September 28th, 2007 18:00

After several unsuccessful tests I´ve installed XP, I need the notebook working. I´ll wait until the official fix appears. I hope it doesn´t take too long...
 

October 25th, 2007 00:00

Keep in mind that running Vista Premum or Ultimate takes up memory and lots of it.  The Aero interface and several key components running in the background eat up the RAM like it was candy.  With 1 GB ram, and a video card that utilizes system memory to operate, you are already cutting memory low with Vista.
 
I have found that people seem to have less problems with the 1501s when they have the 2 GB memory max in the system when trying to run anything other than Vista Home Basic.  Might not be the purest solution you were looking for, but it might be worth tryingFerdinand70.
 
If you are waiting on a "solution" on Vista from Microsoft, you will be waiting a while.  They already pretty much said that the video issues people have complained about as well as a number of audio bugs are "functioning as expected" and didn't make many fixes for their "Service Pack" for Vista.

2 Posts

October 30th, 2007 13:00

I'm having same problem after upgrading to Vista Basic. I have tried everything including the new ATI driver. After installing the driver and rebooting, my screen goes haywire and reboots again. I then have to go into safe mode and revert back to previous ATI driver. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

1 Message

November 8th, 2007 20:00

It works!!!!!
 
I have been looking for months to find a solution to the sound issue on my 1501.
 
Why is this fix not on the Dell support website?

2 Posts

November 20th, 2007 23:00

"Please incorporate this into new systems before they ship and save a lot of people the grief."

Seconded.

2 Posts

November 21st, 2007 19:00

Update: Disabling Powernow in the Bios took care of my video skip/noise popping problem. Still not able to update to new ATI driver, but working fine with previous driver. O well...

1 Message

December 17th, 2007 21:00

I have an Inspiron 1521 that I got in September and it is also having the popping/crackling sound in audio playback. I went to the ATI Catalyst site that was mentioned and downloaded the ATI video driver described, but it doesn't seem to have solved the problem. Is there some other program that I need to uninstall to make this work? I spent over 3 hours in a chat with Dell technical support and none of their attempted fixes worked. I'd love to be able to listen to my audio files without distortion. I have an AMD Turion 64 X2 with Vista Home Premium. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1 Message

January 21st, 2008 00:00

Thanks for getting this fix. Dell should put you on the pay roll for doing thier job. It worked for me. I was highly upset about the popping audio. Now im happy with my machine. Again , thanks:smileyvery-happy:

1 Message

January 24th, 2008 16:00

Rollie,
 
I response to your question about whether updating video drivers (other than ATI) might solve the Vista audio glitch I believe that updating my GeForce 8400 GS driver in my XPS 1330 may have solved my glitching problems.  Here is the info on the update:
 
nVidia - Video - NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS Installation date: ‎21/‎01/‎2008 10:22 AM  Installation status: Successful
Update type: Optional nVidia Video software update released in October, 2007
 
There was one other update performed at that time that may have helped solve the problem -
 
a 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 1 (SP1) Installation date: ‎21/‎01/‎2008 10:18 AM Installation status: Successful
Update type: Important Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite.  This update also applies to Expression Web and Visual Web Developer.
 
I had tried numerous other solutions including turning off audio enhancements, disabling "A" band wireless, replacing network N cards, etc. and while they decreased the glitching they did not eliminate it.    
 
But after performing the two updates listed above, the glitching has now been completely eliminated.  
 
Hope this works for others

February 10th, 2008 21:00

This quick fix worked for my Inspiron e1405, Windows XP



For those with audio choppiness associated with hard drive activity...

Go into system properties> device manager

click plus sign next to IDE ATA Controllers
double click Primary IDE> Advanced Settings tab

See what the transfer mode is...  It should be Ultra DMA Mode 5
(also check secondary IDE channel DMA Mode 2)

If it says PIO mode then you can use this fix below:

Uninstall secondary IDE channel then uninstall primary IDE channel under device manager

It will ask you to reboot, do so...

After it reboots and reinstalls everything it will ask you to reboot again, do so...

After the last reboot check the DMA mode for both channels and see if they are right now...

Lastly check to see if your audio will play without choppiness.  Mine would mess up when the hard drive was lit up accessing stuff.

2 Posts

February 11th, 2008 00:00

FYI: My Inspiron 1501 shipped with Vista. After upgrading to 2GB RAM and finding that I *still* couldn't run any apps or play music without slowness, crashes and chunking, I "downgraded" (upgraded IMO) back to XP.

Installation of proper drivers + XP = crackling/popping completely gone.

It's gotta be a Vista issue...but then, Vista *is* an issue. Period.

1 Message

May 2nd, 2008 20:00

Vostro 1000

2 GB RAM 

Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN mini-card

ATI Radeon Xpress 1150

SigmaTel High-Definition Audio Codec

Vista Business

 

I had the sound popping problem from day 1 with my Vostro.  I found that switching off the wireless card reduced the popping but did not completely eliminate it.  My machine has no option to disable WiFi channel a (as recommended in Audio FAQ #14), so I couldn't try that.  I was beginning to think of returning the machine to Dell.

 

Then I found this thread.  Updating the ATI driver fixed the problem completely.  Now I can listen to music in peace, and I'm happy with my Vostro again.  A thousand thanks, znalim, for posting the solution!

 

1 Message

August 11th, 2008 17:00

Hi...

 

I have a new Studio 1535 laptop and of course: the same sound issue. I tried your workaround but it didn't work. Also I tried other solutions like disable Wifi and it reduce popping but that is not a solution for me beacuse a bought this laptop for recording music and I can't have 1 noise on records.

 

So If anyone has the same issue on Studio 1535 and have good idea to solve it please let me know.

 

THANKS!!!

 

PS. I saw that this tread is 1 year old and we still haven't a permanent solution from DELL.

3 Posts

February 11th, 2009 21:00

Hi Znalim, if have the cracking and popping sound on my dell insiron 1525,  os-Vista home premium, Video:intel GM965 Express Chipset family-Dell inc, auudio: Sigmatel STAC 92xxx C-major HD...drive Dell inc. Do you know if a video card adjustment will correct the issue? I use my laptop for streaming audio as well as musical DVD's and it sonds like the tone arm is skipping across the vinyl. I am computer literate if your sugestions are hi-tech oriented. My gratitude will be boundless if you have any options.

thank you

Joseph A Wood

4 Operator

 • 

13.6K Posts

February 12th, 2009 04:00

Joseph A Wood,

 

For a complete list of tips see Choppy/Skipping Audio Workarounds.

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