Inspiron 15-N5010 : Right speaker cracker sound

My Inspiron 15-N5010 is making cracker sounds from it's right speaker. It happens from all applications youtube(firefox)/vlc/mpc/wmp. The sound from headphones is normal. I am out of warranty, the machine is 18 months old.

I recently did a clean install windows 7 on this machine as it was pretty slow to start. Initially I did not install IDT driver, because I do not know about it and default Microsoft drivers worked.

But after few days we observed cracking sound from right speaker and installed IDT driver. This did not solved the problem.

I restored to factory with recovery discs. Still the same problem. so I reverted back to clean install and Installed all the drivers. The problem is still there.

I want to know whether it is hardware / software problem. If software any known fixes?

 

Hi,

This seems like the issue is with the speaker. You may run the Custom test on the speaker using Dell 32 bit diagnostics to check and confirm the same. Please use the below link to read more information on how to run 32 bit diagnostics.

How to Run the Dell 32-bit Diagnostics Utility | Dell

Also please find below the link for Service manual of M5010. You may refer to the same if required.

Documentation

I hope this helps. Please do write back in case you need any further assistance.

Thanks and Regards,
Swapnajan M C
#iworkfor dell

 

Thanks a lot.

As I said, I did a clean install. So I do not have dell partitions. I can restore to factory, but it is time taking.

Is there any other option like running from a bootable CD? I can burn a cd if there is an iso file.

If not I don't have any other option other than restore to factory state and run the diagnostics.

 

OK.
I have downloaded dell 32 bit diagnostics, created bootable cd and ran audio test. It passed, I have mentioned I am able to here sound during the test.
But I heard the same noise during test. So there is no driver problem. I also ran thermal tests, all passed. May be i will run complete diagnostics and see what will happen.

 

Hi,

Since, you were able to hear the sound during the test; it indicates that the problem is with the speaker. You may consider replacing the speaker. Please refer to the service manual from my previous post if required.

Thanks and Regards,
Swapnajan MC
#iworkfordell.

 

Hi,

Yes, the speakers in N5010 are crappy, never seen a sound card in those laptops fail but a lot of speakers did.

my 2 cents,
chris

 

The "sound card" is actually just a chip on the motherboard. If you don't want to change the speaker that is bad then use headphones or get a set of nice amplified speakers. Nice speakers sound Sooo much better than the sound out of ANY laptop...
My 2 cents

Zanthros
#Idonotworkfordell
#iamunemployed
#Iamlookingforajob

 

Thanks All.

I have checked how to access the speakers. Looks pretty difficult for me. This laptop is very difficult to upgrade even the hard drive which is placed under keyboard. Right now I disabled right speaker (level 0) in balance to avoid any further damage when I am not using the headphones.
I will search for usb speakers.

 

Hey

I have been facing this same issue for a while now.I did some trouble shooting steps like..

#Uninstalling the drivers and restarting the computer(that would install the sound driver from the OS)
#Clean Installation of the OS
#Checked and installed the latest Windows Updates
#Restored the OS setting to an earlier time

But in vain.
Any ways,I am using a set of headphones that is connected through a USB.And I hear the crackling sound from the right of my headphones as well.I am sure its a Software Issue and not a hardware issue.

I even called the Dell Technical Support and they were not of much help.The agent thinks that the right speaker of my laptop has gone bad and that is not the case from what I understand.

I will try to troubleshoot it and let you guys know.