M35 sound card question

Does anyone have this problem?: After starting any windows sound, I can hear a click. Also after stopping any sound. I tried to disable the Sigma-Tel power saving feature but it makes no difference. Any comments?

Also, WMP 10 sounds distorted. Other players sound OK (Itunes, Real Audio, WinAmp).

Thank you.

Jordi

 

I've not experienced this in the M35 I've spent some time with. Generally popping noises is not good...have you tried updating drivers for the audio? Also, how old is the machine?

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Thank you for your reply, Brian. My m35 is just 3 weeks old. The popping happens after producing any windows sound or after hearing the normal internet link click. I just did a restore twice using the restore disk but nothing changed. Could it have anything to do with my upgrading the HD to the Hitachi 7200 Rpm or adding 512 mb of Ram? I honestly can't remember when the problem started. Could it be the sound card? If so, is it easy to replace?
Thank you again.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

I found out that the popping sound is supposed to happen if the Power management in the Sigma-Tel Audio settings is enabled (advanced settings). The funny thing is that if I disable (uncheck) the Power management setting, the popping does not go away. It is most noticeable through headsets. The popping is heard after any sound (less than one second after the sound). Do you have the Sigma-Tel Audio power management enabled or disabled? Can you hear the popping sound at all in either setting?

I tried to upgrade the sound card driver to no avail. Could someone please check his/her settings and report to me?

This is driving me crazy. Toshiba telephone support won't be able to help.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Jordi

 

My guess is hardware failure at this point. I think a call to support is the next step.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Wordstress,

How many seconds delay do you have set in SigmaTel Power management? Does it make any difference if you have the Power management enabled or disabled? No clicking sound whatsoever? I wonder what the culprit may be. Toshiba support is clueless. If it's the sound card, will I have to replace the whole motherboard?

Thank you.

Jordi

 

Thank you, Wordstress. I checked a display m35 at a local Circuit City and the popping was also there. I wonder what is causing that. At least now I know that it's not only my unit. I thought it might be normal for this SigmaTel sound card.

Have you tried hearing it with your headsets when playing any windows sound? It is almost unnoticeable through the speakers. It is like a faint electric voltage change sound.It's not a big deal but after a while it gets annoying.

Anybody else cares to try?

Thank you.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

Can someone please try to produce any windows sound and use his/her headsets at high volume and let me know if you can hear this electric noise? Also, when clicking any IE link.

Thank you.

Jordi

 

Can someone please help me? I don't know who to turn to. What makes this popping sound is the sound card turning on and off after any sound. If I pause WMP, since the sound card remains on, the popping will not occur when playing any windows sound.

Thank you.

Jordi

 

Jordi,

Have you tried putting everything back to factory defaults, HDD, ram & OS? If the problem is still there while everything is back to how it was when you got the system, then it's a hardware/design problem. If it's just defective hardware, it's easily replaceable and you should be set, but if it's a design problem, I doubt replacing the hardware would fix anything. You'd have to get one of Toshiba's engineers to work on this issue, but that requires you to deal with Toshiba's support team. Have it escalated to a higher level, it'll get upped to a high enough level if the problem is still not resolved.

-Vb-

 

Venombite, thank you very much for your reply. I reformatted the hard disk drive and used the recovery dvd twice but the popping sound is still there. I am trying to find out whether this is a problem specific to my unit or it is common with the m35. That is why I was asking other m35's owners to check their units out and report to the forum. I did try another unit at Circuit City with the same symptoms. Could other owners let me know so that I can take the appropriate action?
Thank you.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

O.K., these are my findings so far. I went to CompUsa today. I tried another m35. The popping noise after any sound was also there. Then, I checked all the Toshiba laptops that carry the SigmaTel sound card. ALL of them had the same issue whereas the ones that carry the Realtek AC97 Audio Card did not make this popping noise. Therefore, the problem seems to be with the SigmaTel sound card or with its sound drivers. Apparently some Dell laptops also carry the same card and I found the following comment from a Dell technician in the Dell forum:

The popping/ticking noise which occurs when playing sounds is caused by the audio adapter being un-muted before playing audio and then muted again after the audio has finished, thus causing a shift in voltage level which causes the popping/ticking sounds. Dell has released a new Sigmatel (A04) driver to correct this issue. Click here to download this driver.


I couldn't find the driver mentioned above. What I don't understand is that no one else on this forum has complained about this issue with the SigmaTel audio adapter. Can someone else please confirm that this problem is indeed common in the laptops that carry this particular sound card, such as the m35?

I don't know what to do. I don't know if it is worth sending an e mail to Sigmatel Tech support or ask Toshiba to change the sound card and install a Realtek AC97. By the way, is there any difference between the sound card and the audio adapter? Are they the same thing? Can it be swapped easily or is it integrated in the motherboard.

It's too bad that the m35 has this defect because other than that it is a great machine (once you upgrade it to 1 GB of RAM and a 7200 RPM HDD!).

Any comments will be greatly welcome and appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Jordi

 

Anyone can help me please?

Thank you.

Jordi

 

Why isn't anyone replying to my posts? I can't believe no one is having this problem. I have checked several m35's
at local stores and other laptops that contain the Sigma Tel audio. They all have the popping sound. Can someone advise what steps to follow to make Toshiba resolve this issue? I sent an e mail to sigma Tel but they declined any responsibility and they referred me to Toshiba.

I look forward to your posts.

Thank you.

Regards,

Jordi

 

Dear Jordi i hear this sound when i 'm clicking any ie link. I hadn't notice this until u mentioned it in this topic. I use only my laptop speakers at low volume and when i put the volume at full level i noticed the sound. I dont know how to help u but i can confirm the "problem" with the popping sound.

 

Dear Oliver,

Thank you for your reply. I was already thinking that I was going crazy because no one else seems to have the problem. Have you tried to listen to Program events sounds in Sounds and Audio Devices in Control Panel? Can you hear the electric popping noise after each windows sound is produced??? Can you try with headsets and loud volume? Also, can you check the SigmaTel Audio Power Management feature? Is it enabled or disabled? You can find it in Control Panel?Does it make any difference?

At this point I think it must be a software related issue. For some reason the Power savings feature of the sound card won't turn off. Apparently, Dell Inspiron 8600 has the same sound card and some users report that they were able to solve this by updating their sound driver. But the driver Toshiba posts on their site is the same installed in my computer!!

I would appreciate any more feedback from you or anyone else who is willing to try this out.

Thank you so much, Oliver.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

Jordi i have tried tonight to listen a program event sound, actually the close program sound (windows xp ballon) and i didn't notise any popping noice after the windows sound. At this moment i do not have headsets and i dont know if this noice is produced through the headsets. Anyway i will try to find and i will reply back. My Sigma Tel Audio Power management is enabled and the time to power saving state is set to 5 sec. Jordi i would like to ask you about your fan's behaviour. Did you find a way to make the fan not start so often? Mine is always on when i have the cpu speed at full level and it is a little bit annoying. Thanks anyway my friend and let me know if you want to ask something else about your problem

 

Dear Oliver,

Thank you for checking out your computer settings. It is really strange because I tried several computers at a local store (Circuit City) and all the computers that had the Sigmatel Audio card made a popping noise after any windows sound. Did you listen with your volume all the way up? If your used headsets, it would be more noticeable.Is there anyway you can try with headsets at maximum volume?

Regarding the fan behavior, my fan stays on all the time when I have the CPU control method set to fixed but if I change it to auto, the fan is not on all the time. What are your settings?
By the way, what sound do you hear when you click a link? A click sound is normal but what is not normal is the popping that follows.

On another note, I can't understand why no one else has reported about this problem. Could someone please try this out and report ?

Thank you, Oliver.
Best regards,
Jordi
Thank you so much, Oliver.

 

I am wondering if everyone who has a Sigmatel sound card could check this issue and report. This card is in many Toshiba models as well as Dells. Could someone please confirm the popping /ticking noise?
It seems that Dell released a driver that resolved the issue but Toshiba has not.
Where are the people in this forum? There has been hardly any activity lately.
I would appreciate your input.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

Please read the following link at the Dell forum regarding the Sigma Tel Audio issue : why hasn't Toshiba released a similar driver to get rid of the popping sound?
Anyone cares to speak up?

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=16666

 

I tried this. With earphones and full volume I got a very slight click after windows notification sounds, not before. I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't using earphones and if I hadn't seen your posts. In any case there *is* a driver update on the Toshiba site:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_home.jsp

Follow the links to downloads, enter the M35 into the form and again click on downloads. This will take you to a page with updated drivers. Included is:

SigmaTel WDM Audio Driver for Windows XP/2000 (v6.14.01.3835; 06-09-2004; 2.36M)

I applied this and the click seems less now but since it was faint on my machine to begin with I can't really say for sure.

Hope this helps.

 

Ya1950,

Thank you very much for your post. The driver you are pointing to is the same driver I have already installed in my system! Therefore it does not help me. It's odd because Dell did release a driver that took care of the problem but not Toshiba. I tried to download Dell driver but it won't install correctly on my system. Do you know what I can do? This is driving me nuts!!!!

Thank you, Ya1950.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

Sorry I can't offer anything else. The post you refer to is from Feb 2004. Since the M35 was released way after that I would think that the updated drivers were already included. One other thing you might try is to install the new BIOS located at that same site (9/2004)

I'm beginning to suspect that it's not the driver since I don't have it with my system and I have the same sound card and the same driver. Maybe there was a problem with the sound cards in a specific batch of M35's?

 

Ya1950, thank you for your post. I am confused now. You told me in your previous post that the popping after any windows sound was definitely there, right?Would you please clarify this for me?
Thank you.
Jordi

 

I wouldn't call it a pop. On speakers I don't hear anything. With earphones (Sony earbuds) and full volume I hear a very, very faint 'click' after a windows notification sound plays. If I wasn't listening and didn't have the volume up full I wouldn't even know it was there. The sound is clean before the notification, even on earphones and with full volume. This does not sound like what you are describing. I got my M35 early Sept from Best Buy if this helps.

Based on the differences in our machines I suspect a hardware problem (maybe a certain run of the machine or machines manufactured in different places?)and not a driver issue. At this point if I was in your shoes I would send the machine back to Toshiba and let them sort it out.

 

Ya1950,

Today I checked several other Toshiba laptops that contain the SigmaTel C-Major card and ALL of them had the electric popping/ticking noise issue right before and after playing any sound. What seems to vary is the loudness of the ticking noise.This is definitely an issue with this particular sound card since the Toshiba laptops that contain a Reetek or a Sound Max sound card do not have this issue. I am hopeful that a driver update will remedy it. I called Toshiba and I escalated the issue to the third level.

I respectfully ask other Toshiba users to check if they have a SigmaTel card and check this issue. The more people complain about this, the more likely is for Toshiba to come up with a new driver.

Please help.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

I respectfully ask people who have a SigmaTel Audio C-Major to check this issue out please!I spoke with a level 3 technician at Toshiba and he could not replicate the issue with some computers he had there. Am I the only one experiencing this issue? If so, how come ALL the other computers with the SigmaTel card at local stores behave the same way?

I am very confused. I hope someone can resolve this mystery.

Thank you,
Jordi

 

This is the weirdest thing. I installed a Realtek sound driver that fixed my popping/ticking noise issue in another spare HDD (I switched HDD to experiment with the drivers because I did not want to hurt windows) and when I put the HDD that was initially in the computer, the Realtek driver won't install. I first uninstalled the SigmaTel driver, then I ran through the Realtek installation and it asked me to reboot but after rebooting the SigmaTel drivers got reinstalled automatically. I tried this several times to no avail. How can it be that the drivers will install in one HDD but not in the other? The only difference I can think of is that the first HDD had SP1 but the second one has SP2. Therefore I am back to square one, since unfortunately I can't change the drivers in this HDD and I want to use this HDD because it's a 7200 RPM Hitachi. Do you have any suggestions? This is driving me nuts!

At least now I know for sure that the popping noise issue is driver related. What I can't understand is how come no one else complains about it, if they are using the same drivers.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

Hey Jordi,

Got your email. I hope something will help you out.

Since you know it's a driver problem and not a hardware issue, one of your problems have been resolved.

I just need to clear something up. The HDD that you installed the Realtek drivers (that worked), which one is it, the old "stock" drive or the newer Hitachi "7200rpm" drive? I'm gonna assume that the 7200rpm HDD is the one you want to get the driver installed on.

So, basing on that assumption, there's probably one thing you can try (hopefully it doesn't mess your system up), but you can findout which file the old SigmaTel driver is using. Do a search on the whole system and see if you can find this file, rename all of them (change the extension). Since the system will no longer be able to find the driver, you can tell it to load the Realtek drivers. I don't think you need to un-install first, just goto the Device Manager and click on the Update Driver button for the sound device. Point it to where the Realtek drivers are located and see if this works.

One final thing you can try is to re-install the OS on a different drive and then when everything is working for you, make an image of the drive (Ghost, DriveImage, etc...). All you have to do then is to dump the image back onto the 7200rpm HDD and you're done.

Let me know if you have any problems with the suggestions.

Good Luck.

-Vb-

 

Dear Venombite,


Thank you so much for your directions! I was able to install the Realtek drivers on my m35 (with a Hitachi 7200 RPM HDD) and now my electric popping/ticking noise is gone. However, I can't understand why only an older version of the Realtek drivers will work on the system (version wdm_a353). When I try the newest version (wdm_364), they either do not install or they cause a serious error on my system.

Another thing I can't understand is how come I am apparently the only one noticing the electric popping noise before and after playing any windows sound with the Sigmatel drivers. If everyone is using the same drivers, how come no one else seems to have the same issue????

Even though this is a mystery to me, I am o.k. now that I have installed the old Realtek drivers. I just hope Toshiba releases an updated SigmaTel driver that can solve the popping issue (which I doubt, since, even after speaking to level 3 technical support, they deny the existence of the issue). I think it is pretty lame that I have to end up using a third party sound driver that does not correspond to the sound card installed in the computer. Don't you think?

One more question: Do you think that the Realtek drivers can harm my hardware in any way since they do not correspond to the sound card hardware installed?

Thank you, Venombite.
I look forward to your reply.
Best regards,
Jordi

 

Hey Jordi,

It's possible that the new revision of the drivers work on a new revision of the sound card. I have seen minor changes made to parts where it requires specific drivers. Since your card may be the older rev, it may only be compatible with the older drivers (guessing).

Maybe others are not as sensitive to the sounds the system may make. Just as an example, the HP NX7000 I used to have, made a firly annoying squeeling noise when setting the Power Management setting to Always On. There were probably only 2-3 people that mentioned on this site that they also heard it. Thousands of units have been sold, but only 3 people to hear the problem. But in my case, the engineer I was working with on this problem was actaully capable of reproducing the same noise. A valid solution would not be found, so I returened the unit. So, with that said, that could be why you're the only one noticing the issue.

I do think it's pretty bad that you have to use the wrong drivers to get your system working properly, but the main thing is that your system is working with these drivers.

I don't think it'll harm your system in any way. I don't think you can push a sound card like you can with a CPU or GPU. It mainly just processes the signal from analog to digital and vice versa. You should be fine.

I hope the new drivers from SigmaTel fixes your problem. But keep working with the Toshiba support and hopefully they'll be able to reproduce the same problem. This way, they'll work double time to find a solution. See if it'll even be possible to send a sample of the noise (output to a tape recorder or something) to the tech or even reproduce it in front of him (probably not likely). This would be the best way to prove that it's happening, since they deny the problem.

Good luck and I hope everything works out.

-Vb-

 

Dear Venombite,

Thank you so much for all your guidance. I am at last very happy because my system is working great now, with the Realtek drivers! I would still rather have fully functional SigmaTel drivers. I will e mail some sample windows sounds to the third level Toshiba technician. But first I need to roll back the drivers since I have the Realtek ones installed. Hopefully I can later go back to these Realtek drivers. It would be very helpful, though, if anyone who is using the SigmaTel drivers could confirm the electric popping/ticking noise on their system.

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Jordi

 

Dear Venombite,

I managed to record the SigmaTel electric popping/ticking noise on mp3 format. Is there any way I can post the file in this forum? Or can I e mail it to you?

Thank you, Venombite.

Best regards,

Jordi

 

Jordi,

I'm not sure if files can be hosted on the site. You can send an email to one of the admins, maybe they can do something. Otherwise, I'm sure there's sites out there that allows you to host files which you can link to.

-Vb-

 

I am very confused. Some Sigma Tel Dell users tell me that when the power management setting of the video card (Sigmatel) is enabled, they do hear the popping but when they disable it, the popping
is gone. I am still trying to solve this mystery.



Can someone who has the Toshiba m 35 confirm this?

Thank you.

Best regards,
Jordi