Nasty sound at startup

I noticed a couple months ago that there's a not so pretty sound (kind of beep-like) that happens everytime I startup my laptop (M1710). It happens during the Windows loading screen. I think it's related to the sound card activating (since I can hear it through headphones when they're plugged in), but it just doesn't sound right. Is this something other people are hearing or could there be a problem with the sound card? Thanks in advance.

 

I experience something that is quite the same. On my desktop I can hear a soft short cracking noise when it is starting up (it lasts about a tenth of a second). It doesn't annoy me, since it is a short and soft sound. At least you now know you are not the only one with a "weird startup sound"

 

A friend of mine who has a M1710 has the samething happen but his has been going on since day 1, he has called and emailed Dell about 10 times and everyone he spoke with says its no big deal and there really is nothing they can do about it.

 

othneil316, if you haven't already tried it, I would recommend running the Dell diagnostics to see if anything fails. You can run them either from F12 at the Dell splash screen just after powering on (select Onboard Diagnostics) or by booting from the Dell Resource CD (aka Drivers & Utilities CD).

Another option would be to install the latest sound driver (or reinstall it if you already have the latest). The drivers are available on the Dell support website ( http://support.dell.com).

Have you checked the Event Log (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer) to see if there are any errors from the time you hear the noise? Do you have any other problems with audio or the system in general?

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate