Xps m1730 - solve the crackling and freezing up issues

I have posted this info so, if some poor soul like me gets one of these potentially fantastic laptops, they can find this on google, read it and save themselves the hassle I went through.

I'll put it very simply...

Windows 7 64 bit works flawlessly on my XPS m1730. Stock 8700m sli cards, stock 2.6ghz cpu.

If you want to save yourself no end of hassle.... go into device manager and disable the wifi card. Go on eBay, Amazon, ebuyer.com and buy a wireless N micro usb wifi card. Stick it in, Voilà! Problems all solved. No longer will your audio crackle when you are running the LightFX l.e.d.s. No longer will your browser freeze the entire machine for no apparent reason. No longer will you want to punch your fist through the HD screen of this beautiful machine!

Disabling 'aspects' of the wifi card like the 'A' band, is not a solution. Just disable whatever wifi card is in your laptop (I have the 4965AGN, which is not the one people are USUALLY complaining about with this problem) and try your audio with LightFX enabled... if you, like me, find problem has gone away, that is the solution.

I have a tp-link micro usb wifi dongle permanently plugged into the usb at the back (leaving 2 more on the right side and 1 on the left, more than enough! It sticks out about 6mm and is next to the power cable which is ALWAYS plugged in because this thing cannot run on a battery for any meaningful length of time so it is not obtrusive.

I have been running my machine for 2 days with zero freeze ups now. I have been playing audio over my network on another machine, using this new wifi card. Not one crackle.

To quote Sheldon Cooper.............. 'You're welcome'.

 

Put this way rather then do all that get a Intel 4965AGN and not have to worry about all that hassle that your doing? That's pretty simple to do. Also Intel has better driver support for their product and I rather have better/stable drivers from a trust company that been making good product even if the wifi is a older device it still gives good 300mb connections for it's age. And also anything sticking outside a laptop that large is bound to break off or break the USB connections and USB connections will never give the best performance a wifi card internally will do more better speed and reliability. So to anyone thinking of putting dongle outside they are bound to break or cause something else to break if your not carefully especially with a laptop that big. Mine is stock 8700 sli with x9000 2.8 4gig Windows 7x64 Ult Sp1 and it works fine with the upgrade. The wifi upgrade was one of the better options to have replacing my older stock g band wifi.

 

Guess what... didn't work. For SURE it is a conflict between sound chip an internet activity. I have still got problems................

Well, I did until just now. I recently bought a bluetooth sound system. Today I connected my laptop to it and well I'll be f***ed! Absolutely solved the problem! I cannot get iTunes to skip once, no matter how much scrolling or clicking I do in Chrome!

So, the solution it would seem, is bluetooth your audio to your speakers.

 

The TP Link Nano is not big enough to damage, the usb part is much bigger than the little bit sticking out!