Audio skips every 1 - 2 minutes on E6500

Running the stock Microsoft provided driver with Windows 7. Did not install an Intel or Dell provided drivers.

FWIW, I tried the Intel 8.8 update on Vista and it did not make any noticeable difference for me. The best fix for me on Vista was to remove the CDROM drive. With the drive removed Audio was pretty smooth with only an occasionally hiccup maybe every 15 - 30 minutes (which may or may not have been the stream/wireless connection itself).

 

Hi there, I have a Latitude E6400 and have the same problems, you can see it in the following thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=297054&page=32

As I mention on my last post, I'll try setting the SATA mode to ATA in one spare E6400 and see if the problem is still present.

At this point I'm not sure if my issues are driver related, defective hardware or a non working combination of different hardware devices.

Regards
Hector

 

It's a shame that these Notebooks have these audio problems on there. I had the issue with the Vostro 1400 and 1510... Now the 1520 is out and so are the newest versions of the E series and Dell STILL can't figure it out. I think it's a shame that my $499 HP notebook works just fine...

 

Hi there.

Just to inform you that as a last resort, I changed the SATA mode from IRRT to ATA, after doing that the BIOS displayed a warning that perhaps I need to reinstall my OS... well, I decided to take the risk... I saved the changes, restarted my E6400 and windows XP SP3 loaded without any issue

Well, then I wen to make some test, like opening several programs while playing my mp3s on Winmap, and there was no Audio Skip ! nor crackling !

I used HD Speed to meause the performance of my internal HDD and its the same as it was on IRRT (about 85 MB/s average)

That¿s great !!! the audio issue is gone !!! so this makes me wonder that the hardware is OK and that perhaps the IRRT and AHCI SATA modes are broken (maybe from the BIOS or perhaps the drivers).

I've read that operatin in ATA mode disables the eSata Port, well, at this time I'm not using that eSata port, so for me, this is a fix to the issue !!

I've already reported that to Dell and hope they resolve DEFINITELY this issue soon, for what I've read in this forum and several others, the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager version resolved the audio issue for SOME computers, not all.

But the ATA mode solves the issue for those computers that even with the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager were still having audio issues.

I hope this helps other users

 

Thanks for the update.

Are you using the Dell factory XP SP3 installation. If so, they have built in the drivers for all 3 HDD modes and you can change modes without any problem (as you discovered).

If you do your own Windows installation then only the drivers for the current mode get installed. There is a thread which explains how to manually load other HDD drivers before changing the BIOS setting.

John

 

Ho John.

yes, I'm using Dell Windows XP SP3 CD.

Sound logical what you explain John.

Dell tech support has answered my email and according to them, setting the SATA mode to ATA will not disable the eSata port, the only mode that disables de eSata mode will be to disable the SATA mode in the BIOS.

I've insisted to them that the latest Intel matrix Storage manager fixes the issues for several users, but that there are users who still has the issue and that a BIOS, firmware or driver update is required.

Regards
Hector