On battery, T61 Audio glitch/crackle as sounds finish playing

Recently received my T61. Did clean XP Pro install per instructions found in several threads here. Success. Last night, while on battery power, I was listening to some audio clips, and I noticed that, when the clip starts, and as soon as it finishes, there is a *very* noticeable click/glitch sound. This only happens on battery power.

- Doesn't matter what player I use. I get the same sound when previewing sounds in control panel>sounds, WMP, Mozilla, etc.
- Only happens on battery power.
- No crackles/glitches/clicks elsewhere: Only at the beginning and end of sounds (i.e. Not when I'm scrolling, opening files, etc.)

A friend ordered an X61 the same day I ordered my T61, and after receiving it, he noticed this same problem, called support, and now has shipped it off to repair. Customer service had him go through a number of steps, like letting the battery run completely down, even taking it out of the computer. They finally said they thought it was a motherboard problem. I'm suspicious of this diagnosis.

Another poster on this forum has had a similar--though not exactly the same--problem, here.

This person also had a motherboard replacement, which did not work (of course, this user had vista, mine is running XP Pro, but the problems sound somewhat similar).

Sorry for the longwinded (first!) post; just wondering if anyone out there has any ideas. I'm really hesitant to send it off for a motherboard replacement.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions!

 

Do you have the latest drivers from Lenovo?

The changelog of the latest audio drivers says:
Version 5.10.1.5410

* (Fix) Click noise on battery mode.
* (Fix) Removed mic setup on soundmax control panel (Japan only).


Since, this is only specified in the XP drivers changelog, it should be the right problem..

 

@John B:

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately the driver update does not solve the problem. My friend with the X61 tried it too, before shipping his notebook back, and no luck.

Talked with this friend today, he got the X61 back from Lenovo apparently with new motherboard, but the problem is still there.

Not sure what to make of this.

 

Is anyone else on this board having the same problem? It seems unlikely that my friend's case--with the X61--and mine are completely isolated. Lenovo must know about the problem, since they have driver updates for XP. I'd like to know what could possibly be responsible for the problem.

- Would using a third-party audiocard and disabling the integrated card make a difference?

Anyways, any thoughts would be tremendously appreciated.

 

I also did a clean install of Windows XP on my new X61s and I am having a similar problem. As long as the computer is running on AC everything works fine. The instant I disconnect it from AC the sound starts to stutter. I have tried several different things (changing drivers, changing audio hardware acceleration etc) to no avail.

 

I also have audio stuttering when on battery. I have updated everything, and set powermanagement to maximum performance.

 

I found a post suggesting to update the networkadapter driver. http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-67829.html

This seems to have done the trick for me. I don't know why the Lenovo update service didn't do it...

 

Hi jrewing88,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

This was driving me CRAZY, and I thought I'd never get it sorted out. I applied your suggested fix and I am now "stutter free".

To give you some idea of the pain you have saved me from - I was facing a 10 hour flight to Japan where I knew I couldn't use my laptop to play movies. I can now watch in peace.

JR - you are a Prince amongst Men.

Cheers,
Geoff