SXPS 16- Speaker Rattle

Well I'll give it a try (don't expect much though), just to make sure - how far can you turn volume up until something begins to resonate inside the laptop?

 

I frequently have my volume at 100% lol I experience no sound issues whatsoever.

 

Yes mine does that too! I thought I read somewhere that someone had a tech come over to their house and fix their battery so it fit better. MAybe it was the same issue? I have lots of little issues with this 1640 and they are all adding up...ARGH!

I took the speaker issue into my own hands and modded mine. See my previous book long post..SHoulda took pictures..

Also I know the X-Fi thing is a software based solution..I didn't buy it with my original build. Is it possible to use it or get it or does it only work on the models that were purchsed with it?

 

i still have the same ty subwoofer rattle noise from day one and im still as pissed as ever ;D

my speakers were replaced 2 times already and now for the third time dell wants to take my laptop to some workshop of theirs which i dont agree on upon cuz i have the "at home repair thingy". dell also said that if a 3 repair wudnt fix that they wud replace the whole laptop ;P

 

how cud u fix ur laptop?

 

That's great. Unfortunately, I'm a girl, and I'm really bad with screwdrivers. I'll have to ask Dell to fix it

 

Well I'll probably end up calling dell too since I'm not happy about the idea of making any customizations to a 1700$ laptop...but I too expect them to change speakers two times without getting any better and then doing something more drastic like replacing whole laptop or something... :-(

Further more I'm from czech republic and I'll be in Italy for next few months, so I'll probably try to get it repaired afterwards. If those who're gonna call Dell on it could keep us posted about how Dell solved the problem, it would be great...

 

I have this problem in skype to. The higher the volume the more the distortion. However, I didn't experience anything out of the ordinary with any of the videos that were posted in this thread. It's pretty much just skype. I got a pair of Shure SE530's and they sound great with the system so it cant be the drivers

 

Its a design flaw. Ive read in many other threads and now this one that speaker replacement, no matter how many times they try, doesn't remedy the situation. I have the BD-ROM/DVD-RW combo and that is the main culprit of the destortion and rattle. Its an incredibly thin aluminum case that isnt really screwed down but rather latched into place. At certain frequencies it goes nuts and rattles. Just type really hard on the pg up/pg down/enter "|" keys etc, and you can kinda of here it. Also the card reader has the same problem. Most of it can be fixed because if you open up the laptop you notice the sub-woofer is "floating" with about a half qtr inch above and below gap between the bottom and the top of the laptop. When the sub hits heavy that baby has plenty of room to move and rattle causing further distortion and vibration to the dvd/bd-rom and card reader aluminum. I put doubled sided tape on the woofer and on the back of the keyboard so there is no gaps or room for the sub-woofer to move. It fixed 99% of the problem.

Dell cant fix this in the current model, its a design flaw not a defect. Unless they mod it like I did.

 

I don't understand it, how can it be design flaw if there are users not experiencing such problem? Or rather opposite: how can anybody not notice that if its a design flaw?

EDIT: I have Optiarc DVD-RW, may be those not having problem have LG (HL-DT-ST) or the other one...panasonic?

 

mines on the left side... lol :S

 

Mine also rattles.

Edit: I just realized I had turned off SRS (it sucks anyway) and tried again.. it's a LOT better now.
Only the Don Tetto youtube video rattles if I go 100% volume

 

I agree SRS makes it worse, but still it's awfull on mine... :-( The video I posted goes crazy at about 40% volume, which is unbearable...

 

About that: do you notice some noise related to hdd activity when using earphones (no affected by volume settings)? I do, but every integrated soundcard I've ever tried either on laptop or desktop did this so I'm pretty calm about that (not happy though)...

Not shure if it does that with ssd too...

 

OMG yes! You can hear the hard drive going crazy in there. I've been meaning to ask that question but have been to lazy. Yea i hear it and it's definably annoying. Sometimes the HDD calms down and you cant hear it but 9/10 you can hear it

 

Yea i can confirm the vibration in your video. It is noticeable at around 40 % volume for me. Which is terrible.

Which leads me to the question is there anyway to get in your computer and mess with the components inside it lick other people mentioned? If so can you post a guide with pictures? I dont wanna mess up my 1800 laptop
Or would it be a better option to just contact dell and get them to come out and fix it?

 

It's not a problem for me, I've already disassembled it, but I really don't have time nowadays, so you'll have to wait... :-(

Also in my opinion if there are owners free of this issue I believe that pursuing Dell to repair it would be a better solution.

btw: you don't have to worry about hdd noise in earphones much, since trust me, most of integrated solutions does that...but I'm curious if SSD drive would cause less noise on the bus...(???)

 

Alright i'll try and give dell a call. Normally im not as cautious about opening up a computer but the last thing i need is my parents chewing me out cause something went wrong when trying to fix my $1800.

Hopefully dell can come out and fix the issue.. Hopefully

and about the earphones.. Are you saying that if i had the Creative X-Fi sound card MB that I wouldnt have this problem?

 

Nope, Creative X-Fi MB is just a software, you'd need Express card version like this: http://us.store.creative.com/Sound-Blaster-XFi-Notebook/M/B001BS3A3E.htm

 

oops my bad. I thought that was referring to the card version

 

OK, I finally watched the video, and my right speaker definitely rattled throughout. Not as bad though as when I watch movies, but still, it was very noticeable.

 

If I get Dell to send someone over to look at my machine, I'll print this out and show it to them.

 

That is really weird.

I though it was the right side only because that's where the subwoofer is (but I might be wrong!)

 

for the first time i recognised this issue when i was using skype, the voice of my dad produced an almost unbearable rattling at 50% volume... but even normal skype ringing makes the subwoofer/cddrive rattle like hell...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucuIc255QNk

check this out!!!

 

Yea skype is the one thing that produces constant vibration

 

Try listening to a classical piano piece ..it's just unbearable!!! even at low volume

 

I think perhaps its the BD-ROM combo, or the specific model they are using. For awhile it was one of, among many, reasons why the 1645 didn't ship on time. The BD/Roms were out of stock and now if you try to configure any 164X, there is no BD option. I suspect it might have something to do with it.

For those who have speaker rattle/distortion what kind of optical drive do you have?


Edit: I tried that youtube video for fun and even after my mod, holy crap my entire laptop rattles. The mod has been fine until now

 

Actually, Tony_Pony has BD-RE, you have BD-ROM and I have DVD-RW, those are all possibilities and we are all experiencing the problem, I simply don't get it...

EDIT: may be the differences are rather in manufacturer of optical drive then in the type of the drive, but that's much less probable...

 

I have a Blu Ray burner. It was the reason I got this laptop.

Though if the drive was the problem, wouldn't it rattle only when you watched DVDs? Why would it do it when you watch YouTube videos?

 

Because it's about metal casing of the drive which is still there ;-)

 

I have the DVD-RW drive so this isnt specific to people with Blueray drives

 

Guys I've had 3 sub woofer speakers in total and I can tell you that it's the speaker itself which causes the crackling / rattling noise. They are extremely bad quality speakers. All 3 I've tested completely out of the laptop and they were all the same. The last one which I settled on was the best of a bad bunch. The rattling of other internal components like the DVD drive may contribute but the main problem is the sub woofer speaker drivers themselves.

Also the reason it doesn't sound as bad with SRS disabled is because SRS increases perceptible base frequencies very slightly. As someone has already suggested use headphones instead. If you want to get rid of the background noise from bad circuit design use high impedance headphones, or use a decent USB DAC:

http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconudac/index.php

 

I believe you, but how come that so many users do not have or do not notice such problem?

 

So you sounds pretty knowledgeable. Do you think if we call Dell, that they'll replace it with something worth-while that fixes the problem? or well they even replace it at all?

Also, excuse me for sounding like a noob but can you elaborate on "high impedance" headphones? are you basically just saying high quality headphones?

 

I totally believe you. I just think this is an unacceptable defect for a $2K machine. I didn't buy it to create Word documents.

It's a hassle to reach for your headphones every time you want to listen to something.

So when Dell replaces your parts, is there any chance they can upgrade my speakers? Is it expensive to buy your own good quality speakers? I have no idea how much laptop speakers are going to cost me, and where to get them.

 

+1 My sisters $700 dell doesn't even have this problem! The more i hear it rattle the more I can't stand it

 

LaptopMag: "Flanking the keyboard is a pair of 7-watt Dolby 5.1 speakers that provided loud, clear audio capable of filling a large room, but there was some slight audio distortion when we maxed out the volume. Audio had a satisfying (although not booming) bottom end, while playing movies or streaming our favorite tunes from Slacker."

Notebookcheck: "As required for a good multimedia notebook, the Dell Studio XPS 16 offers a nice soundscape if needed. Two loudspeakers, which are left and right beside the keyboard and a built-in subwoofer are responsible for this.
In the test the sound was very present and rather clear. The advantageous location of the speakers contribute to this. And also the subwoofer was noticeable. Nevertheless, the whole system cannot reach the qualities of the Harman-Kardon sound system, which is, e.g., used in the Toshiba Qosmio series. Especially at maximum volume some small weaknesses of the subwoofer get audible."

So they noticed some problems, but they called it "some small weaknesses" or "some slight audio distortion when we maxed out" which is absolutely ridiculous in case they had the same sh*tty speakers as we have.
So there is hope I guess...

 

They must have not listened to the speakers much.. Or were completely oblivious to the issue

 

sorrry but this is totally wrong, when i kept the subwoofer in my hand!!! turned on the laptop and played sounds at 100% volume, there was no rattling at all. the subwoofer itself is perfect!!!

 

Yea to be honest, my sub was fine and mod I did worked very well.

 

I have the same rattle problem with my subwoofer....however, if I press the right side of my touch pad where the rattle noise comes from, it stops....so I think it's just something is loose there....

Can somebody tell me how do you open up the keyboard and the speakers??? I don't see any screws there...Thanks

 

I have started to have some problems as well, it's extremely annoying. Basically it’s like torture watching a film, it’s unbelievable that a laptop this expensive has this many problems with it.

 

yea, my speakers on both sides can rattle but it depends on what kind of audio I'm playing. Usually high quality mp3s do not produce the rattle unless it's at near max volume, whereas low quality audio produces rattle/clipping even at moderate volume. Kinda sux when using the laptop solo, but otherwise, I have external speakers connected. I've never had such problems with my old HP dv5000 with the Altec Lansing speakers. heh.

 

I called dell tech support and they are sending a technician to come and replace the speakers for me, hopefully this will be fixed.

 

For me it’s definitely not my speakers but some of the keys on the right side that seem to vibrate when a certain pitch is played…

 

OK, I don't know exactly what happened, but all of a sudden the right speaker doesn't rattle anymore!!! My left one has always been quiet, it was the right one that was annoying me. I even tried to play a really old DVD that definitely made it rattle last month, and nothing happened! The sound does seem to be a little flat, but it might just be in my head.

This is what I did over the past couple of days:

- Updated my BIOS from A01 to A06
- Updated my ATI drivers to the latest available on Dell's site.
- Updated PowerDVD DX (by opening the program and clicking on Online Update).

It all started with me having problems with my ATI drivers (the Catalyst program wasn't working). I suddenly lost all my Libraries, as well as Windows' top toolbar. I was also having problems playing Blu Rays (my movies would sometimes freeze at the very end). So I figured it wouldn't hurt to update stuff.

Now, it's possible that in the process of messing with the laptop I also accidentally switched something else off (or on!), I don't know. But the result is fantastic - the right speaker is now super quiet.

I just really, really hope it's not temporary

 

Ok, dell technician replaced my speakers, palmrest and subwoofer and the crackling is almost resolved, I can still hear that sometimes, but it's much better than before so I think that it can be solved under warranty... ;-)
But I noticed that new pamrest is not completely flat (distorts reflected image), but I guess that I can live with that (palmrest is covered by my fingerprints for most of the time anyway...)

 

Interesting, do you know by any chance if the technician also updated any of your drivers/changed anything else in your laptop?

I always thought it was a physical problem, but after I updated various software components, the rattling went away.

I'm curious to see if anyone else who had this problem tried updating their ATI drivers, and if it solved it for them...

 

I updated all the drivers.....still exists...it's a Hardware problem....

 

That's too bad! I wish I knew exactly what I did, but after I updated all my stuff, the rattling problem magically went away. I didn't physically touch the speakers at all...

There is some talk about latency that may be causing the noise on the throttling thread. They were saying that it was addressed in the BIOS A03 release. I had A01 when it was rattling, which I upgraded to A06. Maybe that was the issue?

Quote:
Originally Posted by romills View Post

I think he is referring to DPC latency not network latency. DPC latency associated with audio crackling. One of the earlier Bios's for the 1645 addressed (A03??) I noticed the issue on a game in single player.

DPC - Deferred Procedure Calls

I don't believe this is associated with the WLAN driver, but I am willing to be corrected. (not trying to be rude, so apologies if that appears that way, just trying to get info correct).

No rudeness perceived. I'm all too aware of DPC latency on Dell laptops. It has been the bane of my existence for 9 months now. I have escalated it on several platforms, including 1640, and have had it fixed on some and not on others due to one reason or another. The good news is, engineering committed to including the use of DPC Latency Checker in the test procedure for all future consumer products. Not sure about Biz Client boxes like Latitude and Precision.



I'm really curious, because I was 100% convinced it was a physical issue, but now I'm not so sure...