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18463
December 2nd, 2014 07:00
Random chord played by computer
I have a XPS 8700 that I purchased a few months ago. I had it installed with Windows 7, Pro. Overall it works reasonably well except for one small, annoying problem. Several times a day the computer makes a fairly loud sound that sounds like a guitar chord that lasts less than one second. It sounds like it is coming from my computer speakers, and doesn't sound like any Windows notification sounds. I run a lot of programs at the same time, so I have not been able to associate the sounds with a program. Searches on the web have not turned up much, except for one with a similar problem on a laptop.
Any one have any suggestions. I am not too crazy about replacing parts unless I know for sure that the part is defective.
GaryC100
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January 3rd, 2015 17:00
I believe I finally figured out what is happening. Thank you for all who responded.
I subscribe to a service that uses push technology on a blog. Whenever a new post is made by the author I get it updated in real time on my computer. Recently the blog was redone to give it a new look. It also had the notification sound totally changed. It's now too loud and intrusive and sounds nothing like the old sound.
What made things confusing is that I sometimes got the sound when nothing new was being posted on the blog. I now have correlated the sound and new posts enough times to convince me that it is that blog that is making the sounds.
Gary
rreddon
35 Posts
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December 2nd, 2014 10:00
It sounds like it could be one of your USB connected devices is disconnecting or connecting. The particular sound played is probably dependent on the sound "theme" you are using.
I'd probably try going into the "Sounds" area of your control panel and setting the "Device Connect," "Device Disconnect" and "Device Failed To Connect" sounds to none and see if the issue persists.
GaryC100
5 Posts
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December 2nd, 2014 11:00
Thank you for you suggestion.
I went to Control Panel=>Sounds, but don't see any settings for Device Connect, Disconnect, or Failed to Connect. But I do see two devices that I could disable: NVIDIA HDMI High Definition Audio on two different devices, both illustrated with a monitor icon. Why that icon I don't know, since my monitor has no speakers. The only device I now have enabled is Speakers, which is my only sound source outside the computer box.
As far as USB devices go, I have a keyboard, mouse, UPS, and printer. My audio is on the motherboard. Let's see if just disabling the two devices in the Playback tab of Sound does the trick.
GaryC100
5 Posts
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December 2nd, 2014 12:00
Well that didn't take long. It didn't work. I am still getting these chords on my computer.
GaryC100
5 Posts
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December 2nd, 2014 12:00
I just realized that I have one more USB device. It's a dongle, and may be a sentinel dongle. Unfortunately, I can't run one of my programs without it, but I might try testing it on a day when I don't use that program.
RoHe
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December 2nd, 2014 17:00
I get those same annoying system alert chimes with a clean install of Win 7 Pro on this old Dimension system too.
If you google it, this is a fairly common problem that may have any one of various causes. I've yet to figure out which of them is responsible for it here. I don't see anything in Windows Event Viewer that might correspond to the chime.
At least for me, it's not the USB dismount chime and it can happen even when the only USB device connected is a wireless mouse, and the mouse continues to work.
Bottom line: It's annoying but I've learned to ignore it