Sound Bugs Part 2

I made a thread a while ago discussing sound bugs. On my old system there was a bug where the sound would get low and dolby effects would turn off and you have to open and close the lid to get it loud again plus get the surround sound and stuff back on. There's also a bug that cuts off the first millisecond of sounds when they are first played. Everyone said their systems were fine but I just got my new system and it has the same exact problem. I suspect it's Alien Audios power saving feature. The only things I've installed were games so I don't think they're causing this problem. Who can I report this to? I feel like calling Alienware won't do much...

EDIT: Found an easier way to kickstart the sound, plugging in and out a pair of headphones. Easier then closing the lid and opening it. I guess I can sort of live with this...sigh.

 

that sounds like a stupid bug.. funny how none of these issues ever end up in reviews... (they ship one system to everyone, in turn that guy ships to the next etc..and its usually a bug free one)

 

Very strange that you have received two that do the same thing and the 18 I am using never does it. It didn't do it with Windows 8 and after wiping the drive and replacing it with Windows 7 it still doesn't. It possibly is a power saving component causing it as you stated. This has been an annoyance of varying degrees off and on with laptops for a while now. Sound cards and other components often act up with their power saving "features" enabled. Same with resuming from a sleep state... better to disable them to avoid glitches.

 

Man I hope I don't get any more sound issues... almost but not all, alienware laptops I've gotten had motherboard issues that at first only affected the soundcard noticeably. Until they started catching fire.

 

Maybe it's a game I installed. They're replacing the harddrives because they vibrate like crazy so I'll have a fresh install to mess around with.

 

The problem I had was different symptom but same workaround (reseating the audio cable). Basically I would lose ALL the LFE signal to my subwoofer. Interestingly, after blowing away everything and installing Win7 clean, with the very same Realtek and Dolby software from Dell, the problem has not come back. This tells me it's DEFINITELY a software issue in the factory image and probably same with you. Perhaps they have a series of different images and you and I got the crap one while Fox got the good one. =)

 

This is a software problem and I found the exact source just now, it's the Dolby turning off. When I turn that on and off it's the same exact thing that happens when the volume goes low. I don't know what's causing the Dolby to go off all the time, weird.

 

Cool. I'm glad you identified what was causing that issue. I hope you can figure out what is causing it to turn off.

I will need to look at this 18 and see if maybe it is set to off by default. If I never have Dolby turned on, maybe that's why I never have noticed a change in volume and you have.

 

After a google search it seems a lot of people with a lot of different laptops have this problem. I haven't been able to find any solution whatsoever. I cut the jack off an old pair of headphones and keep it in the laptop mic jack and push it in to kick start the Dolby when it goes off (only when opening a game or anything with sound for the first time and I have to do it every time I open anything with sound because it goes off again after I close whatever). I'd really like to know what's causing this problem because it seems like a lot of people are fine, I suspect it's a game doing it.

Is there any possible way I can somehow bind a key to turn it on and off? Any free programs I can use that would let me do such a thing?

 

It might be there for a reason, as a kind of mechanism games have power over.

Have you considered just using Dolby off? Sound processing for it to be louder has to be HORRIBLE on the sound anyway, so you could have it slightly lower in volume, but truer to the sound designers vision while playing a game.

 

The volume is way too low without Dolby on.

The exact opposite of that, it sounds amazing with Dolby on.

 

Thanks. Now that it's gone, you can add each game back 1 by 1 in your "control" environment and find out the culprit.

 

This is actually occurring quite frequently and sporadically with me as well. I have no idea what is causing the Dolby software to stop working. It actually never shuts off for me, it just doesn't activate sometimes. At times it will suddenly activate while I am listening to music or watching a video and my audio changes dramatically. Even stranger, after this happens I can pause the video and instantly open up another one in a different tab and Dolby will be back to not working. =/

It might be something to do with the factory image of the software being bugged. I have the audio power saving features turned off so I don't think that is the problem.

 

I'm getting a bug with my G930s where its has lots of static I've replaced both andstill have a static problem and they are wireless headsets... it was working on my 17 not sure what happened

 

Are they USB headsets? (Yes, they are) If so, it's the headset's fault, and completely unrelated to this issue.

Try changing frequencies, changing the in-line signal-to-noise ratio, changing the USB port, or try another computer.

 

the thing is it works perfectly fine on my computer desktop not static on my 18 lots of it I've tried every port. Figured I would use this thread to ask instead of making a new one its not wired headset its wireless.

G930 7.1 Wireless Gaming Headset - Logitech Is the head set and I have two

 

They are USB headsets. Wireless, with it's own transceiver, compared to wireless on Bluetooth.

Have you tried anything else I've mentioned, besides trying another computer?

 

Try switching on the laptop with the power cable unattached. Then, after Windows boots up and the desktop appears, plug in the charger. See if that helps

 

A clean install with manual driver updates did the trick for me. Now my sub works.

 

Yes I have tried these way before my initial post

 

I use the G930 as well, but haven't had any issues that I know of since moving it to the M18...

 

You sure? Because the SNR ratio would fix it, definitively, but also make your sound quieter.

 

I'm getting that first split second of sound being cut off bug, did you find a way to fix it? oddly it went away when I first enabled SLI but was back after I quit out a game

also it does not seem to happen when I play music in iTunes :-/

 

I uninstalled the Realtek audio driver which also uninstalled Dolby Home Theater. I'm still experiencing issues with the Dolby audio application (sound being cut off shortly as in post above and the application just not activating even though it is "on") after reinstalling everything though, so it seems it could be some sort of software conflict with the system or it's possible the Dolby app is bugged. I haven't done a clean wipe of my OS which could still mean that there is something wrong with the factory image of the system. It is annoying since the audio does become more loud and clear with Dolby Home Theater running. It is quiet and muffled without it.

 

bumping this up, I'm still having sound issues, did anyone ever figure out how to fix it?

 

bumping this yet again, I really don't want to have to get a replacement

 

Reinstall it and let see.

 

i have the same problem with my new m18, the only way i get the sound to come on is if i close the lid let it go into sleep then reopen the lid and the sound is there until I power it off..

i think i will do a clean install, really annoying considering i have just installed all my games on origin and steam...

doing a clean install you mean using the discs provided rather then restoring from a factory image...

thanks alot

Ian

 

Hi, all, I am glad I found this.
I signed up for the forum looking for an answer to just this problem.
My sound seemed week. Much less than My Qosmio G45 which this was to replace.
I went all out just for what I hoped was quality sound because it had the highest ratings.

After some playing around, The only way I get good sound it plug a mini phone plug in any of the three audio outs. a msg pops up and asked me what have I plugged in (different msg for each port) However!!!! until I click on one the sound is great. If I pull it out, the sound diverts to weak. If I click on one of course the sound is diverted. But while waiting, the sound is great. what is up with that.

this is new system, 1 month nothing installed.

OK maybe I should have said it is Aliwnware 18 system