Tried your 1520's headphone jack?

My laptop arrived Nov. 30, ordered Nov. 16, and there is still a whirring sound. I am on my replacement laptop, still having the same problem, and waiting for someone from escalations to call me back.

Also, my screen resolution keeps automatically resetting to a very low resolution when it wakes from sleep. Tech support seems baffles (imagine that).

A rep called today to ask if my replacement was working properly, and when I told her about the headphone jack sound, she sounded shocked. She said that she had never heard of something like that before, let alone on 2 systems! Ha hahahahaha!

I'm so confused. I need this laptop, I need all the features, I need it at this price, and I love the pink cover! What to do???

 

Hey guys!

Here a little report from Germany (at the same time a sorry for my english )

I orderd my 1520 last week on monday and recieved it last friday.
The first two days I didn't mention this problem.
I suppose I noticed it after reinstalling Vista Ultimate to get off the software trash Dell installed by default.

I hear this noise not only when plugin in the earphones (whatever my iPod earphones, or the Creative earphones I ordered with the notebook from Dell).

I stumbled over this thread and read it from page one to last and tried some options.
First I turned off the bluetooth power management options. So there is no more noise, while using the notebook without battery (but power supply).

When I'm using only the battery (without power supply), turning off the bluetooth powermanagement takes no effect.

Both, power supply and battery I didn't tried yet.

Tomorrow when I'm at university I will try to contact Dell to get some feedback bout this problem.

Some student colleauges of mine using also Dell's (Vostro and Inspirion) and I want to get some feedback of them.

By the way I'm using the A04 Bios by factory default.


I hope this problem will be solved as fast, cause I'm studying Scientific Computing and need my Dell most of the time for programming. The noise is very anoying when concentrating.


Best regards!
Alex

 

So there is a bios update that we need here in america. We are on a03 over here.

 

The strange thing bout this is that Dell only offers the A03 over their support site. So I have no opportunity to download, or get the A04.

And almost it wont change anything to the noise problem.

 

Ok here the promised informations I collected today:

First I talked to Dell this morning and the assistant was in the know.
I said only two things: CPU whining and noise from the headphone jack.

For the CPU whining problem he gave me this link: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=3516

I was very surprised to get a link of an post in a forum as a resolution for this problem!
I asked him if there will be an proper solution like a Bios update or something like that and he answered only that Intel is workin hard on it.

For the second problem (the headphone jack) he only told me to make this few steps:
1. Notebook reboot, press F12
2. Select diagnose
4. A first diagnose will start.
5. After the first diagnose a second (32 Bit diagnose) will start
6. Select "Custom Test"
7. Select "AUDIO test" and press "RUN TEST"

While testing I have to hear if the headphone noise is still there. Test this with different headphones or speaker from who you know they work fine on other computers.

Else contact Dell again...


Thats for the moment.
Maybe it helps a little bit.

Alex

 

SUPER dumb question- my F12 key doesn't do anything. I've even tried pressing it at the same time as ctrl, shift, and Fn.

Help!

 

Did you reboot? You have to do it at the Dell screen.

 

Okay, I ran the diagnostics just as stated, and it sounded great! However, the minute the laptop started up to run as usual, the sound returned. I am so PO'ed! Not to mention that a person from escalations was supposed to call me back, and it's been 24 hrs. and I've yet to hear anything...

Anyone got a good suggestion for a comparable model at a comparable price, preferably with a color option?

I've got a 1520 with 2 GB, not sure what else, I'm not good at this stuff. Webcam, pink cover.

 

I wanted to report that SOME of the awful noise I was hearing was fixed by employing the RightMark Clock CPU whine fix. If you can hear a similar noise coming from the processor area of your computer as when you wear your headphones, this may be of benefit to you. (I couldn't even bear to wear my headphones, and now they're at least tolerable)

The discussion is here.
Specifically, this poster recommended using RMClock (check "enable popdown mode" and uncheck "enable popup mode").

Now, I have less whine coming from my computer, and I can wear headphones. Also, my problems with wireless not connecting when on battery power have disappeared as well. (Plus RMClock is an awesome little utility in general, very informative)

As I said, this removes SOME of the noise, but not ALL.

 

hey everybody,I have returned 3 Inspiron 1520's in the last month alone.TRY this.... play any song in Windows Media Player from the beginning.When there is EXACTLY 20 seconds remaining in the song, it will SNAP, and POP.. (not every time but most times.You cannot "rewind" it back to that spot and make it do it again....you MAY fast-forward it to that spot from the beginning and it will do it.I even went to a Dell kiosk in a local shopping mall and the demo model there did it too.The guy working there says he never heard any complaints about it,and it must be a software issue.EXACTLY 20 seconds remaining...WEIRD. It does not matter if the song was pre-loaded with Vista,or if it is from your personal collection ripped to your hard drive.If the song is 4 minutes and 32 seconds long,the it will skip at 4:12... ALMOST EVERY TIME... TRY IT....my setup was a T7250 with 8600GT and 2gig ram,120gig HD 7200 rpm....and YES,there is tonnes of distortion and interference through the earphone jacks...I have demanded a full refund from Dell.

 

were all 3 of them posts really needed

 

Ok, have you tried it with any non Dell machines?

 

please read the entire comment,and you will see that I HAVE tried it on HP.LG,ACER and Toshiba.

 

Sorry about that, I only read the recent comment in this thread, so I missed that. Just trying to ensure that you're not jumping to conclusions without eliminating other possible causes.

I've just tried, and observed a similar thing on my computer; I'd say it happens less than 20% of the time here, but I have just heard a disruption as you say almost exactly 20 seconds before the end of a track at least twice just now (not heard it near the beginning).

I imagine it should be possible to resolve somehow, but it is weird. I'm pretty sure it hasn't happened in Amarok in linux when I've used that, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention. I suppose it could be related to this class of laptop... I don't have anything else to compare with just now.

 

Hello people,
I have recently purchased an Inspiron 1520, and now I really wish I had read this thread first. I had noticed the headphone "whining" the minute I plugged in my headphones and it is very annoying. Almost all of my audio electronics have some sort of audible high frequency feedback, but this is intolerable. I really hope there is more insight into this problem and dell offers a solution.
For the skipping of songs (20 second interval), I found that disabling the wireless network card fixes that problem, when connect to a broadband network. Fortunately, the majority of the time I am using my laptop I am connected to broadband, however, I have not tested the 20 second bug while I am connected to a wireless network. I hope that helps some of you.

 

Here's something interesting. Just about a month ago I purchased a 1520. I liked the specs and price I could get with the $425 off coupon. Sadly when it arrived it had that noise in the headphones, constant squeaks and static. I was quite annoyed since I use my headphones in my laptop a lot so not to disturb others. So, I called up Dell and ask to get sent a replacement.

Well, today the replacement arrived, and I was prepared to be disappointed knowing how widespread this problem was. But to my surprise, there's no noise at all! Well, there is some very very faint noise, but it's hardly noticeable, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it unless I was listening for it.

One thing that's interesting though, is that the bios is currently AO4, unlike my previous 1520 which had a bios of AO3. This makes me wonder if it was simply the change in bios that makes this new laptop not have the static, or if there's some other factor. I checked DELL's site, but they're still listing the AO3 as the current bios, which is a little odd.

Anyway, I've only recently had any time with it. If I find that the static all of a sudden appears, I'll post back here.

 

Its not on their US, EU or JP FTP sites either.

 

I actually have the BIOS vs. A04, but still have that noise on my headphone jack.

 

I got my 1520 in the mail on Monday, and the headphone jack noise is definitely present, and definitely quite grating at first but I've discovered two things:

1.) The high pitched whining goes away when I'm not on external power, but the static remains.
2.) I honestly zone out enough that it doesn't bother me too much if I keep my earbuds in while having paused a song or something. It's annoying, but not earth shattering, for my purposes at least.

I am going to try to seek some form of compensation from Dell. The problem shouldn't be there, but it's not enough to make me send back an otherwise solid system.

 

Oh well, I was kinda hoping it had something to do with the bios, so other people might be able to fix this problem. It's wierd though how my first one had so much static and the new one has virtually nil.

After doing some extensive listening, the new one does have some very faint static, but it's easily covered up with any music, and even a TV running in the background quickly overpowers it. I mean it's so very faint, that sometimes I think I'm just imagining it.

 

Couple of things. If you have vista and your songs are skipping and doing wierd things turn off the enhancements in the sound menu of vista.

has anybody tried shielding or anything like that of the headphone wire that connects the jack to the motherboard? Maybe moving it in the case slightly?

 

I am waiting for the new Inspiron 1525 to come out and I will buy one (after all the problems I had with my 1520) ANYONE READING THIS PLEASE SEE POSTING BY jrsryder. I saw some sneak pictures of it,and it appears as though the headphone jack is loacated on the front of the unit. I would prefer it be on the back or side. Does anyone know if there are bluetooth speakers available that will allow me to listen to music "wirelessly" off of a laptop? I have been checking-out some REALLY REALLY nice laptops from ASUS. T7500 or T7700 / 7200RPM / 8600GT / Ultra high resolution screen etc...
It is really tempting to get one of these. Dell does have great service though.....

 

12/17 - where's the new fix? No new BIOS. Anyone have announcements/info/anything??

 

@ 640k

dont worry they will have the fix sometime next week... or the week after that. or sometime in the next six months

 

That's not helpful.

 

well i talked to the dell guy and he said the bios update will be available sometime in the next 2 weeks.

 

"the bios update" what bios update? no one has promised a bios update, just that a change would happen. that guy was feeding you bull****.

 

I do have the problem with the high-pitched noise but I was wondering if this would work?

http://www.nextag.com/Koss-Usb-Dongle-Adapter-538783929/prices-html

Its a USB audio jack, would that solve the problem? I don't really feel like sending my laptop back or opening it up or anything, would this work?

 

yes it would work, or a creative x-fi express

 

I received my free X-Fi in the mail today. It does eliminate all of the noise coming from the built-in jack. I'm happy that Dell was willing to provide this as a fix, but it is slightly annoying to have it hanging out the side of the computer whenever I want to wear headphones. Small price to pay to have things working well I suppose. Overall, still a satisfied Dell customer. (Except for an unrelated tech support call... but that was mostly a language barrier issue, I must have called India.)

 

Whats a creative x-fi express? And how do I get it free from Dell?

 

If you're all still debating how to solve that noise issue just do my guide..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=197809

so far, 100% success rate, as I know of.

 

umm and why would he do that? anyways its not gonna make a diference if u believe it or not.

 

Call and call and call, not tech support- their customer care line, it is a different branch.

read my posts

 

Is it worth the effort compared to just dropping 25 bucks for a USB audio jack?

 

Not to mention time?

At any rate, the express card sound card doesn't fix the problem, it just circumvents it. It would be cheaper/better to get USB headphones. You can still hear the noise through the speakers regardless of what method you use unless you actually fix it.

 

Maybe not, but dell should be responsible, so it was worth it for me for other reasons as well. My 1520 is a warranty replacement for a 6000 which I had a pcmcia card, which does not work and I felt they owed it to me anyway.

WHAT?!?!!?! The noise never comes through speakers, even with the factory jack! It is only headphones. It would not be better to get usb headdphones because the XFI sounds fricking awesome, but I use $200 shure headphones... maybe you need to upgrade to enjoy the nice sound.

BTW I did B2TheEYo's hardware fix las night in about an hour, sounds much better

 

I hear the sound without the headphones. I am sitting less than 3ft away from my laptop and I can hear a high pitch noise. If I get close to the laptop, I can hear the same beeping I hear in the headphones. The additional sound card would not prevent this.

 

You need a new laptop. That is ridiculous, it should never be that loud. Something bad is about to happen.

 

Why is something bad about to happen? Its just a noise. Its not like there is smoke coming out of it.

 

yet............

 

Whatever...

 

640k, I would guess that the sounds you're hearing are not coming from the speakers. Put your ear next to the speakers, then next to the vent on the side of the computer and see which is louder. If it's very loud, you might be suffering from the processor switching between C3 and C4 states. Here's Dell's page, and another page detailing this issue.

I'm going to give the grounding fix a try tonight... first I have 13hrs of traveling to do. I do wonder what the consequences of removing the ground from a headphone jack might be... perhaps a large pop in the headphones when the current has no where else to go?

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure its the CPU whine. But I'm not about to put my BT back on just to get rid of it.

 

what's BT?


nevermind.... i re-read the link.

 

Well, They sent me a new 1520 which they said would be assembled at head office in US to ensure quick replacement, given that this time of year they are swamped. And poof, the sound issue is gone. Perhaps quality control was improved as on my original I found the letter "z" on the keyboard would not always type if not firmly pressed. I don't know why it isn't making noise now, but the difference is dramatic. Not a whistle, pop or hiss to be found, just glorious silence. But is may be that it is becuase it has the A04 version of the bios installed. Does anyone have the release notes on this bios version? The Dell website still has version A03 on it.

 

i hope they come out with the A04 version soon

 

Mine is terrible. I'm glad I hook up my notebook to my stereo system via USB.

 

the A04 BIOS version is out, it kind of decreased the static noise a bit but its still there.

Edit: lol after a while the noise came back again the same as before.

 

This thread prompted me to register today and join the discussion. I have the same headphone noise - morse code + static - and Dell's tech support had me try to update drivers, and when that didn't work, issued a dispatch order for a new motherboard.

Obviously I am leery about sending it in for a new motherboard when this hasn't been proven to be a 100% effective fix, but like others, I don't think that we (the customers) should have to endure workarounds or home remedies for Dell's problems.

Question - does anyone know if the 1420's have the same headphone issues? I originally wanted the smaller 1420, since a lot of my laptop use is "on the road" but the 1520 price and deal was too good to pass up. I am considering seeing if I can talk them into swapping my 1520 for a similarly-configured 1420"for my trouble."