Headjack Noise Solution Center (Fix/Guide in Progress)

I have a tech coming on the 28th to replace my motherboard as a Dell response to this problem, although the nice lady on the phone said it isn't guaranteed to resolve the issue (??). I think I will ask the tech to stick some insulation tape to theaudio jack card while he is at it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

irv_bryan: Wouldn't hurt. And yeah they never seem to guarantee the solution will work. I know all to well about that .

Let us know

 

Bet he won't do it.... I am a warranty tech, and I wouldn't do it because of the liability.... He'll be too worried about getting banned from service calls. Just ask him to leave for a couple minutes when he has it all ripped apart and do it yourself!!!!

Just my guess, I know if you go out of the scope of the work order you can be held liable for damages.... On the other hand, maybe he's quitting soon or something... offer him/her a beer and see where it goes!

 

Interesting... so what I have been getting all along has been just the "background static", when I thought THIS was the annoying headjack noise!

I suppose I lucked out and whoever made my Vostro did the wirings correctly? . 'Cause I'm not getting any high pitched beeping or morse code, just really audible background noise. And like alfredska stated, it's independent of volume adjustment.

 

Thank you B2TheEYo!! Having never taken apart my laptop before, I followed your instructions words for word. An amazing guide and thank you for the pictures witht the highlights!

Anyone can fix this issue, its like putting lego blocks together and taking them apart. Just have to go slow!

NO MORE NOISE, can't even hear the slightest static in the back ground with some high quality headphones. Simply amazing, now I can go back to listening audio lectures in peace

 

neupogen01 Any time bro, glad it worked . You're right, it is just like Lego blocks. A 6th grader can do it as a matter of fact .

Happy new years.

 

Well the new motherboard was fitted just after xmas and so far so good.
I did consider adding the tape but the tech, a contractor not a Dell tech, said that he would advise me to dig in and get back to dell with any unresolved issues.
As I say, so far so good but Im still waiting on a follow up call from Dell so Ill not chase it till something else goes or the noise comes back.

 

B2,

I too am experiencing the screeching noise on my vostro 1500 and I will probably give your guide a shot, though I must confess, I'm still working the nerve and the willpower to completely take apart my laptop for fear of damaging something, especially since I just got it just a week ago.

However, I have a question about the part where you remove the cpu heatsink. Won't you have to remove and reapply thermal compound on the cpu heatspreader? Or do you just simply reinstall the heatsink back onto the cpu itself? I thought that whenever you remove a cpu heatsink, the thermal compound present will have its heat dissipation properties compromised, and thus, must now be removed and new thermal compund applied.

 

I think you DO have to replace the thermal compound I have had personal expierence with this -- If you've ever taken a Pentium 4 Socket 478 Heatsink apart, the heatsink has a pad that functions in the same way -- I took my heatsink to vaccum the dust off it, and didn't take the pad off and apply thermal compound. I just put the heatsink back on. For a year, my computer ran about 10 degrees hotter (since my Northwood is very power efficient, it never overheated). Then I found out the pad shouldn't be reused. I put on new thermal compound and the highest the CPU ever gets now is like 40 C.

I recommend changing it -- you probably could get away without it, but the fan would turn on a lot.

 

Got the puta, had the nerve, did the fix, RESULT !!!!!!!
Thanx

 

Thanx, good job!

 

Thanks lambchops, I'll replace the thermal compund then

 

Tehe..Puta's are fun.. Yay for talking dirty in other languages.. lol



Yes, you should replace the compound, I forgot to mention that. I got Arctic Silver 5, and my laptops runs way cooler.

Although the compound on the Dell heat sink by default, you can just reuse. It's play a clay to be honest. Just use you're finger nail to shift it all from the edges into the middle. Then reapply and everything is typically fine.

Although I don't recommend doing that with other types of compounds. In this case you can - if you have the gray clay compound. Runs at the same temperatures trust me, I did testing.

 

Okay, I undertook the laborious process of disassembling my laptop, taping up the headphone jack card and wifi catcher card, assembling it back together again and the result?

NO NOISE!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to replace the thermal compund on the processor, it seems that clay-like stuff is like glue. Is there any type of chemical solution I was supposed to use to remove it? Maybe when I feel like disassembling the laptop a second time will I try to apply some Zalman thermal grease.

Anyway, thanks a bunch B2, your guide really helped! Repped!

 

My personal rubbing alchohol + cotton balls (the stuff around the hosue). There's also a special remover - its specifcally designed for such purposes.

google there are plenty of ways to do this.

 

Great work, you got skillz. +1 (I wish i could give you 100)

PS: You forgot to hide the serial numbers - dell could be watching you

 

Awesome stuff ..

The heat sink should be fine with/without new thermal compound anyways. I found zero difference. The crap Dell uses it makes no difference. But if it we're different you WOULD have to.

Get some Arctic Silver 5 if you want to replace it, you'll see lower temps.


davron, LMFAO, I use to blur the serial numbers when I took pictures but I could care less anymore. I got Dell in a head lock right now so they ain't gonna be giving me any trouble. If they do, I'll go Chuck Norris on them.. lolz

 

:laugh: LOL

 

Another happy customer here.

Since i wanted to replaced my keyboard and apply some arctic silver 5, i decided to apply this fix aswell.

worked like a charm, even though the background buzz is still there, but that's due to the fact, that the overall volume is much too high. When i use my plantronics audio.90 headphones i get crystal clear audio though.

Now the arctic silver 5 makes quite the difference, even when i use cpu burn to apply 100% cpu load it takes much longer than before, before the fan turns on. Oddly the BIOS seems to allow the cpu to get hotter, before the fan turns on, probably has to do with the rate the cpu is heating up. the less fast it is heating up the later the fan kicks in.

also under 100% load with fan on the cpu stays at 54° Celsius... that's 6 less than before!

 

wow....almost makes me want to take apart my new 1530 to apply arctic silver ;p

 

Great guide, that noise drives me crazy so I hope to fix it later... does anyone know if this will void the warranty? I realise it would if you damage it while doing the fix, but if you do nothing wrong?

Also, is there a mirror for the pictures, I think your host/domain is down although it might just be me.

Thanks!

 

This may apply to some Dell laptop users-- but assuredly ALL DELL USERS will want to read this story

Dell AUDIO NOISE USB HIGH PITCH PROBLEM


Enjoy and pass on-- it's now #1 on Google.

The Reason
The Cure
The Unbelievable Story In Regards To Dell Forum



Neil
http://www.BrainRadar.com

http://www.EasyPaintYourCar.com
http://www.InkJetHelper.com
http://www.MyOwnPublishing.com
http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/Painting.html

 

Irrelevant to solving headphone buzz (your buzz solution is to plug a headphone in ...)

Cool, thanks for the 6 pages of childish dribble about the word "butt", link spamming, the capitalised keywords and promotion of own site.

 

... and has nothing to do with using ungrounded USB devices.

 

This is a very good guide. I have some questions:


I have a E1505, and it looks like the headjack/mic assembly is integrated to the mainboard. Is there a way to apply a similar fix on the E1505 as with the 1520 to get rid of the noise (like taping/isolating something)?


Also, would insulating the jack/mic board on the 1521 unground the assembly and occasionally cause electric/static shock to the ear when using headphones? Anyone with this experience?


Also, for those who replaced the compound with Arctic Silver or similar, did you notice any temp difference? Does the fan kick in less often than it used to? When you seated the heatsink, is there a gap between the heatsink and the core or is it like with desktops where the heatsink is firmly pressed against the core?




Thanks in advance.

 

I think I found a much simpler way to solve the noise problem. I noticed that if I partially unscrewed the bottom screw right underneath the headphone jack and pushed up on it with a screwdriver the "staticy" noise goes away. So then I (partly) opened up the machine and started poking around. I determined that the metal "panel" on the underside of the top of the latop is the culprit.

I was able to fully fix the problem simply by bending up a metal "flap" that hangs down and touches the metal housing of the headphone jack. I left the rest of the headphone PCB totally unshielded. There is still a little bit of hiss, but the static and other weird noises are totally gone!

To get in there all I needed to do was to lift up the laptop lid about 1/2 inch, so there is no need to go to all the trouble of completely taking apart your laptop. Sorry I don't have any pictures to show you exactly what I'm talking about, but it's very simple.


-Chris

 

Hey,

Well if the sound card or headphone jacks are integrated onto the motherboard, I doubt it will work or be wise to do. Due to the fact the motherboard will not be grounded and if it was to get a surge, good bye system. It's also possible it could be something throwing off the interference on the motherboard itself on a different model computer. You'd have to do some testing to diagnose that.

The Inspiron 1520 and 1521, are identical from my understanding. The only difference is the processor is shifted over to the right by 2 inches in the AMD motherboards, compared to the Intel versions.

Also, I haven't suffered and headphones static shocks myself. And my office is carpeted and I'm always using headphones .

As for the thermal compound, I haven't bothered getting any Arctic silver yet . Although I've heard some crazy stories that it makes 10C degrees of a difference.

MrBigglesworth, that is correct, it's the palm-rest portion of the chassis that causes the issue. From my tests with some equipment, it's the touch pad! Good alternative fix although it sounds a bit scary, prying open the palm-rest with the monitor and such still in place .

 

Since i still had some background buzzing when being on a/c power after insulating the audio jack, which disappeared whenever i touched some metal part of the vostro, i contacted Dell about grounding issues.

Now they've sent me a new a/c-adapter with a 3-prong plug, which completely eliminates the background buzzing.


So with the insulation of the audio jack and the new a/c adapter i am completely noise free on the headphone jack.

 

Hmmm. Interesting. I bought a third party AC adapter and it came with a three prong plug. I only had minor hiss, and was wondering what everyone was complaining about. Then I used my Dell adapter and it is much more predominant. So it may just be a ground issue. I'll mess with it more this evening.

 

well there are 2 issues with the headphone jack on the 1500/1520:

- the noises which come from other components of the laptop like the cpu (the whine-noise) or noises from the harddrive and dvd-drive. This can be fixed by the fix in this thread (insulating the headphone jack board)

- background buzzing which dissapear when you are using the battery without a/c or touch metal parts of the laptop. Using the 3-prong adapter fixed this for me.


When i first used headphones with no built-in volume control i was shocked how much noise and interference came from the headphone jack... now with the insulation and the new adapter i'm a happy camper

 

I have an inspiron 1720 and googled the noisey headphone jack because it plaques as as well, and was led here. While the guide was not useful to me because the models are different, the idea to the solution was.

Disassembling the 1720 is different, but it suffers from the exact same problem. I disassembled, taped up the jacks reassembled and am rejoicing in a quite headphone output.

The beeping and interference was being caused by the touch pad / metal frame. Thanks for your time and work figuring this out. Huge props to you.

- One happy ass inspiron owner.

 

Wow, you're right! I just removed the screw and prised the top of the laptop up a millimetre, and the static disappears. I'll have to try the "bending the metal flap" trick when I get some time. Thanks Mr B.

And thank you, B2TheEYo, for the great de-construction guide. I'm sure it will come in handy.

Reps for both of you, but negative reps for Dell for allowing this easily solved problem to persist.

 

With ref to MrBigglesworth's method:
I also tried unscrewing that case screw several turns, the one just below the headphone jack socket, and when I pressed up on that screw the noise did go away. I then followed the rest of MrBigglesworth's instructions and lifted the lid a bit (10-15mm) and bent the small metal flap just above the headphone jack socket up 8-10mm with a small electrical screw driver with tape wrapped around it's shaft as to not damage the case lid, and it solved the problem completely. many thanks MrBigglesworth

This might not work for everyone but it worked perfectly for me. My headphone jack is not picking up any interference (digital morse code, crackles) noise anymore.

 

hi all
i'm an italian guy owner of an inspiron 1720..i've done a similar job to this here:

http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showthread.php?t=1693738

with tons of pics that should explain everything..if someone is interested i could translate and post it here

regards

 

I just used my finger; the metal that the flap is made from is very pliable.

The static? Completely gone! I'm not even getting any hiss (and I'm not even using decent headphones). In fact, before the music started playing, it crossed my mind that I'd somehow broken the headphone socket, the channel was that clear!!

Mr Bigglesworth, you're a star!

 

Dude! You Rock! I just did this and it completely fixed the noise problem. All I did was to remove the three screws on the underside of the left side of the laptop, loosen the next row of screws a bit, pry open the top with my fingers and push up the metal tab with my finger. Voila! No more noise.

Thanks a bunch!

 

I'd really appreciate some guidance with my Inspiron 1525 - the noisy headphone jack is driving me nuts.

I unscrewed the bottom of the laptop and best I could, and managed to pry the top up enough for me to see the headphone jack part. Its already got a black plastic over it, but its useless.

As far as getting the whole thing apart I don't know how or really have the confidence to ruin my new laptop.

The whole pushing the metal thing with your finger - I dont think I can do that with the 1525. If someone could post a few pictures that would be great.

Thanks!

 

Wow, the 1525 is a new model, and they still have this problem? That's awful.

 

I know! When I gently pryed the top cover up a little to see if I could notice a metal thing touching it I noticed a black plastic lining just floating above the circuitry, which suggests a very poor attempt at solving the problem. Of course this plastic thing ( I couldnt get a good look at it) does nothing, and the hiss is even worse when I scroll down a web page or the hard drive is busy loading something like a program.

 

Another Woot to Mr Bigglesworth.

Did some experimenting with my 1700 - undid the screws in the area and prised the corner apart, morse code stopped. Squeezed corner together again and the morse code was back.

As I wanted to whack some Arctic Silver on my CPU heat pipe I opened her up rather than work through the small gap. Rather than bend the tab I attached a little PVC tape to the top of the metal surround of the jack sockets and for belts and braces put some on the two tabs. Voila - no more noise apart from the general hiss of the noise floor.

The reason I didn't just bend the tabs back is that they are there to provide a bit of force down on the jack assembly to hold them tight to make it more stable and stronger while you are plugging and unplugging jacks - without the tabs pushing down the only attachment is at the bottom where it screws into the chassis. By taping it you eliminate the interference but keep the structural reason for them being there.

If you really are not comfortable getting inside and doing it properly then Mr Bigglesworth's method is the best way but ideally you want to keep the tabs in place - just isolate them.

Anyway - Kudos to Mr Bigglesworth, it does work either way you do it

 

I own a Vostro 1500 and I believe I have solved my headphone issue (ACCIDENTALLY!)

Well the noise bothered me using my Shure SE210 in ear earphones and several other cheaper ones it wasn't worth sending the laptop back. Recently I purchased 4GB Corsair Value Select PC5300 SODIMM 667Hz ram and replaced stock ram. After the ram change sound was gone.

 

Lol - makes no sense but congrats

Upgrading to 4GB didn't solve it for me - must be cus it's Crucial not Corsair

 

I couldn't believe it my self so I put stock ram (hyundai ram yes a car manufacturar makes ram i guess.) back in and bang I get noise again.

 

Thank you B2TheEYo for original guide for 1520, investigating the problem and finding solution. Also thanks to MrOrange and shura30 for confirming that it does fix 1720.

I'm glad to report another success with 1720 Inspiron and headphones high pitch "morse" code mosquito problems.
While it did get rid of the noise in my headphones, I still hear very slight high pitch noise near my system (not headphones) and its explaned below. I have very sensitive ears, and sometimes I can pick up high pitch while other people in the room may not notice it at all.

Here is a link to Dell Vostro 1700 and Inspiron 1720/1721 Service Manual http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1720/en/sm/index.htm you can follow link that says Speaker Assembly which should get you pretty close to headphone/microphone jacks.
I didn't follow that instruction (I actually found it after the fact). I have taken about 30 pictures while working on my system. If there is an interest I can write up how-to for Inspiron 1720.


Here are few things that I was able to find out.

1. According to Dell Support high pitch noise is caused by processor shifting into C3 mode. http://support.dell.com/support/top...A5139D01C4135E2E040A68F73285EA2&treeid=110086

2. To verify that:

• Download RMClock Utility http://cpu.rightmark.org/products/rmclock.shtml
• Extract Downloaded Archive, Start RMClock.exe, Go to Advanced CPU Settings, Click Chipset Button
• Put on your headphones and listen to the noise
• Select checkbox next to Disable C4 mode and Click Apply
• Noise should be gone!!!!
• to get it back on, uncheck Disable C4 mode and click Apply

I wouldn't recommend disabling C4 mode permanently because it may end up shortening your battery life, when you running on battery. Plus we are here for another solution.
If that verification worked for you and noise was gone then keep on reading.

3. I have dissasembled my system and found that I only needed to isolate metal tabs (top cover metal shield) from shielded boxes on microphone and headphone jacks.







P.S. I'm not responsible head in any way if you mess up your laptop, OS, head or other parts of your body by following my advise

 

Well I've had an interesting email from Dell support just now regard my poor quality/noisy head phone jack in my Dell 1525.

"Hi Jeremy

After discussion with a few of my Level 2s, we've decided to get a technician on-site to 'tear-down' for you. You can then stick that tape on (as per the pix) and the technician will connect back the parts that he removed.

If you agree to the above, please let me know so that I can create a new case for you."

Interesting they are willing to 'tear down' the laptop for me and I can sheild the headphone jacks personally with my own electrical tape!

Has anyone else had this? It savesme opening my 1525 and breaking something accidently then it being my problem. Now i'm scared that the dell Tech will open up my laptop, I wrap the headphone thing in electrical tape and the problem will still be there. I just seems a little too easy of a fix, wrap the circuit board in tape? I have faith in this forum, and without it the dell support wouldnt have even listened to me - I supplied her with links to this forum and posts about the nosisy head jack noise.

 

Wow, interesting approach from Dell.

Not sure about 1525, but on my 1720 I had to wrap only 2 metal tabs from metal shielding that is attached to top bezel under palmrest, touchpad and keyboard.

But then again, if that doesn't tech is not going to be happy taking your system apart twice in a row.

 

Hello everyone, I have a Vostro 1500 with the issue (Manufactured in April 2008). Dell reps actually sent me a link to this thread in an email (although I had already found it myself). They told my applying electrical tape would void my warranty, and that they have an official fix guaranteed to adress this specific issue. So I sent it in to have the motherboard replaced, and it got back and the issue was not fixed. A new Dell rep then told me that I can apply the electrical tape without voiding my warranty because they know about the issue. Im pissed that I had to send it in and it still didn't get fixed and now I have to fix a brand new, faulty laptop myself. But at least the sound will be gone!

 

I have an XPS m1530, and though I didn't have any sort of interference in the form of blips or scratching or the like, I was experiencing occasional skips in audio, and I was not happy with the ridiculously high noise floor (hissing) from the jacks.

I am running Windows XP, as I had some program incompatibilities in Vista I did not feel like dealing with. Somewhere I read a recommendation of switching to ACHI to SATA in the BIOS, and that seems to have pretty much eliminated the skips from audio. Perhaps this could have been fixed with some different drivers, and it's a shame to lose ACHI, I don't think that it has that much of a benefit. If anyone knows more about this, another fix or something, let me know.

As to the relevant issue at hand, the noise floor, this can be eliminated by adding some resistance somewhere in the chain. My AKG headphones have an inline volume adjust, so I turn the volume down on that and the volume up on the laptop to compensate, and there is no annoying hiss! Also, my Sennheiser HD595 headphones, which are about 50 ohms, exhibit no hiss.

 

I have the HD 595s too! I use Atrio M5s for my laptop usually, though. Running either through a headphone amp or some other intermediary usually solves the problem...

 

Ok so I tried following the guide posted here for my Inspiron 6400/e1505. The problem is that when I got the laptop open, I noticed that the card for the headphone jack isn't actually separate for my laptop, it is part of the whole motherboard (this is also how it is shown in the service manual online). So how should I go about fixing it? Im not really sure which portion to cover with tape since its all integrated into the board.