administrator" check box.

rem Written for buggy audio drivers that need to be restarted
rem In my case, the Claro 8.18 drivers bug out every once in a while on Windows 10, and need restarting to not sound poppy

@echo off
goto check_Permissions

:check_Permissions
echo Administrative permissions required to run this script. Checking...

net session >nul 2>&1
if %errorLevel% == 0 (
goto gotAdmin
) else (
goto UACPrompt
)

pause >nul
exit

:gotAdmin
pushd "%CD%"
CD /D "%~dp0"
net stop audiosrv /y
net stop AudioEndpointBuilder /y
net start audiosrv
net start AudioEndpointBuilder
rem This next line is just for my configuration, or anyone else that has Razer headphones
rem net start RzSurroundVADStreamingService
exit

:UACPrompt
echo Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
set params = %*:"=""
echo UAC.ShellExecute "cmd.exe", "/c ""%~s0"" %params%", "", "runas", 1 >> "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
"%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
del "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
exit /B

I get this issue on my XPS 13

Hello. Thank you for taking the time to post your solution. It would be helpful for me if you would reply back with the full model name of the laptop (XPS 9343, 9350, 9360, etc.). Thanks.

Same problem here, came to this thread looking for solutions and it appears that after a year there are still none. I have the XPS 13 9343 and am frustrated by the problem, I am posting here to add to the growing list of XPS owners reporting the same symptom.

jimco,

Sorry, only just noticed your request! I would not call the script I posted a "solution" but rather a "workaround". A solution would be updated drivers that fix the problem, which I have still not discovered.

My laptop is an XPS 13 9343 (system sku 0665, whatever that means). Currently running all of the latest BIOS and drivers that I have found. Still experiencing the issue from time to time. Still incredibly annoying (but not as bad as the previous issues w/ space bar adding spaces all of the place or the cursor jumping around, both of which were nearly completely fixed by BIOS updates I think).

Does this work for sure?

I am using a Inspiron 15-3552 4.0.13 and I have this issue all the time. It's driving me nuts that I cannot find a simple solution. I don't no much about the BiOS or how to do disable the C-state. Could you leave some instructions to help me out?

Well after almost 2 years this issue was never fully fixed. Updating drivers works for a little while but soon enough the distorted audio comes back.

I tried ALL the fixes out there and nothing fixed the problem permanently. It always creeps back and it's so annoying and frustrating! Especially considering that this laptop cost me more than $1500! Laptops that I bought in high school that cost $200 didn't have such an issue.

Which is really sad for Dell. I tried my best to avoid buying a Macbook and Dell XPS 13 looked like the best option. I don't think I will ever make this mistake again. Soon I will be selling off my XPS 13, enough is enough.

@punk_out

Each BIOS is different so can't help you with that. Furthermore did disabling the C-state in the end not fully solve the problem. It got less, but did not go away completely.

@JaksaMaric

Agree 100%! Next laptop will be an Asus UX490 for me.

My laptop is an XPS 13 9343

I would not call the script I posted a "solution" but rather a "workaround".

Right. I added a paragraph in the XPS 9343 section of the Recent Issues FAQ, with a link to this thread. Thank you.

I'll go on record here: XPS 13-9343 now off warranty (was a replacement for earlier XPS 13-L322X with a dead cooling fan/motherboard).

I've had this static problem ever since receiving this model in 2016--also had the problem on the old version. Have tried everything short of clean reinstall of Win10 (problem predates Win10). All BIOS and drivers are current. Definitely has a connection to CPU usage--I'll hear weird distortion at times when overloading the CPU, but that's different than the static which just pops up at random times. Previously, the only way to fix the static was to shut down and reboot; then I read the post about going into the speaker properties and switching between 16 and 24 bit settings. That solves the static temporarily. Lately, I'm being forced to switch sometimes 8+ times a day. The issue is coming from the sound card, affecting the headphone out jack, which powers my external speakers.

I have now run the BAT script shown above. We'll see if this works--certainly easier to click on a file on the desktop than going into speaker properties.

For the price of this notebook, having a sound issue like this is ridiculous. Having DELL not offer a solution is worse.

Grant Iannelli