XPS 15Z Audio issue

same here. whenever something refreshes eg: Task Manager, the video and audio clicks and stutters!

Yeah, same problem here, I tried all the suggestions (disable network, Realtek drivers update) but the problem is still there, annoying soft crackle either through speakers or headphones when I play music. Even when I don't play any music, just through the headphones I can pick up the static noise, becoming more frequent and intense when scrolling, or typing  or running other programs. Will try re-installing Win 7 from scratch once I have more time, though I hope to avoid it...

Did not work for me :-(

Well, if I run the laptop on batteries I don't have the problem!! Can someone suggest what should I do to eliminate that noise when I'm plugged in?

Aqal

I would like for you really to test this. To run the system as long as possible without the AC adapter and verify that you don't have the static.

TB

Well, Abe,I'm glad you found a solution for your situation - it does not fit my case, since the NIC does nothing enabled or disabled, but clearly, static noise is a problem for many of us.. I would not be surprised it it came down to some grounding issues...

3 hours - static free on battery. Then plugged in the power cord, and the static came right back, unplugged: static goes right away... Maybe I need a new power source/adaptor...

I am about to open a can of worms here..

In my first post I was rather convinced that it was related to software installed by the Dell image. I was wrong.

Have tried clean install, latest drivers, etc.

Then cmespinoza's post got me thinking and I started trying a few things. This is when I discovered that this issue is more hardware related. In my humble opinion this is related to incorrect electrical grounding!

Here is my findings:

The sound is perfect with the NIC (Network Interface Card or Network adapter) disabled. I even tested this by enabling and disabling the NIC during playback. The crackling "static" starts after the NIC is enabled.

I use command line commands for fast enabling and disabling of the NIC.

The static sound is more obvious when the notebook is charging, but less so when fully charged. The static doesn't go away when running on battery.

Now, why does it go away when the NIC is disabled?

It is because there is no power supplied to the NIC, thus no current that can leak to other components such as the audio device output path.

The static sound occurs when the current from the NIC incorrectly flows to the sound output path and then grounds (electrical earth). This causes a brief disruption to the current that flows to the speakers or head phones output ports. What we hear is the crackling noise.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

When I'm at the office I need the NIC enabled and the sound is perfect when I connect the LAN cable!

The LAN cable that connects to the NIC contains a drain (ground) wire that allows for connection to secondary grounding sources. This way the current doesn’t leak and voila no static sound. Until I unplug the cable of course…

It is now up to Dell to test this “crazy” theory and comment please.

Aqal

I agree with you, if you like shoot me a private message with your name, location, service tag of the notebook, shipping and email address and phone number and I will look into the options on sending you a replacement AC adapter.

TB

hi

do this.It might fix.It worked  4 me.

goto control panel>click on "Realtek HD Audio Manager" > opens Dell Audio by Realtek window.>goto speakers/headphone Tab>then in Equalizer>turn off.

now hear the audio happly

hi

do this.It might fix.It worked  4 me.

goto control panel>click on "Realtek HD Audio Manager" > opens Dell Audio by Realtek window.>goto speakers/headphone Tab>then in Equalizer>turn off.

now hear the audio happly

I think there are a few audio issues being discussed here... one of a 'static' type noise, one of audio fading away, and the problem I had which I would describe as audio stuttering and breakup.

The stuttering and breakup problem for me was definitely solved by disabling the wired network adapter.

To me the explanation that the system is 'polling' the network adapter which is causing some kind of resource conflict seems most likely as the stuttering is the same as you get if a system is too busy to play the audio file back properly.

Terry, Is the NIC vs audio conflict being looked at by Dell?

-FM

FatMonk

Windows 7 doesn't protect audio files from being interrupted by other processes.  Most processes can possibly interrupt other already running processes, but for the most part you won’t notice, a write process to the hard drive being interrupted temporarily by another process.  If you are in the middle of an audio track, you tend to notice it right off the bat.

So any file has the possibility in interrupting audio tracks.  This should only be a random thing though and generally won’t happen unless there is a high work load on the system at the time.  If you have verified that you no longer receive any interruptions of audio playback  with the wireless card disabled then I can certainly suggest uninstalling, reinstalling the WIFI driver and see if it helps.  

For the rest of you having similar audio stuttering, you may want to try disabling the WIFI card, you can simply go into the BIOS and look for wireless, and disable it.  See if you continue to get audio stuttering.  I would certainly ask for you to reply back here so if it looks like it is a large issue I can get this info over to engineering.

TB

Terry,

In my experience the issue isn't due to WIFI use, it's actually the Ethernet driver.  The problem worsens if there's network activity over the ethernet.  As soon as the Atheros Ethernet driver is disabled, the sound crackling issue *completely* disappears.  This was discovered after several re-installations of drivers while troubleshooting.

This workaround fixed the issue, but crippled use of my Dell XPS 15z to only work with WIFI.  According to several users that had the same problem in the forum, this solution worked for them as well.

I believe there's definitely an issue between the Atheros Ethernet driver and Realtek audio driver.  Please have your engineering team look into it.