hey, i'm getting a lot of background static noise from my brand new inspiron 600m laptop, especially noticeable when my headphones are plugged in.  this occurs even when no sound is playing and my pc is idle.  it sounds like an untuned station on an AM/FM radio.  i already tried upgrading the bios and sound drivers to the latest version.  i also followed a suggestion on this board to decrease and even mute the CD audio volume control, which reduced it a bit, but it is still noticeable.  it does not seem to be effected by adjusting the volume but if you listen closely it sometimes changes tone randomly while working on the computer.  it occurs both on AC and battery power so i don't think it is the grounding issue that also came up on this board.

can you guys please do a test for me? ..

plug in some ordinary headphones into the jack of your 600m/500m.  open the full volume control window (with all the different sliders) and move the main volume control slider around (this ensures that the power management turns off, at least temporarily - i say this because the static seems louder that way).  then simply toggle the mute all checkbox.  if your computer is anything like mine, you'll obviously be able to tell the difference.  the mute all button is the only way i can turn off the static right now, which is clearly an unacceptable solution.

this is very poor audio quality and ruins my enjoyment of music and DVDs.  my 3 year old inspiron 5000 did not suffer from this problem, and it's not the headphones either because i checked them out with my old computer and got clear sound with no static.

before i go and try to get warranty hardware replacements (i.e., change out motherboard), i wanted to check to see if others had this problem and/or if there are possible software solutions that i may not have tried yet.

thanks

Message Edited by ckohl23 on 08-27-2003 12:59 AM