I get that too. It is your PC's fans, and HDD. I dont think any drivers will solve this problem. If this is a serious problem to you then i reccomend that you buy a External Soundcard. I have the Audigy NX 2 USb and it doesnt ever hiss, Great card and its $130.
There are a couple of things people do to reduce the hiss, but it probably can't be eliminated completely with the integrated audio because the hardware resides in a hostile environment, the MB.
Many have noticed an improvement by using the Intel AC97 driver:
> Go to Start/Control Panel/System/ Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager. Go down to Sound, Video, and Game controllers and right click on SigmaTel. Choose properties.
> Go to the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.
> Answer "No" to the Windows Update question.
> Choose "Install From List or specific location".
> Hit next and then choose "Don't Search, I will choose driver I want to install".
> You will get a list of Sigmatel drivers. Uncheck the box that says "show compatible hardware".
> Select Intel, and then select "Intel AC 97 Audio Controller". XP replaces the SigmaTel driver with the Intel AC97.
> To reinstall the SigmaTel just select "Rollback Driver".
If you get that driver installed go into the options/properties menu and select all available volume controls. Mute everything except the control you need at any given time. People have found that just muting mic yields an improvement.
If you get no improvement at all from doing this then as racerboy said it's not the driver.
Another trick that has worked for some users is a registry edit where you reverse the value of the subkey 'EmulateAllMasters':
1. Go to Start menu and click on Run. Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK to open the Registry.
2. At the top of the list, highlight My Computer.
3. Under the Edit menu, select Find.
4. Type in 'EmulateAllMasters' without quotes and click 'find next'.
5. Highlight EmulateAllMasters. Right click on it and select Modify.
6. Highlight 01 and change to 00. Click OK.
7. Exit the Registry.
Thanks for the tips - unfortunately both of them didn't work.
I have an Echo Audio Indigo PCMCIA sound card which works great with no hiss, I just want to be able to use the onboard sound without an annyoing hiss when I don't bring the Indigo card with me.
Hey ....this is not necessarily a driver issue ...it is probably a grounding issue. On many of the Dell laptops a hissing sound is heard during audio while plugged into the wall. Try getting one of those 99 cent two prong adapters and plug your laptop into that before plugging into the wall. I bet you your hissing goes away.
I thought it may have been a grounding issue, so the first thing I did was check to see if the hiss still persisted while the laptop was unplugged, and sure enough it was still there.
I think the Sigmatel is probably a pretty cheap bit of hardware. On my I5100 it also makes a click when it gets powered on or off e.g. when start/stop playing audio file.
You can get a cheap external USB soundcard which should be slightly better, if these symptoms are really getting to you. Apparently they often work best with the built-in Win XP USB audio drivers (I had hours of not-fun working out how to prevent the junkware that came with my SoundBlaster MP3+ from mucking up all the audio on my PC) so it really woudl be plug and play (with fingers crossed ...)
The earthing problem seems to be most pronounced when using an external amp and causes unpleasant background noise. A DI box seems to fix that.
Giles
Message Edited by GilesKennedy on 06-20-2005 11:04 PM
there used to be a faq or a sticky post about clicking but I can't find it now. However I found this:
"This pop/tic is caused by the Sigmatel audio codec entering a powered down state. Go into the Sigmatel Audio icon in the Control Panel window and remove the check from the Enable Power Management check box. " Moderator Bob
It happens even when the thing is active e.g. doing an recording using the internal monitoring option.
I'm not too fussed since it's only a cheapo card and for anything half serious I use the SB which is also pretty cheapo. Am getting a decent card for "real" applications! (M-Audio, Edirol or Motu)
racerboy777
156 Posts
0
May 25th, 2005 08:00
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
May 25th, 2005 11:00
There are a couple of things people do to reduce the hiss, but it probably can't be eliminated completely with the integrated audio because the hardware resides in a hostile environment, the MB.
Many have noticed an improvement by using the Intel AC97 driver:
> Go to Start/Control Panel/System/ Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager. Go down to Sound, Video, and Game controllers and right click on SigmaTel. Choose properties.
> Go to the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.
> Answer "No" to the Windows Update question.
> Choose "Install From List or specific location".
> Hit next and then choose "Don't Search, I will choose driver I want to install".
> You will get a list of Sigmatel drivers. Uncheck the box that says "show compatible hardware".
> Select Intel, and then select "Intel AC 97 Audio Controller". XP replaces the SigmaTel driver with the Intel AC97.
> To reinstall the SigmaTel just select "Rollback Driver".
If you get that driver installed go into the options/properties menu and select all available volume controls. Mute everything except the control you need at any given time. People have found that just muting mic yields an improvement.
If you get no improvement at all from doing this then as racerboy said it's not the driver.
Another trick that has worked for some users is a registry edit where you reverse the value of the subkey 'EmulateAllMasters':
1. Go to Start menu and click on Run. Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK to open the Registry.
2. At the top of the list, highlight My Computer.
3. Under the Edit menu, select Find.
4. Type in 'EmulateAllMasters' without quotes and click 'find next'.
5. Highlight EmulateAllMasters. Right click on it and select Modify.
6. Highlight 01 and change to 00. Click OK.
7. Exit the Registry.
Jim
keyboarduy
22 Posts
0
May 25th, 2005 17:00
I have an Echo Audio Indigo PCMCIA sound card which works great with no hiss, I just want to be able to use the onboard sound without an annyoing hiss when I don't bring the Indigo card with me.
Marshall_600m
128 Posts
0
May 31st, 2005 07:00
My two year-old 600M has this problem with the SigmaTel chip.
Dell Customers need to complain loudly about this problem until the people at Dell listen. There's no excuse for it.
jnorman39
1 Message
0
June 2nd, 2005 15:00
Good Luck,
Jack
keyboarduy
22 Posts
0
June 2nd, 2005 18:00
Nice try, though.
GilesKennedy
44 Posts
0
June 20th, 2005 21:00
You can get a cheap external USB soundcard which should be slightly better, if these symptoms are really getting to you. Apparently they often work best with the built-in Win XP USB audio drivers (I had hours of not-fun working out how to prevent the junkware that came with my SoundBlaster MP3+ from mucking up all the audio on my PC) so it really woudl be plug and play (with fingers crossed ...)
The earthing problem seems to be most pronounced when using an external amp and causes unpleasant background noise. A DI box seems to fix that.
Giles
Message Edited by GilesKennedy on 06-20-2005 11:04 PM
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
June 21st, 2005 11:00
there used to be a faq or a sticky post about clicking but I can't find it now. However I found this:
"This pop/tic is caused by the Sigmatel audio codec entering a powered down state. Go into the Sigmatel Audio icon in the Control Panel window and remove the check from the Enable Power Management check box. " Moderator Bob
Do you think that applies?
Jim
GilesKennedy
44 Posts
0
June 21st, 2005 12:00
It happens even when the thing is active e.g. doing an recording using the internal monitoring option.
I'm not too fussed since it's only a cheapo card and for anything half serious I use the SB which is also pretty cheapo. Am getting a decent card for "real" applications! (M-Audio, Edirol or Motu)