Get rid of headphone jack buzzing, and save the world

I noticed that the buzzing stopped whenever the CPU was active, so I came up with a simple cure:
http://www.stanford.edu/~kasson/folding/Folding@Home Windows SMP Client.EXE

Install for Windows Vista: the .NET framework v2.0 is not needed (it is already installed). Run the self-extracting installer to choose an installation directory and install the files there. Then run install.bat in the installation directory to complete the install process. The client is started by running the fah.exe binary. More detailed instructions are at the bottom of this page.


Hopefully there is a software update on the way that fixes this issue, but until then this will work for me.

 

Update: After some more testing, I have found that running the distributed computing app keeps the cpu at roughly ~30% usage and silences the headphone noise to next to nothing. The 85W/hr battery lasts 3hrs and 15 minutes on the lowest brightness lcd setting, and 2hrs and 45 minutes on the brightest settings.

 

according to the dell tech i spoke with a couple of weeks ago they are aware of this and said they will be fixing this via a bios update so we'll have to see i guess..

 

I sure as hell hope so. I wonder why Apple went as far as replacing the motherboards of anyone who had this problem in the MacBook Pros and didn't just do a bios update ...

 

Here's the real way to fix the problem:

1. Open KMix.
2. Go to the "Switches" tab and make sure "Analog Loopback" is NOT on. Note that the noise disappears as soon as that option is disabled.
3. Play music and enjoy the HD audio.

Why that works is because the audio chipset has an option to pass through audio from the optical drive. However, the optical drive does not have analog output (or it is disabled in firmware) so the analog audio lines are just left "floating", which means that nearby logic can couple noise very effectively. By using KMix to disable this feature, no more noise!

You'll also notice "Line In as Output". That does exactly what it says - you can use the line in connector as a second headphone output! Besides that option, you will also have to go to the "Output" tab and turn up and unmute the "Surround" slider. Unfortunately, it was never designed for a headphone output so quality is bad, but it's better than nothing!

 

Kmix?...
is that Vista thing?

 

KMix is just a volume control program.
Other volume control applications, such as alsamixer, should also work.

 

Do you know of a windows app that can disable analog loopback?

 

^^star882 is in linux world

.

 

Im not sure if my laptop has this problem, I hear a high pitched buzz when there is nothing playing. If i have music playing or playing a game I dont hear it anymore.

 

Yeah, that sounds about right. Does it kind of sound like morse code?

 

Yea, it does. Its very faint tho, but I can definantly hear it.

 

so.. what's the conclusion? What can vista ppl use to fix this problem?

 

I couldn't find anything, so I'm still just using the software from the original post.

 

I'm having this issue as well. I'm glad more people are coming out into the open as well.

 

FOR BUZZING ON LAPTOP HEADPHONE JACKS:

Get a decent outboard soundcard. All onboard laptop sound will make some kind of noise. If even a good soundcard still makes noise, its very likely your house power supply is dirty. verify this by checking it in different buildings.

FOR BUZZING ON OUTBOARD SOUND CARDS WITH A MIXER:

buzzing is common in audio devices all across the board when using a laptop. this is normally due to a grounding problem as earthing is acutally a complicated subject that a majority of consumer electronic manufacturers dont bother to address. this is generally because the parts required to fix it are extremely expensive and are feasible in costing for consumer electronics.

the ground signal in any piece of electronic equipment takes the shortest way to the earth. When using multiple pieces of equipment, ie laptop, outboard soundcard, dj mixer & amplifier, you are creating a huge maze of places where ground will hit the earth. several grounds creates an out-of-phase signal.

99% of the time your power supply on the laptop is responsible:

#1) unplug your laptop and run from battery, see if the noise is gone

#2) plug your laptop back in but ungrounded. this is not a longterm solution since your laptop will not drop static which is important.

fix (untested) - i am informed that the power supply doesnt use the standard tordial coil type transformers anymore, which is why they dont weigh a tonne. they use circuitry which draws current as necessary. this apparently creates grounding problems and a very instable power. one such method to fix this is build your own power supply which uses the old style transformer. this is not particularly easy since you need to order the part online and will take some time. i have not tested this so not sure it will work, but seems feasible.

 

That would almost defeat the whole purpose of having a laptop. All we are asking for is for a simple fix to this buzzing. I never seen a laptop with this problem. This is unacceptable.

 

Dont know what kind of laptops you be usin' in the UAE, but this 1520 is the first laptop of mine to have it.

 

Go into the Windows mixer and mute everything except wave and master? (It has been a long time since I last used Windows.) If that doesn't work, check advanced options and look around.

 

doesn't work...the muting that is

 

What you're probably hearing is the electrical impulses going through your motherboards via the internal sound. It's never fun, but the probability is it's rather unfixable by any patch, hack, or BIOS update. The only thing I see working is the ExpressCard sound thing from Creative which would give you a dedicated sound.

 

As I've mentioned in another thread, my PC headphones (connected to PC) pick up the buzzing sound if I move my hand near the laptop.

It seems like a pretty significant EMI issue surrounding the whole laptop, not just limited to the headphone jack.

 

try this one:
set the HDD as the first device in BIOS

 

My Gateway desktop had the same problem. Ended up just buying a soundcard.

Edit: And then IT got fried.

 

The thing about vista is... "it's brand new" lol... it's not like the past where windows XP has all those "line-in/line-out" it just has "speak volume / windows volume" which is pretty much the same thing. I've tried advance controls and I have yet to find the analog-loopback you've mentioned

 

All laptops have the problem to varying degrees. What you have to do is find out the level of disruption and decide if you can live with it or not. The laptop's purpose is not to be a travelling studio with immaculate sound quality. Like I said, it varies. Go with your headphones into a shop and try every machine. There will always be noise, trust me.

@sprtnbsblplya - We have the same laptops as you do. If you can read my footer, you'll see i have Alienware;s flagship machine. Its got a decent 5.1 card but still exhibits noise to a lesser degree than others.

For everyone else speculating on this, please understand that in a professional sound studio, noisefloor and noise is a constant battle which we spend an exponential amount more to limit than you do on your laptop. It's always there to some degree and it's always a battle. Quality circuitry is very expensive. I worked as a procurement agent for a firm which built power supplies for Boeing airframes. A simple 60 pin connector which is sheilded costs 15kUSD and up. Thats just to give a litmus test of how much no-noise circuitry costs.

 

Doing a quick search came up with nothing for disabling analog-loopback with Vista, I must try it out in Kubuntu though.

I would love to be able to listen to music from my laptop through my earbuds without having to run all the sound through my stereo. The noise issue doesn't affect my old Sony headphones, unfortunately they are uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.

 

Well for those who have USB headphones....which bypasses the problem completely IIRC.