Okay, after re-installs, driver downgrades/upgrades/up-then-downgrades, etc, I found a solution that works for me. The only thing is that I don't know if my solution is directly related to the problem, or just a simple workaround or bug that fixed it, but whatever.
There are two things I did, and I think both contributed to the solution:
One: I went into the BIOS and made sure that the HDD sound level was set to "Bypass". Usually, there are three options in the Dell BIOS's: Bypass, Quiet, and Performance. Even if your drive is set to "Bypass," set it to Quiet, reboot into windows, and then set it back to Bypass.
Two: I downloaded and installed the Combined Community Codec Pack (the latest build, which is actually quite old, 7-28-2006) from http://www.cccp-project.net . This pack is useful for watching basically ANY video file type, and it also installs new MP3 decoders and a DVD decoder when you install it. I usually have it around to watch anime and subtilted movies, but I hadn't installed it after upgrading my HDD because I was so fed up with the sound popping problem.
After doing these two things, I no longer get the audio popping/skipping that I did. I hope this helps you B130 guys; I know of a few people who had the problem with the E1505 (and it wasn't caused by the wireless card, as others have stated), so I think this should help you.
Holy . It really does work, I have tried things for weeks. It wasn't the wireless in my case. I did exactly what you tried. I thought at first there was and IRQ signing problem. Thanks Geirskogul. It was so agonizing not having audio that didn't make skipping popping and cracking noises. What a great end to a LONG year.
OHMYGAWDOHMYGAWDOHMYGAWD I FIGURED IT OUT, (fo realz this time, yo)
Okay, the Combined Community Codec Pack thing worked out for me for a little bit, but after a while, the problem came back. Apparently, CCCP is only a bandage over the larger problem. It fixes the audio, but video (especially in games) still skips, a lot. But, I have figured it out.
Many of you are surely like me. You keep up-to-date with all of your drivers, fimrware, BIOS, and software releases. It makes you feel good inside. Sadly, staying up-to-date has failed us, if only this one time.
The latest DE07 Firmware Update for the CD/DVD-ROM Combo Drive causes a hardware interrupt about...once a second. I had to use ProcessExplorer to figure this out, but it's true. I happened to notice that the 10% interrupts also coincided with my audio/video skipping (as the problem was exaggerated in games due to their complexity and demanding processes). Reverting back to the DE05 firmware...fixed the problem.
Completely!
So...as you people with the problem are also probably like me, you'll go searching for the downloads. Dell only has the DE07 update available, but if you copy/paste the drive model number into google, with "DE05", you'll get the page for the DE05 drive firmware. Download it, and instead of booting into DOS like it tells you to, use the within-windows firmware updater that comes with the DE07 download, but instead point it to the DE05.bin file instead of the DE07. Everything should update fine, it'll force you to restart, restart, and enjoy your skip-free computer!
I'm actually having this same problem with a friend's E1505 laptop that I offered to look at for him. The sound skips and pops. I tryed reinstalling the sound blaster software. Device manager reported no problems. I tryed changing the bios. Tryed this:
"So...as you people with the problem are also probably like me, you'll go searching for the downloads. Dell only has the DE07 update available, but if you copy/paste the drive model number into google, with "DE05", you'll get the page for the DE05 drive firmware. Download it, and instead of booting into DOS like it tells you to, use the within-windows firmware updater that comes with the DE07 download, but instead point it to the DE05.bin file instead of the DE07. Everything should update fine, it'll force you to restart, restart, and enjoy your skip-free computer!"
I extracted the zip and run the ms-dos batch file. It pops up briefly with some dos command text (which flashes on the screen so quickly that I can't read it...)However it doesn't seem to do anything and I can't figure out how to use the new bin file (de05). I would greatly appreciate your feedback, thanks :)
No no, you have to use the flashing utility that comes with the DE07 download. It allows you to flash the drive from within windows: as is, the DE05 update makes you create a boot floppy/cd/USB drive, and flash it from there. What you need to do is use the utility that comes with the DE07 update. When you open it, it asks you to point it to a .bin firmware file to flash to the drive. Instead of pointing it to the DE07 .bin, open the DE05 .bin instead. It'll flash normally, and reboot windows. With it, there's no need for a DOS boot and command lines :D
I'm glad I wasnt the only one with this issue. The fix for me was the changing of the HDD speed to "Quiet" and then back to "Bypass". Why would this be an issue in the first place. I would have never related the HDD to an audio problem in the first place..WOW
The hard drive changes mentioned above seemed to solve my skipping issue on my Inspiron 6400/E1505. However, I did not install the CCCP codec since I don't do much anime viewing.
Strange how switching back and forth on the HDD settings was enough to resolve the problem. Why doesn't Dell have some kind of patch available for this issue?
All right, I've made a .zip with the required files in it if you want:
Go here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HLOSZ1XT
or here: http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/80162/DellCDRWfirmwareFixDE05-zip.html
The posted files are for the people with the CDRW/DVD Combo drive, not the DVDRW drive. I don't have a DVDRW drive, and therefore I cannot test to see if downgrading their firmware will work, though if they're both from the same manufacturer, then I could see it being the problem as well. Anywhoo, just unzip the file, run the utility, select "DE05.bin" when it asks you for a firmware, and let it run. Worked wonders for me.
Guys - I have an Inspiron 9400 and this worked for me removing the glitches during audio. Right-click "My Computer", go into "Properties", select the "Hardware" tab and then "Device Manager" . Expand "Network Adaptors" and then click on "Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card", right click and go into "Properties". Select the "Advanced" tab, on the left hand side, choose "Disable Bands" and then on the right hand side, select "Disable 802.11a", then click OK and close the Device Manager. You can now have audio, WLAN and NO Glitches, well as long as you have b/g connection to your broadband router/modem.
Hope this helps and I hope that I'm not going over something that has already been discovered.
Hi everbody! I have an Inspiron 6400 with a "Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card". I have installed the latest drivers at this date! And YES, the last tip works for me, too. After nearly one year of trying and trying there is a real and easy solution! Thank you very much!!!! Bye! Marc
Has anyone in this thread also had problems with the blue screen of death? I have been getting a stop error since this issue popped up on my Inspiron E1505. I've tried several of the tips on this thread today and am going to pray that they help with the stop error. Just thought I'd check to see if the BSOD has plagued any of you who reported the audio problems.
I wanted to post because I worked on an E1505 laptop recently and had the same experience. I tried everything in this thread to no avail, the solution for me was to delete the primary and secondary IDE Channels in device manager. On reboot it redetected both and applied the proper DMA setting.
I had found an option to manually set the DMA mode using the registry, but that didn't work for me, I had to delete it and have it be redetected.
Disabling 802.11a is the key! This worked on my Studio 1535 with an N draft card. I was getting really annoyed that this thing was having trouble just streaming videos from google.. tested first by turning off the wifi alltogether with the external switch and the problem went away 99%. It still has a tiny pop a few times per song though.
Geirskogul
1 Rookie
•
25 Posts
0
December 4th, 2006 00:00
Okay, after re-installs, driver downgrades/upgrades/up-then-downgrades, etc, I found a solution that works for me. The only thing is that I don't know if my solution is directly related to the problem, or just a simple workaround or bug that fixed it, but whatever.
There are two things I did, and I think both contributed to the solution:
One: I went into the BIOS and made sure that the HDD sound level was set to "Bypass". Usually, there are three options in the Dell BIOS's: Bypass, Quiet, and Performance. Even if your drive is set to "Bypass," set it to Quiet, reboot into windows, and then set it back to Bypass.
Two: I downloaded and installed the Combined Community Codec Pack (the latest build, which is actually quite old, 7-28-2006) from http://www.cccp-project.net . This pack is useful for watching basically ANY video file type, and it also installs new MP3 decoders and a DVD decoder when you install it. I usually have it around to watch anime and subtilted movies, but I hadn't installed it after upgrading my HDD because I was so fed up with the sound popping problem.
After doing these two things, I no longer get the audio popping/skipping that I did. I hope this helps you B130 guys; I know of a few people who had the problem with the E1505 (and it wasn't caused by the wireless card, as others have stated), so I think this should help you.
ajrodr82
1 Message
0
December 11th, 2006 18:00
Thanks again Geirskogul
Geirskogul
1 Rookie
•
25 Posts
0
December 19th, 2006 01:00
Okay, the Combined Community Codec Pack thing worked out for me for a little bit, but after a while, the problem came back. Apparently, CCCP is only a bandage over the larger problem. It fixes the audio, but video (especially in games) still skips, a lot. But, I have figured it out.
Many of you are surely like me. You keep up-to-date with all of your drivers, fimrware, BIOS, and software releases. It makes you feel good inside. Sadly, staying up-to-date has failed us, if only this one time.
The latest DE07 Firmware Update for the CD/DVD-ROM Combo Drive causes a hardware interrupt about...once a second. I had to use ProcessExplorer to figure this out, but it's true. I happened to notice that the 10% interrupts also coincided with my audio/video skipping (as the problem was exaggerated in games due to their complexity and demanding processes). Reverting back to the DE05 firmware...fixed the problem.
Completely!
So...as you people with the problem are also probably like me, you'll go searching for the downloads. Dell only has the DE07 update available, but if you copy/paste the drive model number into google, with "DE05", you'll get the page for the DE05 drive firmware. Download it, and instead of booting into DOS like it tells you to, use the within-windows firmware updater that comes with the DE07 download, but instead point it to the DE05.bin file instead of the DE07. Everything should update fine, it'll force you to restart, restart, and enjoy your skip-free computer!
Chalice789
1 Message
0
December 24th, 2006 18:00
"So...as you people with the problem are also probably like me, you'll go searching for the downloads. Dell only has the DE07 update available, but if you copy/paste the drive model number into google, with "DE05", you'll get the page for the DE05 drive firmware. Download it, and instead of booting into DOS like it tells you to, use the within-windows firmware updater that comes with the DE07 download, but instead point it to the DE05.bin file instead of the DE07. Everything should update fine, it'll force you to restart, restart, and enjoy your skip-free computer!"
I extracted the zip and run the ms-dos batch file. It pops up briefly with some dos command text (which flashes on the screen so quickly that I can't read it...)However it doesn't seem to do anything and I can't figure out how to use the new bin file (de05). I would greatly appreciate your feedback, thanks :)
Geirskogul
1 Rookie
•
25 Posts
0
December 24th, 2006 19:00
kclausius
1 Message
0
December 28th, 2006 16:00
Raybman
3 Posts
0
February 10th, 2007 15:00
Geirskogul
1 Rookie
•
25 Posts
0
February 10th, 2007 15:00
Go here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HLOSZ1XT
or here: http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/80162/DellCDRWfirmwareFixDE05-zip.html
The posted files are for the people with the CDRW/DVD Combo drive, not the DVDRW drive. I don't have a DVDRW drive, and therefore I cannot test to see if downgrading their firmware will work, though if they're both from the same manufacturer, then I could see it being the problem as well. Anywhoo, just unzip the file, run the utility, select "DE05.bin" when it asks you for a firmware, and let it run. Worked wonders for me.
stevomuzo
4 Posts
0
April 13th, 2007 17:00
hallodanny
1 Message
0
November 19th, 2007 16:00
zta1989
2 Posts
0
November 25th, 2007 20:00
indeego
3 Posts
0
June 26th, 2008 17:00
I wanted to post because I worked on an E1505 laptop recently and had the same experience. I tried everything in this thread to no avail, the solution for me was to delete the primary and secondary IDE Channels in device manager. On reboot it redetected both and applied the proper DMA setting.
I had found an option to manually set the DMA mode using the registry, but that didn't work for me, I had to delete it and have it be redetected.
triggz
3 Posts
0
October 13th, 2008 13:00
Disabling 802.11a is the key! This worked on my Studio 1535 with an N draft card. I was getting really annoyed that this thing was having trouble just streaming videos from google.. tested first by turning off the wifi alltogether with the external switch and the problem went away 99%. It still has a tiny pop a few times per song though.