G73JH Sound issues

So I finally solved the static/white noise/cracking sound on my G73JH 2 weeks ago by uninstalling the creative drivers and Realtek drivers... some issues I have been having are:

*1. The Realtek Sound Control Panel has disappeared right after installing the new Realtek drivers (v2.48).
*2. I cannot fully mute my laptop. Despite muting the sound or attaching headphones on my laptop, I can still hear sound coming out of the speakers.. upon closer inspection, I found the sound was coming from the subwoofer area beneath the laptop (at the bottom - left side near the touchpad). What to do?
3. There's no way to control the subwoofer

Hope some of the experienced users can shed some light on these issues

*this can only be solved by installing the Realtek drivers but at the cost of encountering the cracking/static sound bug (which is inherent in the Realtek drivers)

 

Just to be sure:

Did you run the realtek driver installer, reboot, and run the driver installer a 2nd time? The first time the installer will UNINSTALL the driver and request a reboot. When it reboots, Windows can [and has, for me] installed generic drivers that ONLY ran the subwoofer. Had to run the driver installer a 2nd time to actually INSTALL the updated drivers.

 

I'm doing the exact same thing. The reason it's no longer crackling is because you're not actually using the Realtek driver, you're using the default Windows driver (it says High Definition Audio Device instead of Realtek High Definition Audio). The default driver doesn't cause the crackling but also doesn't output the sound correctly, so some sound gets routed to the subwoofer no matter what (even when it's muted).

As far as I know, this is a hardware issue, so I'm living with the default drivers for now. I'm holding off on RMAing mine because it might take forever and there's a risk of getting more problems back.

 

Oh, I didn't do this. What I did was..
1. Ran the Realtek 2.48 sound installer
2. Rebooted
3. Went to Control Panel sound and found 2 Sound devices, disabled the 1st and enabled the 2nd.

That's all I did. What you said does make sense because when I ran the installer it only took 2-3 minutes.. I was surprised it was so fast. Also, when I looked at the control panel or applications, I can never find the Realtek program folder. Hmmm.. I'll try running the installer again later when I get back from work.

Really? I believe the cracking/static sound was due to the conflicting Realtek and Creative drivers, based from the threads I've read.

My sound sounds ok (though not as clear as before) and it's loud! Problem is that you can't really mute it and this: " some sound gets routed to the subwoofer no matter what" <-- couldn't have said it better

I'll try running the installer 2x, hopefully it'll install properly and fix the problem.

 

I'm running a clean install of Windows 7, so I have no Creative stuff installed. I would get the random crackling whenever any version of the Realtek driver is installed.

 

REALLY?!?! This is discouraging news...

 

Just an update:

I reinstalled the Realtek 4.28 drivers. mindinversion was right! The first installation will remove the drivers and after restart you have to run the installer again to properly install the drivers. This solves issues 1 & 2.. leaving issue 3.. how the hell do i control the subwoofer?

Regarding the cracking/static sound, I have yet to encounter it with these new Realtek drivers. I will monitor the sound for the next few days and report if I have any instance of this happening again.. I hope not

 

Update again:

After an hour of playing Resident Evil 5, I exited the game and went back to windows. I then began checking my sound (via control panel) to see if I can make the cracking/static sound reappear (since it usually appears after playing an hour of any game).. lo and behold THE DAMN CRACKING SOUND IS THERE AGAIN!!!

I therefore confirm/conclude (as also stated by Yuxi) that the Realtek Driver is the culprit behind the cracking/static sound bug in our G73JH and NOT the creative drivers.

*sigh* I uninstalled the Realtek drivers and reverted back to using Windows default sound which has issues 1,2,3 as stated in the original post. I think this is better than living with the damn cracking sound!

 

The Creative software locks up the laptop. Sounds to me like you have a hardware issue, otherwise we would all have crackling sound with the Realtek drivers and that's not the case.

 

Twice today, completely randomly, my speakers began making this horrible loud crackling sound, requiring me to shut down my computer to make it stop. My volume controls didn't do anything to the intensity of the noise.

What is going on? I've read in a few other places that some other people have experienced this, but I can't tell if it's just some specific machines (i.e. a hardware defect) or if it's my specific combination of software and drivers. I'm using all of the latest official drivers, so I don't know what to do. The sound is HORRIBLE and it makes me worry that the computer is messed up.

 

It goes away if you uninstall the Realtek driver and use the generic Windows driver. Then you lose the subwoofer, and some sound gets directed to the wrong channels.

This problem seems to affect a few specific machines (including mine), and it looks like a hardware issue. For affected machines I have yet to find a solution posted anywhere that fixes the crackling noise with the Realtek driver installed.

 

+1 here. Realtek & Creative running. I have no issues (but I don't run Steam and obviously don't have a game or app that conflicts with the Creative stuff).

Cheers,

 

I run Realtek + Creative no issues and I run Steam games

 

I don't have the crackling problem but I can't get the subwoofer to work.

I didn't have any issues before installing the Creative Software, and after installing it I still don't (no crashes, works nicely along Steam, etc). The only thing is that the Creative Software is crashing when I turn on Bass Boost, and apparently the subwoofer isn't working (I tried generating a low freq. signal of around 130 Hz and the subwoofer doesn't vibrate). I've read many topics on this subject, and I followed what was advised (updating Realtek drivers and then installing the Creative Software on top).

I don't have any hard crashes and such, but I still can't get the subwoofer to work. What's more, my Creative Control Center windows doesn't show the EAX options, it only shows the options Speakers and Mixer.

Any thoughts?

 

Yeah, check your Windows Audio setup (Speakers ... Configure) Make sure it's set to Small instead of Full Range.

 

Just to note; the sub-woofer works with or without Creative.

 

I think it may be subliminal, but for some reason I feel like my volume's decreased (slightly) and the subwoofer isn't as prominent as it was since I uninstalled the Creative software and updated the Realtek drivers.

I've checked the speaker config, and there's no "Set to small" option, but rather leaving the "Full range speakers > Front left and right" box unchecked.

 

OK, now you can adjust your bass levels using the Graphic EQ in the Realtek audio tab.

 

Apparently that did the trick, thanks guys

 

I think the thread have been hi-jacked. What about the original static noise/realtek problem.

 

Yes, back to the issue. I experienced crackling and speaker noise with Realtek 2.48 drivers on my Asus W2W. I've since installed 2.49 and had no issues at all.

 

With Realtek drivers, sometimes it pays to install them twice. Just a Pro Tip.

 

Some have software issue. Others have hardware issues. If its hardware; sadly, RMA is only option.

 

any word on this? or is it officially bad hardware?

 

Not sure if its hardware but its something definitely with heat.... I can never produce the sound when the laptop is sitting on myn NZXT cryo cooler.... I can produce the sound everytime without fail, all I have to do is heat up the GPU with furmark up to 99 & play with sound volume.... Guarenteed to cause static for me..... Has anyone tried repasting??? Yuxi, how did your repaste go?

 

This same thing happens to me, If I have my laptop on a cooler it does not make the sound, but the two times I've had it off of the cooler it made the sound after exiting a game. Btw, the laptop cooler I've been using doesn't seem to affect the temps at all; after some time playing the Metro 2033 demo my gpu gets to 93 with or without the cooler.

 

The static is a hardware problem dude, I would RMA. My new RMA'd laptop NEVER has the static problem anymore. I tried EVERYTHING prior to RMA and nothing worked... The problem usually happens when the GPU heats up and cool down.... Run Furmark for about 15mins and then play with the sound volume and its guarenteed to happen for me.

 

I think it's probably a hardware thing too. It happens on my unit. I thought it was heat related at first, but I'm not sure. I can sometimes play for hours without it happening and sometimes it will happen after thirty minutes. Mine only does this after exiting a game. My unit has never done it randomly while playing a game nor has it ever done this while using the computer for non-gaming purposes. Putting it to sleep and waking it back up solves it and is much quicker than a reboot. I think I need to RMA.

 

still no fix with the subwoofer having sound after system on mute issue?

 

I just put the Sound Scheme to No Sounds and it resolve the problem for me. I don't care about the Windows sounds so it's fine for me

 

I have a slightly different problem, everytime i'm on battery power and listening to music the sound crackles, never any other time, does anyone have any ideas?

 

Sounds like a latency issue muxing up your DirectSound stream

 

Did you have this problem from the very first day? Has it always been like this or is this just a recent development?

 

Always been like this

 

The speakers are mostly picking up crosstalk somewhere near to it while on battery power. The speakers are after all right above the battery's power feed circuitry.

If that's the case there is nothing you can do but to have the Motherboard replaced.