Studio 1555 - Music playback stutters/distorted on lid closing/opening

Question

I purchased a Studio 1555 and received it 2 days ago. I must say I am quite happy with the laptop even though I moved 'up' from an XPS M1330. The sound quality is VERY good and beats out many other laptops that I've used. I'm an audiophile myself. Dell definitely listened to customer feedbacks on speakers of their Studio 1537 and lowers. However I have a problem and I believe it has nothing to do with the speaker. Whenever I close my the lid with music playing, when the lid is closed the music stutters and repeat itself at a high rate of speed (imagine when a CD skipping, but faster). I closed the lid slowly and noticed that this happens moments before the monitor is turned off. This also happens when I open the lid with music still playing. Moments before the lcd lits up the sound skips again. The skipping only happens for a few moments and then the sound resumes fine. Even though I only receive the laptop 2-3 days ago, I have set it up as my work machine and would rather not go through with my software removal/installation again so if there's a fix I will try it before call up Dell support. I replaced keyboards and LCD on Dell laptops before so this shouldn't be a problem.   Thanks for reading. L. P/s Did anyone else notice that on Studio 15 you can use 2 fingers on the touchpad, this is multi-touch technology I believe. This was a new feature on MacBook pro and my gf (illustrator) loved it and tease me all the time about how my laptops don't have it. Now I can show it to her :) To see what I mean put your index and middle finger on the touch pad, 1 inch apart. Then  move the fingers close together or farther apart, it should zoom your browsers window (or MS Word even) in and out. To top it off I have back-lit keyboard, now the studio 15 *really* look like a MacBook pro 15' :D except cheaper.

A Wooden Plank · Answer

I have this problem as well! Did you find a solution?

MouseON · Answer

i have exactly the same problem with my sound when i try to close/open lid and its very annoying!

Also my dell 1555 charger makes sounds when i plug in for charging, i think this is not right either :(

P.A.K · Answer

I also experience this issue with the Studio 1555 and it is definitely caused by the screen light being switched off or on when you put the lid down or up.

When you put the lid down whilst sound is playing the sound will glitch for about a second when the light goes off. Lift the lid back up and it does exactly the same when the light comes back on.

Using DPC Latency checker it actually shows a massive spike greater than 900,000 Microsecond when this happens!

I've also used a Studio 1537 and can say that it definitely did NOT have this issue.. this seems to be a new issue introduced by the Studio 1555.

I have the feeling it's something which would require a BIOS update to fix (if it's even possible to fix), although I haven't tried something like a compatible Linux boot CD to help rule out the drivers..

It'd be nice if there were some acknowledgement from Dell about this issue..

MouseON · Answer

i have updated my studio 1555 BIOS, but sound glitch is still not fixed :( i downloaded bios update from Dell drivers and support page. very sad that dell doesn't reply to these problems, i find quite a lot of people asking about this glich :(

Anuj Agrawal · Answer

i have also the same problem onlid closing and opening...

P.A.K · Answer

Good news guys.. It seems someone from Dell is reading and listening after all :emotion-5:

Dell just released BIOS version A09 for the Studio 1555 on their website. It lists "display improvements" as its included fixes. As I said before, although this issue is audio related, it seems to be caused by the screens backlight. Anyway, whatever they did, the good news is that it totally fixes this glitching problem for me!!

So the issue is now fixed with BIOS A09.. I recommend you install the latest A09 BIOS to fix the problem :emotion-2:

MouseON · Answer

OMG thats great!! i just updated my bios to A09 (before i updated to A8 and nothing happened) and sound problem is fixed!! great news!! thank you P.A.K for info!

mattpage · Answer

I can't seem to find the A09 BIOS for the Studio 1555 ... only A08 shows when I do a search. Does anyone have the link? Thanks

MouseON · Answer

That's strange, i opened drivers page just now, and only option they give is to download 1555_A08 bios update.

i've uploaded bios update i have on my pc to http://devel.lt/1555_A09.exe

this update fixed my sound problem for my Dell Studio 1555

mattpage · Answer

Thanks MouseON, works perfectly! :emotion-2: Thinking about it, isn't it a bit odd that they don't put the latest BIOS on a brand new machine?

P.A.K · Answer

Thinking about it, isn't it a bit odd that they don't put the latest BIOS on a brand new machine?

Yes, and the likely reason is that it introduced a new issue, or more people (than usual) have reported problems after upgrading their 1555's to BIOS A09.

There's a thread, were a few people are complaining about how applying the A09 update killed their laptop, here - http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19314280.aspx

Personally I upgraded without any apparent problems, and it does indeed fix the audio glitch when opening and closing the laptop lid. Even though it's my belief the A09 update will probably work fine for most people, it's probably wise to hold off on flashing until Dell officially place the A09 (or perhaps even A10) BIOS file back up on their website. Hopefully any new update should still contain the fix for the lid closing/sound problems.

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