Aspire 5739g speakers crackle

this thread is unbelievably reassuring. as a bit of a technophobe, i've sent in my 5739 to acer three times now (for this very sound problem PLUS other weird glitches) with no solutions - i was beginning to think i'd made the problems up.
can we all hassle acer until they do something about this? i need a laptop i'm not scared of using!

 

I doubt acer will fix the issue. I think the best solution is to open up the laptop and insulate the jack with some electrical tape but I will not attempt this until I am out of warranty or I don't need the laptop for a long time. One more thing that bugs me is when I am gaming the fan goes full blast in short bursts when it gets hot for some reason. But other than these two issues, the laptop has been very solid for me. Btw franomi, may I ask what acer has done so far to try to fix your laptop?

 

If I had a dollar for every issue that someone blamed on static . .

Having rules out speaker crackles for mechanical or loose connector reasons you find the primary cause is conflicts and latency issues along the various internal data busses.

WiFi cards are a regular culprit is the problem is associated with them being enabled /used

Video cards can also generate memory write and latency problems that interfere with other activities

Remember the Sound card is not just a little amplifier that somehow plugs into the 'sound' bit. The sounds are mostly generated by the processor and memory interacting to produce a wave stream that has to get out of the memory, across the PCI databuses, into the card to get rendered as an audio signal, possibly via the Windows mixer and finally outputted to a hardware amplifier and the speakers /headphone jacks. The last two steps are actually pretty safe. Almost any running device HW programme or driver in the system is capable of mucking up the rest because of the long chain of dependency.

My advice on sound issues is to look for updates to virtually everything, but be prepared to have to use an OEM driver for the sound card if it has any proprietory features that need supporting. Also worth running a latency checker to see what is hogging the bus /processor attention http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

Hi Everyone,
I have a 5739g that has the same problem. The crackle of the speakers while playing mp3's and watching movies. After reading the posts here, I also argee that the noise seems to coincide with the HDD. So I opened the bottom of the laptop and noticed that the HDD is grounded the to the chassis. I took the HDD out and covered all of the aluminum foil with electrical tape and replace the HDD. So far no more noise using the headphones. I will keep you guys informed about any long term effects this may cause.... But it does sound a whole lot better....

 

What do you mean by the aluminium foil? I wish you took some pics to show us how you did it. This further proves that the problem is primarily from the HDD. Btw when scrolling up or down, do you hear a noise with the headphones? I appreciate your input. Thanks

Btw just a heads up to everyone, download the new Nvidia drivers 197.16 if you haven't already.

 

I will take pictures and post them when I get home from class tonight...When I removed the HDD from the laptop, there was some aluminum foil that ran from the screw holes and down the sides and bottom of where the HDD sat in the laptop. That is what I covered with electrical tape. Even the screw holes( I put a hole in the tape where the screw was to be inserted.).

 

And sorry about not answering the other part of your question...I don't recall if the laptop made noise when I scrolled up or down. I will check that also when I get home.

 

Here are some pics of what I was talking about....As you can see, wherever the HDD could come into contact with the aluminum, I covered in electrical tape. Reducing the number of electrical grounds for the HDD.

 

Perfect. Thanks a LOT for helping us with this fix. Appreciate it!

One more thing, do you know what the purpose of the aluminum foil is exactly?

 

I'm not 100% sure in the case of these laptops. It could be EMI shielding, but I don't think there is enough for that to be the case. It could also be a common point for all of the devices in the laptop to get power from, but I don't believe that is the purpose either.

 

i did the electrical tape thing on the foil and it didn't do anything, unless a small little bit was missed in which case i would assume the problem would at least be reduced but it is as bad as before. anyone know if leaving a little bit uncovered would make covering the rest useless.

 

I still think this is a driver issue as I read about the 'crackling' issue allot of different forums for different models (mine came with the crackling issue) but they all could fix it by simply uninstalling all the realtek and nVidia drivers and let the system reboot... Then you must reinstall the latest nVidia drivers but be sure to check the audio hd drivers so they will not be installed. Reboot again.... after that install latest realtek drivers and reboot... after that all should be fine. Also download the drivers directly from the manufacturers site (not acer).

If you cannot uninstall the drivers properly do it with ccleaner or similar software.

 

Hi there... I tried to do what spaanplaat told but as soon as I reboot the system windows automatically re-installs the drivers. I went to the Device installation wizard and choose "No, Let me choose what to do" but it didn't help. Does any one know were can I change the setting so as for windows not to automatically install the drivers.

NB. I have Windows 7 Home Premium.

Thanks

 

The first laptop I brought last year from Acer I had to send back because of a problem with the CD player. I got this one in the fall and noticed the crackle problem but was waiting for a driver update. I put the thing in a closet and finally got around to using it. I checked Acer's site and seems no driver update since last summer for the 5739g and no resolution anywhere for the cracke problem.

My crackle is in the left speaker and does it mostly when I turn the volume way up. Sometimes the left speaker goes completely out. I am beginning to think maybe mine is a different problem then what is posted here. Maybe a lose left speaker wire. Does what I describe sound like the same problem others are having here?

Anyone know where I can find a tech manual so I can safely check the speaker wire? Hate to send it back if all I need to do is open it up and push the wire in more tightly.

 

Have you tried removing them with ccleaner? If that didn't work you can manually delete the directory on your hard drive. The usually install in c:/nvidia. It was a hustle for me too but it finally worked after completely removing and reinstalling the drivers. There are more people here who solved the crackling problem this way so I am almost 100% sure this is the way to go!

 

Mine also does not do it using the external jack which is the first thing support had me check. Since it did not they told me to send it back for repair. Although my problem might be different since I told them that my left speaker sometimes just shuts off. (usually after allot of static)

Well actually, not very reassuring for me considering you sent it back three times already with no resolution. This makes me nervous about spending $100 on overnight shipping so I can get it back sooner.

Curious franomi, did your left speaker sometimes just shut down?

 

Can we have a summary of what actually works then? If anything does work?

Ill chuck Linux on and see if the issue still occurs. Then we'll know if its hardware or not..

 

I sent mine back to have this problem fixed. They had it for 3.5 working days and shipped it back to me Fedex ground. Now I had never used this laptop before since receiving it from New Egg and I remember it being pristine before shipping. I noticed a couple of things after opening up the box. First thing I noticed was I sent it with the sheet of Acer plastic between the screen and keyboard to protect it in shipping but they did not. So first thing I check is for damage and noticed some marks in the LCD and black plastic. I was able to get it out with toilet paper on the LCD but was unable to on the plastic but it is hardly noticeable. Perhaps the minor scratches were there or it happened when if they opened it up and not from shipping. The only reason I checked that closely is since I noticed they had not shipped it with the protection I and Acer had used.

I am actually not sure if they had to open it since the service ticket in the box came back only says they updated the BIOS and DMI. So far so good since I am not hearing crackle and the left speaker has not cut out yet.

I also have since updated to Windows 7 and have yet to hear the cracke.

 

Have you guys tried disabling your video card? I'm sure it's what causes the problem for me.

I bought a USB sound card recently and have been hearing lots of pops, crackles etc from my speakers. When I disable the NVIDIA graphics though sound plays fine.

As has already been mentioned there is a known problem with the graphics card affecting sound, however I tried the latest beta driver which is supposed to fix the problem but it doesn't for me :/ the ONLY thing that fixes it is disabling the graphics card completely. At least I know what's causing it.

 

Since that last post I have been using external 5.1 speakers and a separate monitor. Not once did I hear the static. Back using the laptop today with the internal speakers only and now all static in that left speaker.

Acer support totally wasted my time and cost me shipping charges since they obviously they did not fix the problem. How hard would it have been for them to open the laptop and replace the left speaker.

Anyone have any solution for this other than using Acer repair? Anyone have a service manual they can send me the link to?

 

I've fixed whatever audio issues I had with the latest Realtek drivers and Intel Wifi drivers, but since my system's different, not sure what good that'd do.

 

Were you able to tell it was just one speaker? I wonder if my problem is the same as others in this thread. Regardless, sending it back to Acer they should have fixed it. All they did was update the bios and drivers, even though I told them it was the just the left speaker.

If I send it back a second time I probably will refer them to a Youtube video of it so they can actually hear the noise. Some how I doubt they will watch it though and likely they will not open it up and just update the drivers/bios again. Thus I will receive the laptop back with the same problem again.

 

Update: I sent my laptop to Acer for service. They fixed the fan issue by replacing the motherboard but the crackling is still there. I've gotten used to it though as it is almost inaudible while gaming or listening to music. I will try to download and install the latest drivers to see if it removes the crackle.

 

Evrika!
I hear crackles only on headphone/speakers conected trought the jack. Laptop speakers are fine. Problem is in the PCB layout: "USB line" is near the audio one. I use all 3 connectors from the left side with usb mouse dodge, usb power for rack and the esata. When all those three things are connected the crackles are stronger. Also, the ram and video card slot are near the jack. Mostly it crackles when HDD is running.

But you're wrong here. It's a hardware issue.


Other reason might be the power supply. A sound card needs clean current, without ripple(or you can filter that current with some capacitors; I've dissasemby the laptop to clean it from dust and I haven't seen something like that near the audio chip). Very likely the laptop speakers have amplifiers with filtering and therefore you don't hear anything.
A common power rail with the HDD and/or USB ports can create ripple. The GPU & CPU can also induce ripple because all device power from the same source (battery/charger)

I have the version with P7450.
Excuse my English, It's late, I'm tired, my head is about to explode, but not least, the problem is my English...