Audio Crackling on the 15x - Discussion Thread

At 100% there's distortion in my speakers. In headphones, there's no distortion or crackling @ 100%. Though, I do recall some crackling on the audio when I first got it.

 

Never had the audio crackling issue on my laptop to be honest. Maybe I am just deaf to a particular frequency, but it seems fine to me.

 

My laptop hasn't had the issue in the onboard speakers or headphone jacks, never heard any crackling or static at all. I think it's just hit and miss, if it was something that happened to one particular part or combo of parts Dell would have found a better solution than replacing the mobo by now IMO.

 

The problem occurs when listening to audio with headphones, with the volume over 50% (more apprent towards 80%).

I think the new mobo fixed this problem. I guess they sent me the older revision when they tried to fix it for me... and thats why it failed.

 

for those who experiencing the same audio cracking issue,
please ring dell and have them to replace this new revision of motherboard
part # 0G5VT - ASSY,PWA,NBK,ANW,M15X,B3

the old that is causing this problem would be
part # 72HGG - ASSY,PWA,NBK,ANW,M15X

 

Thank you for the info!

 

has anyoen found a real fix for this ? i mean have they put out new drivers yet
i just started to notice my crackling

if i understand what i read are you saying that the Aliane FX is whats casuignt his to be crackling questiong

 

ah ok just saw this at the bottom
so its the System MOBO that is casuign the cracking ?

 

I got my mobo replaced, and all it did was make it better, but never go trid of it 100% ... instead of crackling at 50%, i got it at 85%... they couldn't fix it. So they bumped me to a M17x.

 

wow was it right after you purchased it or somehtig
how did you get them to bump you to a 17x thats very unlike dell to do that without you having to go head over heals and fight them to

 

The resolutions expert told me it was the first time he saw upper-management approve a replacement upgrade in the 12 years he worked there. So, not likely it will happen again. And i didn't ask for it, it was given as an option.
Engineering said " look we can give you a replacement M15x, but the problem will still be there (apparently they tested 3 M15x in their lab, all gave the same results) or we can give your a similiarly spec'd m17x which we know does not have the problem".

Honestly as crazy as this may sound, that option was a problem for me, as i needed and liked the smaller profile of the M15x, as a DJ its easier to bring around. Because this posed a problem, they felt i was entitled to a few minor specification upgrades over my M15x...and thats that. Now i'm one of the very FEW DJs that lug around a M17x LOL.

Works great though... my buddies with macbookpros are amazed how i can be using traktor in the middle of a live mix, and fire up Medal of honor at the same time and play in windowed mode, without the music skipping a beat, or anything slowing down....not that i'd need to do this ever... but it was pretty cool showing them that i can

 

i was on the phone erlier with tech person should call him jerk person ih ad to hang up on him lol
he didnt get a darn thing i was saying
kept saying we need u to hook up headphones to test it well i dont have headphones right now and was not gona go buy them so they could save money on diagnosing it lol
if they want to trouble shoot it with headphones im fine with that if they send me the headphones lol
he said well we cant do that
then he said it may be the speakers anyways then he started to say crap like well lets try removing the battery and all
im like ok then he said lets do one more thing
i hung up and said th ehell with them tonight ill call back on sunday or monday when i have tiem to waste

 

Just got off the phone and they are fianly gona send a new mobo out

 

Im still getting the audio crackling with the new board
they try to tell me it has to do with the Bio's could this be right or whats going on any sujestions ?

 

I can confirm the new motherboard Part No # 0G5VT - ASSY,PWA,NBK,ANW,M15X,B3 does fix the crackling however i dont understand why anyone would use it above 50% ............. however saying that i have tested it upto 70% with no crackling at all

 

id like to know how to check and see if i have the new mobo reviced mobo
i can tfigure it out
i still have crackling and not sure

they tried to tell me that it has to do with the Bios and they are trying to fix it but we all know how long it takes dell to pull out new bios and stuff

if they dont come out with someotng ne win the new few weeks its just gona eritate me and ill do what i usualy do call the AG Attorny general and file a complain if thye dont just replace the system

 

What BIOS rev is the replacement board running?

As for 'seeing' motherboard revision, I responded to your other post in the thread you created.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/533889-new-mobo-tomorrow.html#post6893615

 

Im using bios verison A08 running and when the enginner came i checked the box as well as the underside of the motherboard ..... so you would need to take off the keyboard and stuff to gain access to that area....

 

i checked it and the new board came with the AO8 already on it

called dell back they said the since alot of ppl are having this problem that dells tech and enginer ppl or what ever think it has to do with the bios but if it was the bios it owuld be that on evyerones system woudlnt it ?

 

If it really is the Bios they say is the problem
is there a way for me to revert back to the old bios
i know that it has some problems but wasnt the problems it had more or so with the I7 920 and 940 CPU and not the 720 or 820 ?

 

A08 is here:
Drivers & Downloads

All other BIOS revs are here:
Dell - Support

 

could i harm anyting by going back to a older version to try it out ?
also is it that easy to do or it is gona be hard ot do that

 

I just got speccy on the system but it wont let me pull the system board number up

this is all it says

Motherboard
Manufacturer Alienware
Version A08
Chipset Vendor Intel
Chipset Model DMI Host Bridge
Chipset Revision 11
Southbridge Vendor Intel
Southbridge Model PM55
Southbridge Revision 06
BIOS
Brand Alienware
Version A08
Date 08/24/2010

 

Well, with speccy, my hope was you would have a chance to run it on the original board and compare the results.

At this point, if you are still having issues with audio over 75% or whatever the % was for this issue (i cant recall without reviewing the start of the thread), then its time to stick with the calls/contact to Dell. Since you are not getting anywhere with support, head over to this thread and follow up with your last case# given for the motherboard swap and contact escalations. There's not much more we can do here. Its either that or wait until support issues another BIOS update (if in fact that is the root cause).

As I understood it, the issue was with audio over headphones - not the internal speakers. internal speakers can distort at full volume, especially on a laptop depending on the audio being outputted.

Whats odd is most who have had the swap report the issue resolved - at least thats what I gather looking over the last few reports in the thread.

Weird.

 

Ok thank you for all the help

im just gona stick with contacting dell
beacuse u know what if i only had a 1 year warranty it would be up in a month from now
and where would i bee if they release a new bios and that was not the issue they wouldnt cover any parts and it would be there fault because they made me wait to darn long
i think that if not all the systems are having issues then they should just replace the system
if i have to ill just tell them to send me a box and ill send it to there depot and be without it for a week or 2 if i have to but that would souch because i paid for in home lol

 

strange as hell they told me that this is the revised motherbaord that has had the audio crackling fixed on it..... they dont know if they coming or going in that place you get told different information everytime you speak to an adviser.... i know this board works for me currently so its upt you how you go about dealing with the tech team at alienware.

 

when i called yesterday they where really nice the guy it got spoke perfect english knew what he was doing didnt even hasle me when i said i was told by others with the same problem that it was the MOBO i tired a few headphones and speakers out and no go on them same problem he checked to make sure i had the right audio drive and all and when he saw i did he then set up the call sendout a new MOBO then this chick i got today spoke good english and gave me hell about it syaing it bios


the other thing eveyr time i would unistall the Audio Driver windows would start ot update and instal the driver automaticly before i could go to dells website and donwload it
how do i turn it up i mean so windows doenst try to find the dirve automaticly maybe thats the problem maybe it screwed up the drive info

 

If this is suggested, I encourage you to not accept this. As you mentioned, you have an in-home warranty. Needs to be honored. If it means yet another board replacement, then so be it.

Remember, work with them. Even if they want you to reinstall the OS, reinstall drivers, have a tech change the board again - whatever it takes. A condition of the warranty is you work with the support rep. Hang in there...

I know it can be frustrating at times.

Concerning the windows automatic driver install, you can disable it here:

1. Open up System Properties ---> Hardware Tab ---> Device Installation Settings

See attached screen cap

 

Just spent well over 2hrs with a High level manager and a Engineer trying to diagnose my problem on multiple system configurations. I provided examples by comparing audio from the M15X and a Asus N series laptop. There was an audio difference, like night and day when watching an episode of stargate universe. You can clearly hear the cracking/static in the audio on the M15X while there is none on the Asus. I'm getting a whole bunch of parts replaced. Hopefully this'll fix the issue.

 

so what kind of test did they make you run egm92????

 

i have the same problem, few months back did a few tests to try to find the problem. i removed and reinstalled the audio drivers and command center, at few times i was successfull at completely removing the crackling and distortion but they always came back after a restart or changing settings in my alienFX.

Im SURE that alienware are aware of the sound problem.
I still BELIEVE/THINK its a driver problem.
As to why they still didnt fix it, i do not know, maybe they are working on it, maybe they tried and cannot find whats wrong, maybe the problem is with the design and they have accepted it. only alienware engineers would know.

dont think changing the motherboard will do anything unless its flashed with a newer version then ours. if there was a newer version i would think that alienware would push it with a new BIOS upgrade, instead of replacing every motherboard with a new version.

 

None to be honest. They were diagnosing it on their side, trying to duplicate the problem on a couple of machines. He was going to update the BIOS which I already have A08, so he said that was a waste of time and wouldn't be doing it. Asked if I upgraded the VBIOS on my 5850 I told him I did, asked for a bunch of driver info. Took remote access of my PC and really didn't do much. Then I was on hold for about 1:20hr with him while they were setting everything up and testing and coming every 20-30min to check to see if I was still there.

They finally said they'd issue a replacement for the motherboard. Gave me his personal Dell email so if anything happens after the replacement or the part didn't fix the issue to not call Alienware/Dell and to contact him ASAP.

I did this test with the laptops. Mic on the m15x is horrid compared to the Asus.

M15X crackle/static

Asus N

Edit: Here's a newer cleaner version of the M15X using my Logitech Ultra Vision build in Mic to record it.

New M15X

Quality is a bit off on the M15X but you can hear it clearly. Imagine if the audio was cleaned up on the mic how bad it would sound.

 

That is embarrassing.
Appalling
and SAD

 

I just tried out my M15x again, to see if I could reproduce crackling.
No crackling at 100% volume on any of 15 tested songs that were Rock, R&B, Pop, Rap. Only on certain lower quality sound files I got distortion at 100% on speakers, but none on audio.
I'm on stock driver by the way.

 

LOL LOL LOL The K-lite codec mega pack is what I have installed and watching the ep with MPC-HC I recorded the audio from. So that's definitely not helping me in my situation and the audio is only at 30%.

 

Quick question, when did you guys get your laptop and what headphones or medium you're using?

 

I got the M15X in mid spring of this year. I use Creative EP-630 earbuds and Sennheiser HD555 headphones. During the day when everyone is awake I just use the built in speakers. I watch shows, listen to music and play games and these audio issues are present in all of them.

 

Awesome thank you for the help with that
Someone told me ones that if you send systems into the depot that sometiems they end up sending you a new system or replacment instead of fixing yours they just strip it and use it for parts is this true

the only reason i would ever consider this is if they argue and argue with me
the way i feel it is
they are trying to blame it on a bios problem and tell me i have to wait untill a new bios comes out
they dont wana diagnose it anymore they just wana say its a bios issue and wiat for a new one to come out
wich sucks

 

I am using a pear of headphones from my dad that he uses on airplanes with an adapter
and also using the headphones that came iwth my old xps

iv had mine since January this year

i feel bad for anyone who only got a 1 year warranty and is almost up on it becaus ethen what they will say is well your warranty is out of date and we can help you that will just suck

im so happy i just spend the money to upgrade to a 3 adition year warranty wanted to go 4 years but they wanted way to much fro that wich sucked

im gona stick on dell like glue untill they fix this or sned out another system or something
i dont even care if it says refurbished on it ill just take the sticker or botom offer and replaced it with the one on mine
i jsut want it to work like it should

 

I just did this procedure nad its not working like every time i turn the computer back on it will reload the driver automaticly

what id o is i open up

and right click on My computer go to Propertys
then advanced setting and hardware

is this corect it looks just like the picture

 

is there a certain song or anything that would make the crackling more???

 

Nope any song i play i have over 3 gigs of music on the HD and 1 tb of music on an externamke drive and about 3 18 gig flash drives with music every singel song i put on it crackles on

 

thanks for the info, will test out with head phones later tonight.

 

Same here any song I play will crackle or make it sound like there's static in the background. Same songs sound perfect on any other of my systems, they're all high grade .FLAC files or at least most of the ones I've tested.

 

Ok thanks guys. Hmm so how do they check it from their side?

 

I don't know but I was told they were doing tests on multiple systems similar or the same as my config. What tests exactly? I wasn't told. I'm getting my LCD/Touchpad/Mobo replaced. Lets hope it fixes it to something that's bearable. I love the M15X best laptop I've owned but man issues like this tick me off when it's near the end of my warranty.

 

Wow that's a lot of stuff, good thing you caught it before the warranty ended. Prolly a good idea to extend the warranty too.

 

hmm wondeirng why they would replace the LCD does it have something to do with the MOBO ?

 

no, the LCD is an unrelated issue, but you never know!

Here's what it sounds like recorded on a better quality mic than the internal M15X Mics. Mic is from the Logitech Ultra Vision webcam.

New M15X

 

Is that recording of audio being sent to headphones or to the system speakers? What level is the volume at?