Studio 15 (1557) Subwoofer Not Working

Ok, thanks for the pointer. I'll post over there too.

There are a few of us with the problem now as discussed here:  http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=420768&page=21

I think the best way to find an answer though is having a dedicated thread here in the official forums.  Maybe we can get a dell rep in here to help!

I have the SoundBlaster X-fi MB on my 1557, with the IDT drivers installed, and am running Windows 7.  I have tried almost all variations of setting and am not hearing anything out of my subwoofer.  I can put my ear directly to the subwoofer on the bottom right of the laptop and can only hear the wrrrrrr of the hdd.

I am going to try putting Vista back on to see if it is a driver issue in W7.

Let's see if we can figure this out without sending systems back!

Hi,

I am also have no soubd from my 1557's subwoofer. Have re-installed the IDT driver, but the IDT control panel doesn't recognise the subwoofer, only the L/R channels. Do wnat to online chat with Dell Tech Support, but don't have my service tag with me in my office, so will be in touch with them later. If anybody has any ideas what's wrong please let us know!!

Nifkin

So it seems I am not the only one experiencing this problem. I guess that's a relief in some ways.

It would be good to direct anyone experiencing this problem from other forums here so that we can keep any information regarding this issue in one place. It will help raise awareness with Dell and it's probably the first place other people with new systems will look if they have the same problem.

Just to update you on my case. I emailed dell support and asked them if it sounded like I had a faulty system since I had no bass. Their response was along the lines of 'the sound I'm getting from my system is fine and is typical of the quality and audio range I should be getting from a Studio 1557. Your subwoofer is working correctly and you'll never hear much bass from a laptop'. However, I hear ZERO bass, not a small amount typical with laptops - it sounds like an external speaker from a mobile phone but in stereo and of higher fidelity. I suspect that the crossover is literally chopping off the bass frequencies and routing it to the not working "subwoofer".

Anyway, I was watching BBC iplayer on my laptop last night and halfway through the show my subwoofer kicked in! I suddenly got the bass I was expecting and it was pretty decent. Shocked, I started playing around with settings and everything seemed fine and all of the IDT control panel options worked (ie. bass routing, SRS turebass, etc ).
The problem is that after my next reboot my subwoofer is no longer working again and I am annoyed that Dell support has lied to me about the sound being consistent with what to expect from the 1557. I haven't mentioned this to them yet since I'm going to try to figure out what caused it to work for a short period of time before I confront them....maybe it's a bad connection, but I have a feeling that it is a software issue.

In the other forums mentioning that they had subwoofer problems, there are replies from people stating that they are not sure if their subwoofer is working. They are putting their ear against where the subwoofer enclosure is to check. Let me say that if they are having to put their ear against it to check then it isn't working. When it works you can feel strong vibrations in the laptop (primarily around the trackpad and keyboard) even at lower volumes and the sound is full.

I strongly suspect that many peoples subwoofers are not working but they aren't aware of the fact.

I can confirm that I don't feel or hear anything from the sub on the bottom of the laptop.  I can feel vibrations from the top speakers when I put my fingers to them and nothing when I put my fingers to my sub.  It is definitively not working!

Since it kicked on randomly and then turned back off with a reboot I have a feeling it is something electrical and not software.  There may be a way for Dell to fix it via the bios though.

I was thinking if resetting the CMOS would help but I can't seemed to find out how on a Studio.  If anyone can find this information it would be worth a try.

deadpencil,

The next time your sub kicks in can you confirm if it is visible as a speaker in the IDT Control Panel Setup.  Maybe take a screen shot and post it here?

Thanks!

Hi guys,

I have yet to speak to Dell UK tech support, as they are only available Mon to Fri, and when I am at work, and haven't had my service tag number with me on those occasions.

dp: am disgusted and not surprised from the response you got from tech support regarding thew issue; it seems it's not just Dell sales and customer service that just make up any old nonsense to fobb customers off with. There is very clearly an issue with the subwoofer, so I hope if we keep on at them they will come up with a fix. I will try speaking to the tomorrow and will give you an update as soon as I get a response.

Cheers

Wow, this would be funny if weren’t so serious. Just an FYI, consumers can download the service manual for Studio 1557 on Dell’s site and it clearly shows how to remove and reinstall the “SUB WOFFER”. Mr. Pencil it sounds like you’ve uncovered a maddening truth; we truly are on our own……. What a bummer.

Hi all,

I did post a transcript of my conversation yesterday with Dell UK tech support via online chat about the subwoofer issue, just above aerocrash's post, but the Dell Community moderators deleted it, probably because it contained the name of the Dell representative I was chatting to. To cut a long story short, the representative swore blind that there is NO internal subwoofer in the Dell 1557, which of course there is. I continued to challenge him on this point, but he rather unceremoniously terminated our chat. 

The thing is, the issue of the subwoofer not working is not actually huge for me; I still have stereo sound, and it certainly doesn't affect the tasks that I purchased the machine for. If Dell were to acknowledge the issue, or at least have a tidy procedure in which such issues can be logged by the support team, pending feedback from other customers, I would be satisfied; I don't even expect a turn-around time for a resolution! However, it is responses like the one I received from tech support yesterday that drive me crazy; I find Dell's telesales and tech support department's "tell them anything to close a sale/get them off the phone" attitude breathtaking to the degree that I'm slack-jawed with disbelief! Poorly trained staff who resort to distorting the truth to wriggle out of assisting customers make a mockery of Dell's claims to provide a good after-sales function.

I will continue to complain to Tech Support, when I have the time; I am hoping that, if enough of us do that, Dell will eventually come up with a resolution to our problem.

Hey 

I'd like to say that I have received my Dell Studio 1557 Core i7 with Srs Premium Sound speakers and it's great! But I am also having the problem with the sub woofer. I have read that some people's sub woofers would randomly work and then not work. Today that happened to me when I was playing an online game called Dune Bashing in Dubai. Everytime you accelerate your atv in the game, it creates sound and as it did my laptop would rumble. It never rumbled like this before. Right away I went to go play a song with bass and I did not feel anything. Later on I went back to play the game again to see if it still works and ofcourse it doesn't. I do not believe Dell when they say that there isn't a subwoofer in these laptops. It had never rumbled like thise before. I will try and fool around with the settings and also hope this issue will be resolved.

Keep us updated!

Yesterday I called Dell tech support, and, once I'd been put through to the right department, explained to the guy the problem with my subwoofer not working, and how I'd reinstalled the drivers and done a hardware diagnostic, but the problem still persisted. He then said he'd place me on hold while he conferred to find a solution.

Just over eight minutes later, he returned to me, and told me that he'd managed to confirm that there wasn't a subwoofer installed on the the Studio 1557 and that I was mistaken. I then provided him with this link from Dell's own website:

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

With that, he then put me on hold for a further, oooh, 30 seconds, and, when he returned, told me that his manager had in  fact informed him that the 1557 does indeed have a subwoofer! Well well well!

He then asked me to connect to the internet on my Studio 1557, which I was unable to, as I was calling him from my workplace and did not have my laptop with me. He then said I could receive a call back from tech support whilst I was at home. I said OK, how about 7pm tonight? Again, I was put on hold. When he returned, he told me that 7pm would be inconvenient, how about tomorrow (now today) between 6 and 7pm? I agreed to this. Am keeping my fingers crossed they'll keep their promise, and it wasn't just another ruse to get me off the phone!

Will keep you updated

:emotion-2:

Way to wrestle that one to the ground. Good job NifKin!

Hey Nifkin, have you talked to them yet?

Well once you do I would like to know what they say and then I'll have to call Dell Canada and see what they have to say. At the moment I am very busy. But also right now I'm listening to downloaded music straight from my laptop and the subwoofer is on and my settings are the same as always.This is starting to get annoying.........

Hi from a newbie,

I've been following this discussion, as I have just got a Studio 1555 w/ Windows 7 last week. Initially, I too was hearing no bass. However after fiddling with the settings, drivers, even reinstalling the OS, I can report that the sub-woofer is working, and I can hear a reasonable spread of frequencies.

Just don't ask me exactly what I did; I don't think I could repeat the steps. Even now, when I try and alter the speaker settings, it can turn the bass off, or stop the speakers working entirely. But at least I know that it's a software problem, not a dodgy batch of speakers.

On further listening, I don't know if the sub-woofer IS working. I may have altered my settings to turn the output from 5.1 (with 3 speakers missing) to stereo. There is a bass response, but not at very low frequencies. When listening to something with all the graphic equaliser frequencies set to their lowest levels, there's no response to increasing the 31 & 62Hz sliders. The lowest response is to the 125Hz slider. I presume even the small laptop speakers are designed to play something at these levels, and that may have been what I picked up on. Or maybe I'm just getting more used to a weedy sound.

FYI I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, Intel Core Duo P7350 2GHz, 4GB RAM, playback devices - IDT High Definition Audio Codec, driver version - 6.10.0.6217 (installed from the drivers CD/DVD).