Headjack Noise Solution Center (Fix/Guide in Progress)

Can't believe Dell is still, after years, shipping out faulty motherboards. The fix is quite simple, and I actually did it the easy, less invasive way: I just turned the computer off, took the battery out, and pressed the power button to power down the sytem completely. Then I took out the screw right under the headphone jack and (this part was kind of tricky) placed electrical tape on top of the metal boxes the ports are in. then I also placed tape across the metal tabs that push down. It was kind of tricky keeping the case open and putting the tape in (I think I ended up taking another screw out) but it worked like a charm. Again, I can confirm that Dell knows about this issue and does not consider this fix a warranty violation. The unit for the audio ports is supposed to be integrated, so you are probably looking at the right part.

 

Hey kylezo, thanks for the suggestion. My laptop is almost two years old so I have no idea if Dell is still sending out bad motherboards. I finally just got fed up with the noise and decided to fix it. I know the fix that you are talking about, the problem is that there are no tabs or anything that push down on the ports. I think the inside of the Inspiron 1505 might have been designed a bit differently from the 1520 or newer ones. When I get back home I'll post some pictures up. Either way I will just try and add some tape on the top of the metal casing and see if it does anything.

 

Mine is brand new and still has the faulty MB design. I'd like to look at the pics to see, but hopefully the tape will still isolate the metal and eliminate the sound. What you want to look for is where the metal is touching some other metal, creating an ungrounded connection causing the noise/interference. use the tape all around if you cant find the right point of contact. Did you see anyone else in this thread with your model? Check around.

 

Hey, I desperately want to use this guide but none of the pics are working. Could you fix it please? Thx.

 

any idea how to fix this on my XPS1530??

 

Occasionally its due to the headphone jack being slightly bent. Stick your headphone jack and apply pressure down, up, side, etc until you notice the background noise going away. If you notice it does.. then yeah, your headphone jack is just physically bent and no software fix will do anything.

 

Anyone have this guide with the pictures? it appears the host with the pics is down. I have a Vostro 1500 and would really appreciate it if anyone can help me obtain the pics in this guide. Thanks

*edit* nevermind, i found the fix on the alternate host... thanks a million for the help! i got it fixed after about 1.5 hour.

By the way, i actually got this laptop about 7 months ago (vostro 1500). Back in October, i actually convinced a dell techie in Canada to give me a free Xpress Card sound card (Sound Blaster X-Fi.. was around $70 at the time) after about 1 week of calling them frustrated.

I did this fix because i needed the xpress card slot for other things and also didnlt like the sound card sticking out an inch out of the laptop. Nice to have that option back again.

Once again, thanks for all the time put in for a great guide.

 

Where did you find it? Please share!

 

here is the link
http://pctipguys.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=36&limit=1&limitstart=0

 

Hey thanks. Great guide.


Now if only I could make the high-pitched cpu whine shut up... lol

 

This is a thread about a hardware fix, not a software fix. I imagine it might be possible that wrenching around the headphone jack could somehow create a ground and make the sound go away giving the impression that insulation would not solve the problem when it would. That could do more harm than good so I would say when in doubt, just put on the tape to see if that fixes it since it is basically non invasive and does not void the warranty, not to mention it is easy. If the tape doesn't work, then I might consider a bent jack to be the problem.

 

Since my headphone buzz was present only when on AC power, I decided to try different power supplies as I have a large number of Dell notebooks at work and had several that had the same output specifications... The original one I had was RH778 MOD,ADPT,AC,90W,ULD,LTON,RUS which uses a three prong plug.

When I connected the two prong DA90PS0-00 (Dell Pn XD757) power supply, the problem was eliminated. So yes it is likely a grounding problem, but for those who are squeamish about cracking their notebooks open, they may want to try a different power supply. I was able to get Dell to swap my power supply with the one that worked for me.

 

Heh, thanks. Thats my website

 

I'm so glad this is finally getting cleared up and streamlined...this has been one of the biggest recurring issues I've seen on this forum and there has been a lot of effort at resolving it.

Mine seems to have been pretty well resolved by replacing my mobo, but it still stutters occasionally esp. when the screen is off with music running and I jiggle the mouse, or when watching a video online while on battery power...

 

I checked out the procedure that is on there. That is a well documented repair. Good job! And thanks for putting in the time.

I have a suggestion for maybe making it even better. If you are going to go to the trouble of wrapping the component pieces and heatsink, why not put a little tape on the areas of the chassis itself that may be touching or at risk of touching the components?

 

I just solved my headphone jack static problem using this method. I unscrewed the three screws on the bottom of the left side of my 1520, pried the casing open about 8mm, and used a credit card to push up the metal flap above the headphone jack. Put everything back together, started up the laptop with headphones in my ears, and to my surprise, there was no static. I thought I had broken the jack until I started playing a song and it was crystal clear. Great method!