Alienware M15X Sound Probs, please help

i have just recived my M15X and i have a prob while listening to music at first it was crackeling alot and after a driver update it looks like that part is fixed but when i listen to music with my headphones on i have to crank the volume to full on both the main volume and media player its not the headphones as i have tested them in my xps and if i had that on full volume it would send me deaf has anyone else heard of or got this problem i have the tech coming out in 2 days to replace my sound card but i really dnt want this laptop if thats as loud as it will go with headphones ? thanks for anyones help

 

yeah thats not normal. wait for sound card to be repair and report back if it still happens.

 

sweet thanks man.

 

ok well they replaced my sound card audio jacks and the cables and this thing still has the weakest sound i have ever heard come out of a laptop plus it still crackles im trying to get a replacement but good luck to that as this is a replacement to another lapy i hate it i think its such a crap computer compared to my XPS does anyone have an idea on how to fix the sound or is this how the m15s are ? it only makes a faint crackle now on full volume with headphones but the sound overall is just S_ _ t is there any chance it could have something to do with the hard drive ?

 

i have the speakers 2 inches from my head while watching movies and it has to be on full ball volume how can they have this in whats suppose to be one of the best laptops around ???????

 

Did you try uninstalling the IDT high definition audio driver (select the option to delete the driver files from computer when uninstalling from device manager)

Restart and let windows install the default driver... It'll say High definition audio this time...

Keep me posted ....

How long did the tech guy take to replace all that... Is the crackling noise gone now... Did he ripped the laptop or just unscrewed the part without opening the whole laptop ...

I know he would have taken off the keyboard...

 

she took the whole thing apart unscrewed it yeah she removed the keyboard as well it took about 20 - 30 mins

 

Did installing the drivers wrk for you (windows default one)

 

no it made it worse heaps worse so i reinstalled the new one still isnt loud at all tho

 

i have a pair of alieanware headphones coming tomorrow so maybe i should wait and see what it sounds like with them i have read on a few other sites that they have really low volume and you need a set of headphones with an external volume control but those sites where dated 2008 i thought they might have fixed it since then but it dsnt look like it.

 

unless you have any other ideas ? i only use it to watch movies listen to tunes and surf the net and i cant really watch movies or listen to music on it so its rather a waste of a heavy chunky laptop im just glad i didnt return my xps to them

 

Which drivers are you using.. Can you post the link... Alienware headphones are quite good..

There is certainly some problem... My speakers connected to m15x are pretty loud though .....

Haven't tried any decent headphones on my m15x...

 

sorry to hear your still having problems, the speakers on my M15x are loud very load, i rarely use them at 100% loudness in a room. but outdooors is another story. i still think it may be a driver issue, here is the latest version i could find, try it out to see if it helps.

http://drivers.softpedia.com/progDownload/IDT-HD-Audio-Driver-61062220-for-Win7-Download-86310.html

 

ok thanks for the link but when i tried to install it i get a msg saying the hardware detected is not supported by this idt software package the install will be aborted thats after i uninstalled and deleted the orginal driver

 

im going to copy the driver from my xps and see if that works

 

with that driver update program you gave me the link to there is alot of other drivers that show up needing to be updated is it ok to use it for them ? i dnt want to make things worse lol

 

ok installing my xps driver was a really bad idea i had to do system restore to fix it lol

 

maybe redownload the one from dell again. idt really wants people to use oem drivers for some reason.

 

yeah i have the latest driver installed from dell.

 

what is your complete spec for your machine, and is everything stock or did you reformat or uninstalled and other programs. i want to say hardware failure but you had it replaced already, so it must be a driver issue.

 

ok its an i7-720qm 1.6 gig turbo up to 2.8, 500 gig sata hard drive, 4gb dual channel ram, nvidia 1gb, with windows 7 home premium 64 bit yeah its stock this is how it came out of the box i havent installed anything on it except micro works and the only driver update i have done is the sound driver i was going to do a bios update but the one dell has on there site is A02 and i have A03 so im guessing mine is newer ? i really dont know what to do they just called me back then and told me they have sent thru a request for a system replacement ( but are not going to promise anything) but i dont think ill get it as this one is a replacement to my XPS M1530 im really disapointed with this machine because its not something i can carry round like my xps and i think its designed more for games then movies and music and i never play games at all i still have my xps so i think ill just sell this one and tell dell to get stuffed if they dont replace it.

 

sorry to hear about all these issues, and yes alienware are known for gaming rigs. but if you have time, maybe do a fresh install of win 7. if you need help i can walk you through step by step. but overall the M15x should be a better machine than the xps for all your needs.but what ever you decide good luck. you should really press them on a replacement, i know its already a replacement system but it is not functioning properly so you deserve a defective free system.

 

ok sweet thanks mate ill wait and see what they say they are going to call me back today and let me know if im going to get a replacement so if they say no ill prob take u up on that offer and reinstall windows as im not really that good with computers i have been really rude to the tech support and prob wasnt the smartest move but i will defently push them for the replacement.

 

yeah keep cool when talking to them, reinstalling windows is pretty easy. if your planning on doing it i suggest download all the drivers from dells site and rename them so you will know which is which, and keep them on a usb or cd, so when your doing the reinstall you have everything ready to go.

 

hey mate well i havent heard back from dell yet and because its the weekend they are closed so ill have to ring them on monday in regards to my replacement but i found this dell site and aparently alot of people have the same prob if you have the time maybe you could have a look and tell me what you think there is a guy who posts on there called john he is from dell and talks about how they are trying to fix the prob but havent been able to yet ( http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/11/18/dell-dpc-latency-and-you.aspx ) if you dont think that is it ill re install windows tomorrow and see how that goes thanks heaps for helpin me out.

 

that was for the M17-r1, that was a whole different situation. dpc latency cause audio to skip on that model. dpc on the M15x is pretty good. i think a reinstall can still help you out.

 

ok except on there i found a few people that had the same problem with there m15x and alot of them said it hadnt been fixed with the r2 but if you dont think thats it ill just try an install i also found another post where someone else has excatley the same problem http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=444008&highlight=DPC+Latency have a look at that if you can and tell me what you think if you dont think thats it ill do a re install today ill wait for you to get back to me. thanks

 

my laptop had really low volume on the headphones before i installed the dell M15x sound drivers which fixed that problem, I'm not quite sure about the sound quality though

 

Try installing the latest sound drivers from http://support.dell.com/support/down...nConsent=False
and then uninstalling it.
It fixed my volume problem when I installed it and then fixed my sound quality problem when I uninstalled it lol

 

i will some free time tomorrow, if you need help with reinstalling the os. but in the mean time did you already download all the lastest drivers. i'm also free right now if your around.

 

hey mate yeah im here now have you still got some free time ? no i havent downloaded the fgrivers yet as i was a bit confused do i download them all ? as there is like 2 video drivers and stuff ?

 

i shld have gotten up earlier lol what time do you usualy come on ?

 

normally on weekdays i'm on by 11 am pac time. yeah just download the drivers you need, there is 2 video drivers because one is for the 240 and the other is for the 260. just read the description carefully. if your lazy then we can use the drivers on the resource disk, but they tend to be the older ones. also suggest using the old command center too, the new is buggy.

 

ok im downloading the drivers now is there any chance you could add me on messenger ? my email is [email protected] im downloading all the drivers except the one video card that i dont have and the command centre apps i should download both the chipset drivers as well as the 2 cd/dvd drivers ?

 

for some reason even tho im suppose to get an instant email when you write back im not getting it

 

ill wait for you to tell me if i download both of them actualy before i hit download i dont want to stuff things up

 

which video card do you have 240 or 260 ...

 

the 260 one

 

why is that ?

 

you're better of downloading video card drivers from here...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_195.62_whql.html

download the rest form dell website...

 

because the dell website has an older version. This is the new one and resolves a restart issue with the laptop...

 

ok sweet do i just click download ? or do i have to find my one ?

 

ok cool thanks im downloading that one now

 

do i download both the chipset drivers ? and the 2 dvd drivers they have listed ?
on the dell website ?

 

Follow these simple steps to do a fresh install...

1. Download all drivers for your laptop from dells website except for your video card.
2. Download Video card from link provided in my last post.
3. Store all the downloads on a USB drive or burn them on a cd.
4. Insert the Windows CD provided by dell.
5. Restart your computer press F12 on bios screen.
6. Select boot from cd
7. Press Enter when it says "press any key to boot from CD"
8. Format the drive when asked and install in that partition.
9. After windows is installed and everything is done. Install all your drivers which u have on a cd or a USB...

If u need any help.. I'm available now... give me a shout..

 

yeah download both chipsets but only download one dvd driver, first is for blueray and the second one is for cd/dvd. good to see you already downloaded the new nvidia driver. i'm on my work comp so no messenger on this one. i will be online later tonight hopefully. do you have second computer to chat when doing the reinstall.

 

sweet good looking out white wizard, kinda busy today. i'm just on and off here all day.

just make sure when installing driver to install chipset first. then everything else with osd and command center last. if im not here white wizard should and he is pro.

 

yeah i have my xps so i can still chat on that thanks heaps fellas ill download them and do it now

 

I am on messenger.... I can add ya if you want me too..

and inappropraitename_3... hey! guess what.. I found a game you'll like(similar to God of war) DEVIL MAY CRY 4....

check out the game play in youtube... Going to get that one soon.. ..

 

yeah sweet that would be great thanks