E6440 Speaker Pop

[dubaycr]

We are switching to the 6440 moving forward and out of the 3 that I've had in hand so far, all 3 have a random internal speaker pop. Audio plays fine, both internal and external. There's no distortion or crackle. I've updated the driver to no effect.

I can't replicate the pop and it's not just from system sounds. It pops when I just open a browser or click on start, etc....things with no audio associated. We're concerned that the internal speaker is not shielded properly and that it can lead to long term issues. We'll be ordering hundreds of these laptops over the next couple of years.

I've never had this issue with any of the previous models from the 6400 to the 6430S. Any idea what could be the culprit?

Chris Dubay

University of Texas System Administration

Information Services Specialist

[DELL-Arjun BV]

Hi Chris,

The symptoms show that there could be a possible setting concern where pop sound could be enabled to applications in windows. However, to verify that I suggest you to reduce the volume to zero and try opening the applications which were giving you pop ups and check the same.

If there is no pop up sound kindly check the application settings and see if there is a pop up sound enabled. Please check the settings and see if it helps.

[Jim Coates]

random internal speaker pop

So it does not come through the headphones? That does seem like a hardware issue, but you could try using the native Windows audio driver (if you still get the pops that rules out a driver issue) and look at our Choppy/Skipping Audio FAQ. The faq has all of the solutions that other owners have found for noise issues, but like you indicated the recent Latitude models have not had much of a problem.

I would contact tech support about having the speakers replaced before ordering anymore units. There might have been a bad batch that got installed in your units. If that does not fix the problem and tech support cannot help any further, I would look at other models. In the past we owners have noticed that on most Dell laptops with noise problems, the owners end up owning the problem.

[dubaycr]

It's not a system sound. It's not like a bubble pop, it's a static crackle that only happens on occasion, it can't be easily reproduced. That's what leaves me to believe that it's a speaker shielding issue...and the fact that it happens on 3 out of 3 6440's, but has never been an issue with hundreds of 6400, 6410, 6420, 6430, 6430S models.

[dubaycr]

[quote user="dubaycr"] random internal speaker pop

So it does not come through the headphones? That does seem like a hardware issue, but you could try using the native Windows audio driver (if you still get the pops that rules out a driver issue) and look at our Choppy/Skipping Audio FAQ. The faq has all of the solutions that other owners have found for noise issues, but like you indicated the recent Latitude models have not had much of a problem.

I would contact tech support about having the speakers replaced before ordering anymore units. There might have been a bad batch that got installed in your units. If that does not fix the problem and tech support cannot help any further, I would look at other models. In the past we owners have noticed that on most Dell laptops with noise problems, the owners end up owning the problem.

[/quote]

I'll try the native driver today. It only happens on the internal speaker, not headphones or speaker bar. I wanted to wait to contact support since I can't easily replicate the issue and that's going to be the first thing they are going to want.

[DELL-Arjun BV]

Hi Dubaycr,

Kindly try the same steps recommended and use just native drivers and check the same which will allow us identify if it is a driver conflict or the speakers themselves. Observe it and let us know if the issue returns so we can check further.

[dallascowboyswo]

Go to Control Panel, Device Manager. Click on sound and the adapter. Click on Details of the adapter and select the hardware ids Post the hardware ids here to see if we can find another driver. Do this for each sound adapter. What OS are you running?

[IBI_CSD]

We have had issues with the sound card with some of our E6440s too as well as 2 arriving bad out of the box. This model seems to have a defect rate of about 15-20% so we are thinking of making a big move.

[Jim Coates]

We have had issues with the sound card with some of our E6440s too

Were the symptoms the same as those described by Chris Dubay? Or different, possibly due to an unrelated issue?

If would be helpful to know if the random pops described by Chris Dubay are widespread within this model line.

[mkeeferIT]

I have experienced the exact same issue.  A sporadic periodic pop  that is a crackly pop not just a pop.  It happens at random and cannot be easily reproduced.  I've tried different drivers to no avail.  I have to start making a big push of this model laptop in our environment and it sure would be nice to know what to do to fix it.  It seems more than a batch issue to me.