Xps 1645 i7 A07 Bios & Speaker Problem! Solved!

Just thought I'd post some info on what I just went through. Ever since A06 bios release I was having internet connection issues (slow!) and a speaker problem. When I logged off, I got a message saying " waiting for logoff sound" and had to click the force restart/shutdown prompt. Then I installed A07 bios and after playing a mp3 file with windows media player and then restarting, I would have no sound at all!. I had to shutdown, wait a few minutes and restart and sound would come back, weird?

Anyway, I decided to try and solve these issues, so I uninstalled the IDT audio & driver and reinstalled from Dell download site hoping it was just a bad install. BAD MOVE, now my sound really went bad! All sounds played through only one speaker AND it was really muffled sounding. I tried everything to fix this with no luck until I rolled back to A03 bios and ta da, sound was normal again, no issues whatsoever PLUS, my internet connection improved significantly!

Now I am hesitent to update to either the a06 or a07 bios since machine is running better tha n ever on a03. My uneducated opinion is you need to run any updates released prior to a06 or a07 bios before you install these updates.

In conclusion, if you are having issues like me, roll back to A03 bios, reinstall or update drivers, problem solved.

I am now going to update my bios and see if the problems return and update this post when I'm done. Wish me luck

 

Sorry for this ignorant question, but how do you know which drivers to update once you update your BIOS? I recently updated to A07 and ever since I updated I've been having random freezes while browsing the internet, nothing intensive. I was wondering if I did something wrong when upgrading the BIOS or whether I need to update drivers. I'd appreciate some input on this. I received my laptop on December and had not updated BIOS or driver until I did the update to A07.

 

Hi all,
OK, I ran a06 bios then a07 bios and everything worked ok. Internet connection was good and no speaker/sound issues this time (YET).
IMHO, you need to solve any and all issues with any components/drivers released prior to these bio releases before installing them.

HOWEVER, I was able to replicate the "waiting for shutdown sound" message and "force restart" message. So i clicked it and when it did restart, I had no sound at all, again!
This happened ONLY after I went into Control Panel/Sound/Speakers/Properties/enhancements and checked the "virtual surround" option. So, still with no sound, I went back and unchecked this enhancement, did another restart, and the sound came back. Seems this enhancement may have been one of the problems all along, BUT, the only one speaker and extremely muffled sound mentioned above was only solved rolling back to a03 bios and did not occur again like the other problem.
I'm going to try and replicate the "waiting for shutdown sound" and no sound at all problem without the virtual surround option checked and will update this thread again. Wish me luck

 

Hey PDZ,
I just rolled back to a03, then went to "drivers and downloads " page on Dell's site and checked EVERY download vs. device manager to make sure I had the most current one installed. I also reinstalled the IDT driver only because I was having sound issues. However, this may never have been the issue (see above post). I'm no expert, but I would roll back to a03, then try to isolate the problem, uninstall and reinstall any drivers that may be related to the problem, confirm it no longer happens THEN update the bios. Again, I'm no expert, but this method solved most of my problems. Good luck and I'm sure some experts on this site may offer more help.

 

Ok, I was not able to replicate the problem with the virtual surround option disabled.

So, I'm hoping someone else can try to replicate this problem so I can confirm it is not just my machine, but a problem with the virtual surround enhancement. If you would be so kind, here's the steps I went through that resulted in the problem:

1. check the virtual surround option (see above post for the path)
2. open windows media player, in library view, select a mp3 file, hit play, switch to now playing view (bottom right hand corner of library view), select a visualization, switch to full screen view, let it play for a little while, exit full screen view, close the media player and attempt a restart.

I'm not sure why, but the only way I could cause the problem was by doing the above steps. If I don't switch to the full screen view of the visualization, it does not occur. I know this sounds strange but I would relly appreciate someone confirming that this also happens on their machine, then we will know there is a problem with the virtual surround enhancement.

Lastly, any relevant info about this issue would be appreciated. For example, maybe the virtual surround feature is not compatible with the IDT driver/software. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to try and replicate this issue. Seems that all you need to do is uncheck the virtual surround option to return your system to a normal state.

 

Thanks a lot for your advise. Why do you think you'd need to go back to A03 to update drivers and not just be able to update them with A07?

Also, I'm new to updating BIOS and these sort of things. All I did was downloading A07 from the Dell website, running the file, and rebooting the system. Did I miss anything?

Thanks again.

 

"waiting for shutdown sound"

This is a Windows 7 problem. The system freezes if it takes the shut down sound longer than 10 seconds to play (I have no idea why, it's just the way it is).

Go to Control Panel - Sound. Locate the shutdown sound. I personally just disabled it completely. It solved my shutdown problem.

 

Tony Pony
I tried that, but couldn't find a way to turn off that sound, how'd you do it?

 

PDZ,
Ok here's the deal on why I rolled back to a03 bios.
I had sound problems, decided to try and fix them by uninstalling and reinstalling IDT sound software & drivers. It made the problem worse, way worse. I tried everything to fix it & nothing worked. I was very close to calling Dell support But decided to try one more thing=Roll back to a06 bios and see what happend. However, System wouldn't allow me to roll back to a06, so I searched around and found a03 and rolled back to that and my sound issue was solved. I then reinstalled a06 followed by a07. Again, I'm no expert but I believe the a07 bios utilizes the IDT drivers/software in a different way, thus when I uninstalled and reinstalled them while having a07 bios they became uncompatible in some way and led to my sound issue, this is only a guess but makes sense to me. So what I'm getting at is, for example, if you believe your video drivers are causing your problem, you MAY want to roll back to a03, uninstall and reinstall them, see if it fixes your problem, then update the bios. All I know for sure is this worked for me with the IDT drivers. lastly, since you started experiencing problems once you installed a07, you may want to try rolling back to a03, then install a06 then install a07. I just follow the instructions on Dell's website. I also only use Dell's drivers (some people "mod" their systems and download drivers from the manufacturer, I do NOT). Hope this helps. Let me know how you make out.

 

Tony Pony,
One more thing, while you may have a solution to the shutdown sound, I still don't understand why when a force the shutdown (restart to be specific) why I lose all sound until I restart again or shutdown for a few minutes the start up again. Thoughts?

 

Never mind, figured in out (brain feeze)

 

Thanks so much, appreciate your help. Where can I find A03? On the dell website there's only A06 and 7.

 

Just click on the a06 bios link (not the download button) and on the next page you'll see a link for other versions.

 

PDZ,
Also, looks like this thread,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=440493
may help you more than I can, although rolling back and reinstalling the bios should have no ill effects and may in fact solve your issues. Luckily that thread isn't as long as some others, check it out.

 

Sorry, I'm not sure what's the solution to your second problem might be. The shutdown thing was driving me nuts until I recently figured it out.

You might want to call Dell's customer support to deal with your second problem - they answer the phone 24x7 .