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Speaker pops before and after sound (power management?) - XPS 13 9360
Hello,
I've got this strange issue with my XPS 9360 that seems to have started after having the motherboard replaced a few days ago, although it could have been happening before this, I'm not 100% sure.
The right speaker is making a pop noise before and after any audio that is played. It's as if the audio driver is switching on to play the sound, then switching off immediately after the sound has finished. This behaviour also occurs in situations where there is no sound being played, such as loading webpages. In these cases the speaker pops twice/three times in succession. It's not a loud noise, but is annoying and noticeable in a quiet environment. In between the popping, sound plays fine and I haven't noticed any other noises during playback. It doesn't occur when using headphones.
I'm using the latest drivers from Dell support and the latest 1.2.3 BIOS.
System specs:
XPS 13 9360 | i7 7500u | 16gb | 512gb - Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Anonymous
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January 25th, 2017 01:00
Hi,
Thank you for writing to us!
Can you please check if you are able to hear the pop sound when windows starts up and also we would suggest you to check if the same thing happens wit external speakers or headphone, kindly run the diagnostics test to check if its a hardware failure.
Kindly private message the service tag and email address.
Thanks
Robin
SuperHanss
15 Posts
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January 25th, 2017 12:00
Hi Robin,
Thanks for your reply. I PM'd you my info.
In answer to your questions:
- I am able to hear the pop sound when Windows starts but only from a cold boot. I cannot hear the noise if I restart the computer.
- In contradiction to my last post, I can hear a pop with headphones. Unfortunately I don't have any external speakers to test.
- Diagnostics shows no issues
Cheers.
SuperHanss
15 Posts
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January 30th, 2017 15:00
So I'm fairly sure that my issue is related to the way that audio power management is handled. Realtek/Intel seem to have implemented a very strict power management that shuts down the audio device immediately after sound has finished playing. IIRC, there used to be an option in Realtek control panel that disabled this behaviour, but this setting doesn't exist in Waves MaxxAudioPro.
If I uninstall the Realtek drivers and MaxxAudioPro clobber I'm able to use the native Microsoft audio driver, which does eliminate the popping noise, but introduces a constant buzzing noise instead, which makes it unusable.
Hopefully a driver update can fix this, or at least give us the option to disable power management.
Codster
34 Posts
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February 3rd, 2017 00:00
I've noticed this too on my system (Dell XPS 9360 - Kaby Lake i7 - 8GB - FHD) and I have latest BIOS (1.3.2). It is most definitely Audio Driver related. I have mentioned it in a few posts, but never made a dedicated post. I assume most people have the issue and just ignore the sound. The issue how I described it before was:
I find it is often related to the "Delayed" audio. And yes, I think it happens when the Audio has been "sleeping" for a while, then you start some sound, and it'll delay the audio and play the sound. When warmed up its fine, but if you leave it for a while it'll "go back to sleep" then the crackle or pop will return next time audio/sound is played.
I notice it sometimes while browsing with no audio playing after, but I think these instances is just when the browser was "preparing" something with the audio probably and didn't play.
The Crack and Pop is always the same. 2 quick pops, follow by a pause, then a pop. Then Audio plays. Then after sound plays, and "cools" it does 1 pop.
Like that. I should make a youtube video of it some time. I'm sure everyone hears it and they just do not realise.
Audio Driver (and Wireless Driver) updates are badly needed for the XPS 9360 (Maybe the drivers just need updating with Windows AU or the Kaby Lake Power management or both).
Master Burn
2 Posts
1
April 22nd, 2017 05:00
I have exactly the same issues with my brand new Dell Inspiron. I noticed the "popping/crackling" sound instantly just after unboxing it, so from day 0....
I contacted Dell through twitter, facebook, telefphone, to ask for a solution. Up till now none of the technicians came up with a solution other than "update BIOS and drivers and reinstall windows 10". The updating part (BIOS/drivers) I did of course but didn't help at all. Reinstalling Windows 10 seems pretty useless since the problem was already in the device as of day 0....
Pretty much everything found on the internet I tried or was not applicable for this device. For exemple I do not have a power management tool or setting to the sound card.
Anybody who came across a solution? It really annoys me.... :(
Codster
34 Posts
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April 22nd, 2017 17:00
Yea; Still not solution with me. I've been living with it for a while. I was able to "change" the pop'ing sound a bit though. I think it's related to the other sound issue with my XPS 9360 located here:
en.community.dell.com/.../20992135
Basically, just clean installing the drivers and everything produces the above, 30% cpu on the service, and any sound which plays does the "POP, POP ...... POP. (SOUND PLAYS) ..................... POP."
However, if you uninstall and reinstall the driver over and over, and allow windows to update the driver in the driver managment. Repeat until something happens (unsure the exact cause). But then u get into a state where the service won't do 30%, and the pop'ing still happens but doesn't do the same 4 pops as above, instead it does more like "POP ............ (Delay) (SOUND PLAYS) .............. POP". Or maybe 2 really quick pops... hard to say. But yes it changes the pop's. Eventually the service producing 30% comes back though... it worked for a long time. Maybe when I started using the headphones again it switched back. ::) But yea, 2 terrible sound issues on this machine.