Inspiron 1420. Audio is choppy. Interruptions.

Anyone have this problem? My main use for this laptop is listeing to music. I'm getting this choppy sound with interruptions, which happens more if I browse or do something else while music plays. Doesn't happen with video sound or DVD audio. Only mp3 and such. I disabled all enhancements but still no luck.

I really need help with this, couldn't find enough info on here.

 

try this

http://www.codecase.de/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=4&Itemid=29

 

Thanks a lot! Seems like just the thing. I had no idea it could be a Vista issue.

 

Possible. I occasionally experience the symptoms you describe, under the circumstances you describe.

I use a D630.

 

If that doesn't work, just try turning off the a band on your wireless card.

 

I have the same issue, and I even formated my HD and I'm still getting the audio problems. I think they need to release a driver update to fix this.

 

I get a bit of this when streaming music from shoutcast and surfing the web. I know MS is getting ready to release some vista patches. Apparently, some of these fixes were leaked out already which apparently will speed up Vista. It sounds like a Vista thing. I am going to wait for the windows update. MS waisted too much time with longhorn and had to reverse course and abandoned it and rushed Vista in very short order. Like XP, I think it will take a few Service patches before this beast gets leaned out.

 

Try updating all your drivers

 

What is the a band?

My audio problem is mostly solved, but I still detected a very slight click couple of times. Its not a flaw in the mp3 file.

My wireless connection still drops but its probably my old router.

 

i have the same problem on my vostro 1400, and have tried driver updates, removing the wireless card, disabling wireless, shutting down all non-essential processes and services, etc. Nothing seems to help, so I'm sending mine back. If the one they send me is still broken, I will just be pissed. My current theory is that they all do it, and most people just don't notice the problem.

 

Control panel - System - Device Manager - select wireless card and hit properties - Advanced - Disable Bands - Disable 802.11 a

It's just one of several wireless bands that your card uses and that you most likely will not need. Turning it off fixed the problem for me and many others.

 

Hmm, strangely I don't seem to have that "Disable Bands - Disable 802.11 a" section in my settings. What can I do now?

 

I can help.

1. To go device manager and go to network adapters and right click on Intel Wireless Wifi link 4965AGNn and select "properties". (Assuming you have the 1420 with the pre-n wireless, if not just right click on the wireless card you have not the ethernet card.)

2. You will see a window pop up. At the bottom left of that window is "change settings" with a shield next to it, click on it. If you are like me and have your Admin account separate from your user account then you will need to enter in your admin password to proceed. If your user is the Admin then it will simply ask for your permission which you will tell it to continue. (It is recommend that the Admin and User accounts are separate, but thats a whole other subject)

3. A new window appears, select the "Advanced" tab at the top.

4. In this tab there is a "Properties: " area. At the bottom of these options there is a "Wireless Mode" option, select it.

5. Now look at the "Value: " on the right side of the window, it is a drop down menu. Select the mode you use most. (Most likely 802.11g)

6. Press okay and you are set.

On a side note this is a crap shoot. I did this and the random static seemed to go away, but I still get some skipping every now and then. But it may work for you. If you notice no change then simply change your wireless mode back if you feel inclined. Hope this helped.

 

Thanks for the detailed info. I just don't have that Wireless Mode setting. Maybe because its a Dell Wireless 1390 Minicard and not Intel. I don't see any place where you can disable the 'a' mode.

 

just wondering, but does anyone else have these problems? I am experiencing the choppy audio as well

 

my choppy problem now comes and goes, its pretty strange. Right now its not happening for last 5 songs. Last night it was all skipping and what not.

 

GUESS WHAT

I JUST SPENT 5 HOURS GETTING XP ON THIS PIECE OF @#(*@( AND IT STILL HAS SKIPPY AUDIO.

This thing is going back. I'm so pissed right now.

 

That is nuts! Its then obviously a hardware problem.

 

Again, a lot of people have had the problem cured by turning off the a band on their wireless card. If you guys can figure out the proper way of doing that I'm sure it'll fix the problem.

 

I had the problem, fixed it by turning off the a-band. I haven't read any other solutions that work, sadly.

 

this sucks...i just got my 1420, and i'm getting the same cracking noises randomly while playing songs/watching movies....what's the point of the soundblaster if all u get "blasted" with is these glitchy noises? i tried disabling the a band but noises are still present...anyone have any other ideas on how to fix this frustrating problem?

 

Anyone with one of the 3945 cards should download the new driver and see if that makes any difference

 

I'm getting a replacement shipped out.

I have gone as far as to take the notebook apart and remove the wireless, there is something seriously jacked here.

Hell, why don't I just list all I've done before:
I have tried updating all of the drivers, REMOVING the wifi card, removing the bluetooth card, shutting down all user programs except winamp, shutting down all nonessential services, shutting down ESSENTIAL SERVICES (for networking and such; i basically stripped down the OS so all it could do is play audio), it still skips. I have tried uninstalling the sigmatel driver and using the vista generic HD Audio driver. This reduces skipping slightly, but it is still entirely present. Installed XP, still did it in XP. set it to always keep the CPU at max performance, no effect. I did a number of other things to, all to little effect.

 

Thats a pretty detailed test. Did you mention to Dell you took it apart? Was it easy to get them to send the replacement? How certain are you from talking to them that the new one wont have the same problem?

 

i think getting a new one it will still have the same problem, but since it was so soon to having received it, it was easy to get them to do. the dell small business people may be easier to work with though.

even if it has the same problem, i have a few other hardware complaints. it doesnt cost me anything, and it certainly doesnt hurt to try.

 

Thats what I thought too. Getting a new one doesn't guarantee anything. I cant send it back, I have my system completely setup and in use now. I will instead wait for somekind of update from Dell, if it ever happens.

 

heh, i never actually set anything up on it that i cant just set up on a new one.

 

I had a similar issue with my old IBM t30 and it was extremely frustrating. The only solution was disabling my wifi when I wasnt in a hotspot area. IIRC the issue was due to my wifi card continuously picking up and dropping weak wifi signals. Hope this helps.

 

it might, but i completely disconnected the wifi card and it was still there :/

 

Thank you for that info!

Details on wi-fi properties > advanced tab: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/network/p70008/EN/props.htm

So far nothing completely gets rid of this. Only switching wi-fi catcher off and using wired internet instead helps get rid of the clicky, choppy, skippy problems. So it seems to be caused by wi-fi, for me at least.

 

Has there been any reports of these problems or are we the only ones? I have the default 1390 Dell wireless card so disabling the 'a' band isn't an option since it's only b/g card. This is pretty disappointing if there's no hope for a fix and I may have to send it back and go buy something else from retail as school starts soon

 

We are definitely not the only ones. I think most people just don't care about it much and just live with it. But there arent enough complains on it anywhere on the net. There was another thread here but its old. I shouold have bought a Mac for music oriented use. Thats what most people do I guess.

 

mY VOSTRO 1400 only did it when on the low power mode

 

Anyone come up with a solution for this? It really bugs me because I constantly listen to music on my computer so this is a pretty big issue for me. I even tried the Sounds Blaster X-FI ExpressCard and the same audio interruptions were happening so I returned it (not to mention it stuck out an extra 1/4 inch).

I assume this issue could be corrected with a driver update but Dell has yet to release one.

 

Everybody needs to start bugging Dell about this update non-stop. Worst possibility is a mass recall of 1420s, But I'm afraid of that. I dont want to send it back at this point.

Did you try x-fi running internet on cable with wi-fi off? I hope you did that before returning x-fi. One time I tried playing music on cable internet with internal sigmatel audio running. There wasn't any inturruptions for about 2 or 3 songs.

Creative really should've reduced the size of x-fi. That sticking out part is the reason I might never buy it even if it worked on 1420 with no blips and clicks.

 

Hey I think my audio problem disappeared since going on high performance power mode too. There's probably some setting in the 'advanced power settings' that does it. So simple. And to think a caveman came up with the solution! Thanks man!

 

well, i got my replacement and the replacement had the same problems. i think its just a problem inherent in the hardware, and neither the users nor dell cares.

 

Um DesertNM, you do know that longhorn is the same thing as Vista? It's the code name used for Vista. It's possible that you're talking about the "refresh" that MS took in 2004 where, yes, they abandoned a lot of things and started almost new. But longhorn and vista are the same thing...

 

has this worked for many people?

 

Nothing works basically. Everybody just gave up I guess. But I'm seeing that sometimes the audio plays just fine and smetimes its not fine, with the same bowser and other apps running. Vista Anti-Lag helps a lot too. That, and using High Performance power setting seem to help half the times. Other times nothing works. Its probably not solvable without a major hardware update or Vista update. I have no idea.

Right now I'm trying to figure out if there is a sequence in which I start iTunes and firefox and other apps that end up solving the issue half of the times I play music. Maybe it depends on which audio driver starts first. Anything is possible.

 

I have this problem as well. Dell offered to replace my sound card for me, but I'm not sure if this would solve the problem or not. Hell, I'm not even sure whether Vista is responsible for the choppy audio or my hardware.

I have noticed there is only choppy audio when I play music, but not when I play games or movies. Odd.

 

Same thing, games and movies dont have this problem.

I do think though it can be a Vista problem. They have designed vista to manage CPU resources in a new and weird way now, together with some hardware in these laptops can easily cause something mysterious like this.

I dont think you should replace unless you want to go through the trouble. Other people replaced different things but still have this problem. Saddest thing is even Creatives X-fi plug in sound card shows the same audio problems, from that I believe its a Vista issue. Between their 30 DRM checks per 1 second and other crazy changes any kind of new problems are possible.

 

Same here... listening to music online through Windows Media Center was fine. But the mp3s that came on my computer make random "pops". Terribly annoying. Especially because I really want to order the new Altec Lansing Soundblade bluetooth speakers when they come out. But thats kind of pointless if all I will hear is this....

Anyone try a clean install and still get popping during music?

 

Yes I did a clean reinstall getting rid of the Dell partitions and All dell apps. Still happened. You can buy those speakers though. This popping problem goes away if you shut off wifi and use cabled internet. It works for me at least.

 

you know, I am listening to Sirius Internet Radio over Wi-Fi (Upgraded to 128 kbps) and it sounds really clean.

Weird.

 

...put a DVD in the DVD drive, this fixed it on my E1705... with sigma tel audio...

i went through months of problems with this, trying to get dell to help me fix it,

the dvd thing works great, all the time...

clean installs, new drivers, nothing helped but the DVD... good luck.

 

Any updates? I have a 1520 and it's doing the same thing... Choppy audio. I tried doing all the things in this thread, but had no luck. And the Vista Anti-Lag program just gives me an error.

I just sent my 1520 to the depot, but I doubt it will help... The popping and skipping is really bothersome.

This never happened on my old 1505... I wonder what the problem is.

 

No my friend, nothing solves this. Its like an organism. My 1420 audio is better now at times, very few skips or none at all. Specially when not browsing but still with wireless on. Other times its as bad as ever.

I tell you its Vista, interrupting audio with its 30/sec DRM checks and what not. Oh but I think someone who installed XP on 1420 has this problem too. So if its not Vista then its some serious hardware problem or conflict that needs indepth testing by an expert and Dell just doesn't care about it.

 

Just got my 1520 back from repair... still choppy.

I guess my last hope is the Vista Anti Lag program, but I keep getting a "Query Interface Failed #1003" error. I don't think I have any virtual wireless devices... I'm not even sure what they are.

Help?

Edit - Nevermind. I got Anti-Lag to work, but I STILL get choppy audio.

Ughhhhhhhh....

 

Hey guys, I had the same problem and I did some searching on notebookreview.com and I found this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=151536

So I assumed that he/she was talking about sound properties in the control panels. It seems to work for me, just thought I'd share.

Edit: Okay, it doesn't completely fix the problem but it reduces it for me by 90%.
I hope new patches come out that completely fixes this thing.