New Alienware 17 R3 weird audio pop at bootup and shutdown.

Ok I wanted to eliminate the Graphics Amp from the equation so I shut down and unplugged the

Graphics Amp and booted just the laptop and it made the same pop. So at this point I'm thinking

driver (but there doesn't seem to be a newer version of the Recon 3Di driver at the moment) or

perhaps interference.

Hello. It might just be a normal noise if you are not turning off your amp before you shut down the laptop, but you could try doing this:

> Remove the Creative Recon 3Di driver entirely. Go into the Device Manager and expand the Sound, Video & Game Controllers section. Right click on the Recon and select to uninstall. Put a check mark in the option to delete the driver software, and then ok. Reboot the laptop and go back to the Device Manager and check again for a Recon driver. Keep uninstalling & rebooting until the Creative Recon no longer appears under Sound...Controllers and "High Definition Audio Device" appears in its place. "High Definition Audio Device" is the name of the Windows native driver. When you get rid of all Recon files the native driver will be the one controlling the audio

> If you successfully get the native driver installed, test the audio and see if you still get the pops. If you no longer get them, then you are right in thinking that there is a problem with the Recon driver. On the other hand, if you do gets the pops with the native driver, then it is probably not a driver issue.

> Install an older Recon driver than the one you are currently using. This one if you have Win 8.1, or this one if you have Win10. Test with the older driver, then upgrade back to the newest one if you want it.

Hello Jim,

This Alienware replaced an Asus VX7sx Laptop in pretty much the same orientation the wiring hasn't changed much. The Asus ran Realtek for audio instead of Creative so the sky is the limit. Your suggestion to remove the Creative Drivers and Software is spot on and that's my next course of action.  If it continues to pop after that then it must be the way the hardware powers up and down. It's just odd that the integrated speakers do not make this noise, just the headphone jack. 

I tried turning the gain down on the external audio amp that didn't do anything and I tried all sorts of settings in the software to no avail.

I will go through and do what you suggested and test and then try the different driver versions you linked. I appreciate you kicking this one around and lending me your knowledge!

Well I guess it was a hardware issue straight out of the box. I came home Friday night and the week

Old $2800.00 laptop was not powered on and the power adapter was not illuminated. I removed the

Adapter from the laptop and plugged it into another outlet and the adapter lit up. As soon as I plugged

It back into the laptop smoke came out of the jack area along with the tale tale smell of fried circuits.

Great Job Dell!

Let us know how the return process goes. Good luck.

Jim,

Well,  "Technical Support" via phone was little more than useless. I was told that the power at my
home must be bad and that is the reason why the power adapter turns off when plugged into the laptop because it's trying to "protect the computer"  LOL. I've worked in IT for nearing 2 decades, I've handled countless thousands of Dell's, HP's and IBM's and this was news to me.

Tech support said "You can send the computer back to us and we will repair it and send it back". Yep because that's completely acceptable for a $2800.00 purchase that was used for a week.

I am shipping it all back, they are going to issue a refund and I am going elsewhere. Probably Razer (Blade not the Stealth) with the Core. Not 100% sure yet but I am heavily leaning that way.

Thanks,

Brett

Brett, tech support's logic fails to explain why smoke came out of the computer, doesn't it? Luckily this happened during the return period, otherwise your only option would be tech support.

Jim,

I agree completely. I explained exactly what happened in which order. Explained that smoke came out from the DC In Jack on the Laptop and there was a sizzling short circuit sound from the jack area and the best he could come up with was that my house power must be bad.  I knew at that point I wanted nothing more than my money back. If that's the kind of support you get from a $2800.00 purchase, then count me out! 

You are right I am very fortunate it happened so soon. Otherwise I would have been stuck in their worthless support loop.

I've had my own personal Dell's in the past and deployed a few thousand of them in my company and never had an issue like this with their support in the past.