Loud Buzzing from External Speakers

Could be interference from electronic devices--cordless phone, fluorescent lights, woofer, other devices. Move to a diff location or remove or move the devices. Experiment to find the source of the problem. Recheck the wired connections.

I don't think interference would seem to be a possibility.  This noise is full volume, not a little static and it starts one to two seconds after the music stops.  They are wired, not wireless and nothing changes between the times the problem occurs and when the Speakers are completely silent.

I will try plugging the speakers into a separate plug from the computer to test, just in case.

Thanks for the response

this would appear to be a driver of whatever sets up the combined audio port..

Hello Saltgrass. That would be the audio driver. You have probably noticed that I always suggest testing the driver by switching to the native driver and compare results. If the issue manifests with both drivers, then probably not a driver fault because it would be a pretty big coincidence for both drivers to have the same bug at the same time.

Limited testing with headsets does not appear to exhibit the problem

I would complete the test and make sure that it doesn't happen with headphones. If it doesn't happen with the headphones or internal speakers, might be a problem with the Logitech speakers. Can you plug them into another device and check?

Another possible culprit is power management. Power management can be aggressive in shutting down audio functions, but I would expect it to be heard as a popping noise, whether in powered speakers or headphones.

I always suggest testing the driver by switching to the native driver

I might agree except it does not happen every time.  Headphones probably will not have the problem because they don't have their own power so cannot make any sounds. 

I could try the native driver but since I don't seem to be able to make it happen on cue, it may not do any good.  I suppose I could check the volume fading situation at the same time.

I can try the speakers in another device, will let you know.  This is the only system I have with the combined audio port.

The noise sounds exactly like what happens when you plug in or unplug a power speaker.  I have been checking the plug to make sure it is all the way in and so far it has been.

I will post back if I discover anything to change my initial theory.

Thanks..

I always suggest testing the driver by switching to the native driver I might agree except it does not happen every time.

That's okay, you can keep the native driver installed as long as you like, until you determine whether or not the issue occurs when using it.

The noise sounds exactly like what happens when you plug in or unplug a power speaker.

Then not a loud buzzing.

Obviously, you have not plugged in powered speakers with the power on..

You assume too much.

Then not a loud buzzing.

Obviously, you have not plugged in powered speakers with the power on..  A real "what the heck" moment..

Testing speakers on other system did not show problem, but doesn't really eliminate that possibility since the problem is intermittent.

Uninstalled Dell Driver and allowed HD Audio driver to install (hdaudio.inf)

Got a lot of static in left channel...unacceptable...(possibly related to Waves which was still running)

Loaded Realtek driver from Realtek.  Some static in left channel, but realized Waves was still running.  Turned off Waves in the Processes tab of Task Manager and stopped the Waves in services.  Appears static has stopped.  I listen to one operatic singer and can accept absolutely no distortion in her voice.

Since no Waves popup, only way to recognize headphones plugged in is to reboot with them plugged in.  If unplugged, the system will not give popup or switch back to headphones and they don't show as a playback device...   Bluetooth does not have the restriction, although you may need to disable the internal speakers in the playback devices or restart the music app.

Waves was still running after the initial uninstall, so you can disable it in the Task Manager Startup section and reboot or in the process section and chose to End Task.  There is also a Waves service in the services section which you can stop.

I will be continuing testing for the volume fade and noise the rest of the day..

Thanks again..

Well, I did not see the noise on the XPS 2720 but it did not take long for the Inspiron 17 to show the problem.

First thing I did was check the connection.  Waves MaxxAudio was not running, so it isn't involved.  I am running a Realtek driver I got directly from their site, 6.0.1.8004.

The speakers are plugged into a separate circuit, not just another plug.

I stopped the music and the noise started.  I was going to record it but when I opened the Voice Recorder the noise stopped.  When I closed it the noise started again.  If I opened the Playback dialog to check the microphone, the noise stopped and re-started when it was closed.  

Almost anything will stop the noise, at least temporarily.  Even plugging in my iPhone stops the noise, for a second or two.

I have a recording of the noise on my iPhone, just have to find a way to get it to you.

I would say my conclusion has been confirmed.  So far, getting no distortions or volume fades.

This research is mostly for the use in this forum, if it were to be relevant.  Otherwise, maybe Dell will see some problem which is related to the Combined Audio plug...

Thanks again..

I have an Insperon 17-7779 with the same problem. The buzzing sounds like 60 cycle hum. I am connecting a small amplifier to the computer and driving speakers with the amp. I think it might be associated with the power management. The computer turns things off when not in use. I think the audio amplifier is being turned off and the output goes to a high impedance. This makes the output very vulnerable to interference. I have a test for you to try. Connect your external speakers and get the system in the mode such that you hear the "buzzing". Now unplug the ac power to the computer and run off batteries. Does the "buzzing" stop. My "buzzing" does stop. Now plug the ac in again. Get to where the "buzzing" is again active. Connect a wire from the metal housing of the external speakers to metal ground of the computer. Even with the ac connected the "buzzing" should stop. My "buzzing" does stop. The computer and the external speakers dc power are basically floating on there own dc power supply. The computer disabling the audio output driver allows power supply "hum" "noise" "buzzing" to be coupled into the external amplifiers. Grounding the two devices is a reasonable solution. A filter can also be put in the line between them.

Note: When connecting the ground between devices note that it is hard to find a good ground on the computer. You would think that the housing around the computer would all be grounded. It is not. The metal ground around the usb ports is a good location. Just pull a usb plug out far enough to make contact.

Good luck and please let me know if this helps.

It doesn't sound like a 60 cycle hum to me but it might be.

What was interesting to me was, if I opened either the Voice Recorder or Recording devices from the Taskbar speaker icon, the noise stopped.  When I closed them the noise started back up.  Both of those utilities are directly involved with the microphone so I was thinking that connection was involved.

But whatever it is doing exactly, I would say some connection is having its state allowed to change when the music stops.

I have not heard the noise since I went with the Realtek driver from Realtek.  It seems the last Dell update made it worse.

I should have added a disclaimer with my first post. Try at your own risk. If you don't feel comfortable with this don't do it.

An update. I checked the resistance from ground of the output port to the computer ground and found that it went to a high resistance when this "buzz" starts. I feel comfortable in stating that this seems to have something to do with the power saving modes of the computer. Power is being actively disabled to the output amp when not in use.  I am shocked that the computer actively disconnects the ground of the output port. I have added a high pass filter between the computer and my external amplifier and it seems to have fixed the problem. I no longer hear any "buzz". I added the high pass filter in the cable between my computer and my external amplifier. If this continues to work I will move the filter into my external amplifier.

My high pass filter consists of a series capacitor and a shunt resistor on each of the output channels. The resistor is around 2.7 Mega Ohm, the capacitor is around 470 pf. Very cheep and easy to build filter. This allows me to correct the situation without doing anything to my computer. Values are not real critical. I say "about" because I used the closest values I had available. This is around a 120 Hz filter. If you want more info on this type of filter go to YouTube and search for "Hum Filter" .

www.youtube.com/watch

I have not tested this a lot. I will try to update after some more testing.

Please let everyone know if this helps others.

Thanks for the response. What might be important is the problem is in the system.  Allowing it to continue because you can stop the noise another way may not be a good idea.

I am still looking at a transient connection problem.  The speaker plug has three rings.  Left and right audio and ground.  A headphone w/microphone has four rings.  The ground ring is divided into two rings and the microphone gets one part.  For some reason, and it may be a power saving situation, the microphone connection is being allowed to change states from whatever it is with music playing, probably disconnected, to something else while on the grounded part of the plug....

I don't normally use the powered speakers since they are small.  As far as I can tell there is nothing I can really do to correct the situation except let Dell know there may be a problem.  Hopefully, that has been done...

Thanks again.

Forget my filter idea. My buzzing is back. It is very intermittent. I have run for hours without any problem. It definitely has something to do with grounding. If I ground my external amp and my computer together I never have a problem. This grounding will also stop the problem once it has started. I will let you know when I find more information.  

I had the same problem.  It is fixed now.  You need a special cable.  I could not find one, so I built one myself.  You need to put a 50 ohm (51 will be fine it is not critical) between each of the speaker wires and ground.  I built it into a connector on my speaker cable.  If you know a techno guy who has a soldering iron he can do it for you.  The problem is for some unknown reason Dell disconnects the Right and Left speaker pins at random times and the speakers see an open circuit.  This causes noise to be put on the lines.  The resistor is so the speaker sees a path to ground even when Dell disconnects it.  Dell can drive an 8 ohm speakers with no problem so the 50 ohm resistor will not cause any problems for either the Dell or the speakers.  This worked fine for me.

I've got this issue on my Inspiron 15 5578.

Unplugging power from the laptop makes no difference.  I also tried the Realtek drivers direct from their website, but again it didn't help the problem.

What does make a difference, as noted above, is any application playing sound or accessing the microphone. In particular, I found that enabling "Hey Cortana" makes the problem all but go away apart from when re-booting.  You do then get problem of Cortana occasionally interrupting videos when it thinks someone has said the magic words but at least there's no buzzing when nothing is being played.

I think Dell need to fix this problem.