7915u fx sound problem?

i dunno if this would work on all laptops but i ran that program on my laptop and was getting nice all green with a dip into the red when my desktop wallpaper changed but i was able to get much lower green values when i plugged my power supply into a power conditioner i have. (the green values were lower but not anything miraculous)

im gonna try seeing which of my soundcards produce better results. either my onboard conexant audio, expresscard sound blaster xfi or my external usb sound blaster 5.1 card. i also have a desktop xfi titanium that i could try but wont because its currently being used in my desktop

 

Yeah, disable powermizer.

 

the new laptop I recieved has no sound issue.

 

euisungkim, the gateway or asus one?

Also, I'm planning on getting this on Best Buy, but just saw MANY and MANY complaints about it... is it occurring with all 7915?

Where can I buy a P79 series? Best Buy doesnt seem to have it...

Thanks!

 

I have not had any problems with this laptop since disableing powermizer. Disableing it has caused me no noticable problems. This little app is great for managing it. You have to buy the 7915 online. that link should take you to the best buy page for it.

 

Thanks TechnicalTransient for the answer.

Did you guys get this issue with the models P-7908 or P-7805?

Here, english is not my native language, so I may get the wrong idea about the complaints, but the issue is that these laptops, under "loud sound", starts to hang, like, they freeze for some time?

I'm asking that because here in my country a laptop were released some time ago with HD4650 with a great price. Every enthusiast bought it - including me - but it came with a major problem: when you put it at high sound, using the notebook speakers, like 60%+ volume in Windows 7, with any music, video, or game, it would start to hang like crazy at everything you'd be doing at the moment, like navigating in internet with any browser, using Windows or any other program, until you go down the volume or plug a headphone.

Interesting thing: when playing games like Dirt, with the volume at max, it would soon start to freeze, and at the instant moment that you plug the headphone on it the game would just unfreeze and run normally, we realized that the sound would cause some components to "shake" or interfere in some way... is this the problem here? Everyone is trying to solve that problem, but no one came to a solution, and so, while researching for a gateway laptop (I returned that one) I found this topic, with, apparently, the same problem... unbelievable...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the case here? With headphones everything get's normal? And also, you said that disabling the powermizer it fixed the problem... seriously? Completely? If yes, and if it works on ATI GPU's, wow, I'm gonna just spread the word to see if some of the guys can get the problem solved (but I'm still looking for a Gateway laptop, fell in love with those when I discovered that they have 2 dedicated coolers...)

And sorry for such a long post and story hehe...

Thanks for all the support!

 

Powermizer is for Nvidia GPUs by Nvidia. Hope i'm right about that. It will not work with ATI GPUs if thats the case.

 

ive never had problems with my 7805u at all. the only reason why my captop would go into the red on the program was because of a wallpaper change but even then it didnt have any kind of popping or crackling sound which if im not mistaken is what happens when your laptop goes into the red and high yellow.

also i just noticed that the poster below my previous post said it disables powermizer. but i already had powermizer off i think the filtration from my power conditioner benefits the audio in a positive way.(it does make sense when yah think about it) i didnt think it would make a difference but it did.

takezo that is one weird problem the laptop you returned had. i would have also returned it like you because that would drive me crazy. i dont think youll need to worry because if the 7915 is mostly the same as the 7805u as long as you take care of it and keep it celan it will work fine. the only issue i have with my laptop which is because im picky is that the hdd gets very hot when in a raid 0 config but that is easily solved with a laptop cooler(i own a very cheap plastic one that i got for free and it keeps my drives cool to the touch)

 

I believe the problem you are describing is different. It sounds like you are describing a problem where a poorly assembled machine is physically getting something vibrated by the sound that is causing it to crash, or maybe the speakers are drawing too much power and causing it to become unstable. At any rate, both of those problems are far removed from the problem this thread is discussing. Our problem has to do with processor prioritization. The Nvidia power control app controls the power so aggressively, that it’s processing interferes with real time multimedia processing, and causes glitches. Using headphones or lowering the volume does not affect the issue, and if you are using an ATI card, you could not have the exact same issue, because it would not be using the same power management app.

People have experienced it with other models, because it is a widely used nvidia app that apparently has had this issue for a while, but disabling the app seems to be an acceptable solution.

 

Got it, thanks for the answer. But i didn't understand what it causes to the user... does it causes the video, or sound to stop, freeze of any sort?

 

The best word for it is stutter. It's almost like when you tap a diskman and the music skips because the laser is thrown off for a second. It causes split second freezes in the audio / video, and like popping / static noises in the audio. It's basically similar to playing a scratched dvd, but it never stays skipping in the same place for very long. The problem is that the processor is too busy to process the real time multimedia for split seconds at a time, but it doesn't ever fully freeze, it's just delayed in processing for a moment in a repetitive way.

 

Disabling powermizer only fixed mine to a point. Yes audio playback is no longer an issue, I can live with it now. HOWEVER, DPC spikes (although to a lesser extent) still occur and sometimes they are big enough to cause the stutter. This is so rare that its almost like it doesnt exist, but the problem is there.

The big problem though is this same DPC latency spike has the ability to freeze my games for a second or two, which royally sucks for anything competitive. (this has only been verified with source games)

So yes powermizer seems to "fix" the problem. I would say it just covers it up more than anything. I dont know if this is just me or if the other people posting on this thread haven't been watching their systems as closely as I have mine.

Don't get me wrong though, without powermizer being disabled the DPC spikes are so horrendous you almost don't want to play music. It is still a great temporary solution.

Or maybe its just something else. I dont know much about DPC latency at all. Is this remaining latency spike potentially specific to the hardware?

 

Since disabling it I have had almost no problems worth caring about with dpc latency. I don't know that it covers anything up; more just eliminates one of the biggest causes of the problem. I have yet to come across someone that can clearly define a universal cause. There are theories out there that it is everything from the video card to the bios to the chipset, to the fire wire controller that causes it. When it comes down to it, I think there are many causes, depending on what build you have, and many of them can be hard to pinpoint.

Since disabling powermiser I still see some spikes in the monitoring tool, but they rarely affect anything, and they now usually are associated with the loading of a program and/or are not large enough to cause a glitch. The only game I have really played with this computer has been WOW, and I will occasionally notice a dpc glitch when zoning into the largest city, but it is only for that split second that everything is loading, and does not interfere with game play at all. I can record mixes, and play streaming multimedia with no noticeable issues.

I am however still suffering from Random full blown hardware lock ups, that seem to be related to WOW / gaming, but in a very random kind of way, and if I find that those go away while running powermizer (will test soon) that is going to really suck. For me, the lock ups are by far the biggest problem atm. I posted a more detailed explanation of that problem in here ---> http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=449739

 

The display monitor for my 7915u went out (maybe an HD problem) and I had to send it in for repairs... total time for me to send it in and get it back, 2 weeks. It's arriving this thursday

 

Here's a long quote from a best buy review which might fix a lot of this laptop's issues:

"I purchased this laptop primarily for gaming, and like many of the reviewers, I’ve had issues with the sound dropping out or stuttering. This is caused by DPC Latency, which refers to the computer’s ability (or in this case, inability) to process multiple streams of data in real time. In layman's terms, when drivers do not function correctly the computer cannot process sound and video in real time, causing audio pops and stutters. I consider myself pretty technically advanced (been working in the IT field for the better part of 10 years now), and here are my findings on how to fix this sound stutter.

For starters: Don’t bother with gateway’s tech support. As another reviewer wrote on here, they’re unreliable at best. I spent some time in a chat room with one of their overseas techs, and once they realized my issues were more complex, they gave me a phone number to call for advanced support (here in the U.S by the way) and that it would charge me a dollar per minute (nice try Gateway). After a lot of web searching and public forums browsing, I found a set of solutions that seem to work (for the most part), and I’ve listed them below.

Disclaimer: Neither BestBuy, nor Gateway, nor I, are responsible for any damage you cause to your computer or warranty you void should you follow these steps, correctly or otherwise. If you’re uncomfortable with any of this, return your product for whatever applicable store credit or refunds.

Now that the legal stuff is aside, you must complete ALL of these steps to get results.

Step 1. Upgrade the Realtek sound drivers. Be sure to get the drivers from their site! Do NOT download them from some third party, you’re just asking for a virus otherwise. As of this review there are drivers dated for January of 2010. Mine had drivers from late in 2009 and I purchased it just after Christmas.

Step 2. Update the drivers for the 260M GTX from nVidia’s site. If you’ve noticed a performance issue from games, e.g. Left 4 Dead (L4D), there’s a beta driver from nVidia that fixes this issue (driver version 195.81). Though it's a beta driver, I've yet to notice any issues while using it.

The following segment is not necessarily related to the stutter problem (that I can determine), however I felt the GPU ran much too hot for the laptop and overheating can cause a wealth of other problems, including damaged hardware. The engineers at Gateway decided to put a fan under the GPU, however they did not include a means to control the fan speed. Yes you read correctly. The GPU driver software does NOT control this fan, if you look for it in the nVidia performance panel it will be grayed out. I’ve scoured the net for a BIOS update for this laptop that includes a fan RPM setting, but there is none (hint hint, Gateway). To my knowledge there is no way to control the RPM’s of the fan under the GPU, and I’ve tried various third party programs (e.g. SpeedFan, among others). If someone can prove me wrong on this, please do so.

The only way to cool this puppy down (aside from buying a laptop cooler), is to downclock the GPU. I used default specs from Asus which are as follows: Core: 500Mhz Memory: 900Mhz Shader: 1250Mhz Gateway’s default specs are only slightly higher than a comparable ASUS laptop that uses the same 260M GTX card (Gateway’s defaults are: Core: 550Mhz, Memory: 950Mhz, Shader: 1350Mhz. Using the Asus specs, I noticed a 5 degree Celsius drop in temperature with no performance loss playing L4D (then again L4D isn’t a top end game either).

Also, if you actually put this beast in your lap, get one of those padded laptop desk things. It’s a solid board with padding underneath. This will ensure the laptop can breathe when it’s actually in your lap.

Step 3. Upgrade the drivers for the Ethernet controller card. Many users have noticed a sound stutter when browsing the internet or downloading files. Speculation from various forums suggests that this is due to the Ethernet controller card sharing an interrupt request (IRQ) with the video (and yes, that can mess up the sound because sound is processed in real time which can cause spikes in DPC latency). Some sites have suggested changing the IRQ for the controller card, though it is grayed out and reinstalling it doesn’t seem to change its number in Windows 7.

Whew. After having done all this, I no longer have issues with game stutter. Video plays fine, though I’ve noticed mp3’s still pop on a rare occasion, depending on the bit rate quality. While it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, it's still not completely resolved.

All this aside, it’s a decent laptop for the price. The CPU stays surprisingly cool even when ramped up (around 40 degrees Celsius). It’s a shame that I had to spend several hours troubleshooting this, and that so many others before me have posted discussion forums with similar gripes. Not to mention Gateway’s tech support is rudimentary at best. I guess you do get what you pay for in one way or another.

Bottom Line: Unless you're technically savvy and on a budget, splurge for a laptop with better reviews."