Buzzing/stuttering during audio playback on xps 13 9333

When is Dell going to push this fix out?  You pushed the buggy software out, why can't  you push the fix out?

You should see how bad Dell is...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HGxYMJdm1c

It affects the E7x40, E6x40, E5x40, E5x50, M4800 and M6800 under Linux. A few users are also facing the same issue with the XPS 13 2015 and E7450.

So basically Dell took a few months to fix the keyboard de bouncing under Windows and when they finally released a BIOS update they made the situation a lot worse for linux users (keys would appear to get stuck). After waiting a few more months, they finally released another BIOS update to "fix" the anomaly under Linux (they fixed the "stuck" key problem but many users are still reporting a de bouncing issue, see the latest pages of this thread if you are interested http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19593360 )

There's also a touchpad & trackpoint issue that is still not fixed after more than a year and It looks like a BIOS/EC/firmware issue: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1258837

Dell also broke USB3 support in the latest BIOS update for the E6540 (and possibly the E6440) http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19610392

They also released a botched BIOS update fairly recently that necessitated the removal of the CMOS battery in order to boot... https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/2m6u4s/dell_latitude_e7440_a11_bios_update_bricks_machine/

I don't have anything against their business notebooks from a hardware perspective but their BIOS testing process is broken if not in -existing.

So, if you want to buy a Dell machine, just make sure that you know what you're getting into... Once the initial BIOS is declared gold it can take several months to see an issue resolved.

So I'm not surprised unfortunately by this...

I've been trying to remedy this for weeks as some people said uninstalling this did not fix the audio/video problem.

What I did not realize was that delldatavault.exe runs as a service in the background. I discovered this while viewing my resource monitor and watching that particular service cause severe spikes in the CPU and disk activity which were the exact moments the interference in the audio/video would occur.

Completely disabling the service altogether, has finally relieved my migraine...

I have an Inspiron 7720 and it was having the same issue. Uninstalled that *** software and voila, problem solved! Yay!

Hi Randy, 

I had this same problem about three weeks ago and went about solving it in the way that you described (deleting Dell Support programs), but now the problem is back. It happened after I downloaded the most recent windows update this last night/this morning, and I don't have any Dell Support programs. 

Any advice as to how I could fix it?

Thanks. 

Hi Jake. Sorry to hear you are re-experiencing the problem. Your note filled me with trepidation, because when I shut my computer down last night, it started quite a large batch of automatic updates, an event I've come to dread. Fortunately in my case, so far this morning I'm not re-experiencing the audio problems as you are.

I'm afraid I don't have a specific suggestion. It seems the original problem was caused by a DPC latency problem, and there is software out there to diagnose DPC latency problems on your computer (just search on "DPC latency") and pinpoint the culprit program/process, but using it takes some specialized knowledge.

I have a maintenance contract with Dell, and if I were re-experiencing the problem, since Dell has acknowledged and allegedly fixed the original problem, I would be going to them for help - not hope.

Sorry I can't help, but good luck finding a diagnosis and fix.

Randy

Hi Jake... sorry the problem is back for you... I downloaded a bunch of windows updates yesterday as well and thankfully the problem is not back.  You may want to go into MSCONFIG  - Startup - and ensure that everthing that says Dell is disabled at start-up.  This is how I originally fixed my problem which included disabling Dell DataSafe.  

LOL!!  I said "ensure" not end user.... type MSCONFIG in the search box that comes up when you click on the windows icon in the lower left hand corner of the screen.  System Configuration box will display.  Find the STARTUP tab.... go down through the list and uncheck anything that says Dell... you will need to restart your computer... this will disable the programs from running when you start-up your computer.   

There is no "end user" tab

Thanks!  I didn't look far enough down the page, clearly.

Hello,

In my case I disabled the Link Power Management and all my media problems were gone.
I have, since one week, a new Dell XPS 13 model 2015 running  on 8.1 Pro.

I followed the suggestions in this post but nothing solved my problems and after searching on latency problems I went back to the configurations and changed everything that i thought could cause the latency problems. And after I disabled this setting everything works good. Youtube, Itunes Netflix etc.

Pity I didn't see this discussion earlier.  I had the same problem, and people I discussed it with suspected the audio processor, or even the hard drive.   I finally called Dell and got their After-warranty tech support.   For a charge of $129 they worked on it, but the problem kept coming back.   Once I removed their software the problem was resolved.

Not only did they cause the problem, but they charged me for their trying to fix it !!!

Complain and get a refund. There are so many people affected by this silly error. Me included. Really annoyed at such a mistake!

I finally tried the Dell download I mentioned earlier, after someone directed me to the right spot on the page.   This software must've auto downloaded itself at some point, because when I did the download & ran the .exe it said it was up to date.

The random reboots have stopped, & the buzzing stopped for a short time, but it has now returned.

(I also removed some now-unused HP printer software.)

I will have to try removing the Dell software when the laptop isn't in use & see if that helps.

booyah! thank you so much that worked.

Well, they did refund the service fee.   But I'm back where I started.   The problem seemed to go away, but now it's back as bad as ever.   Each time the Dell tech rep worked on it it seemed to be better, but the next day it was back, and my uninstalling the Dell software is no more successful.

Perhaps some program that updates frequently (like AVG ?) is introducing the interference.    But it's not the Dell SupportAssist, because that's gone.    Any more ideas ?