Headphone noise/static from Studio 1558

Is anyone else having issues with static coming from the headphone jacks on the Studio 1558?

I notice that if I "mute" the sounds in windows the static stops, and if i increase/decrease the volume, the volume of the noise changes as well.

The noise starts as soon as windows is booted, and appears even when no sounds are being played by the computer.
I've installed the newest audio drivers as well as the newest bios. What else can I do?

 

I had exactly the same issue with my 1558, unfortunately I ended up having to deal with dell customer support to get a refund, as they sent out a repair guy to do a motherboard replacement and then a replacement laptop, all of which had the same issue. So basically it's a problem with the soundcard on all studio 15 laptops. They only gave me a refund after replacing the motherboard on the second laptop, but the hissing annoyed the hell out of me so I had to really, the laptop was mostly great otherwise. I guess it's just a question of whether you can put up with it, because the tech support guy went through literally every audio setting menu with me , which solved nothing

 

That sucks.

I spent 2 hours on te phone with Dell today and nothing is fixed.
I uninstalled the IDT drivers and let windows install its generic drivers and it CHANGED the problem but did not fix it. Now, even when the mute button is pressed I can hear the static, and I can no longer adjust the volume of the static. Overall, it is slightly less noticeable. It's an improvement, but not a fix. This leads me to believe it is NOT a hardware issue at all, but a software one.

It's clearly interference from other parts of the computer. My screwdriver is too fat to fit in some of the holes, so I couldn't take the whole laptop apart. I did find, however, that the headphone/mic jacks are not shielded from the rest of the computer at all. Were the software programmed correctly it could eliminate the noise easily. I'm very disappointed with the lack of help from Dell. I seemed to be 2 steps ahead of the service guy the entire phone call.

I'm going to buy a skinnier screwdriver and some aluminum tape and isolate the jacks and little circuitboard to see if I can stop the noise. If it works I'll update this.