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Noise on headphone on I9100
Hi,
I am very pleased with the i9100 I received today.
However, I have a lot of noise on my headphone connection even when the volume is way off or muted. I have tried several headphones, but all have the same static noise on them. When I plug the same headphone on other systems or my audio set, the headphones are totally clear, so this is not caused by the headphones.
I have installed the latest drivers from the Dell site, but this did not help.
What could be wrong?
Thanks for helping,
WolfJe
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Posted April 7th, 2004 20:00
Wolf,
See if the noise is apparent on the system when running on battery. I would suspect it is not. If this is the case, then simply connect the AC adaptor to the wall using a 3 prong to 2 prong adaptor that removes the ground pin. This is a common fix for most any portable (non-Dell's included).
299
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Posted April 8th, 2004 03:00
The condition tyger23 is referring to is a ground loop. Its true that the 9100/XPS could very well experience this condition, my 5150 does. However, you will only encounter this when connection the computer to a device that plugs into the wall, thus completing the loop ( PC->receiver->household wiring->PC). This can't occur when using components that aren't connected to an outlet. The hissing noise encountered when using headphones has been discussed rather extensively in this forum and seems to be related to the Dell supplied drivers. An alternative to switching drivers is using headphones with a higher impedence. I noticed the background hiss was more prevalent with with my folding portable headphones (32 ohms) than in my 7506 monitors (63 ohms).
JK
299
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Posted April 9th, 2004 16:00
You can also try the INDIGO IO sound card that is specifically designed to provide outstanding audio performance to notebooks. I have one for an I8500 and I think there is no better solution. You could get a USB solution like the SoundBlaster but then you've got to carry that device around. With the INDIGO it goes right into card slot.299
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Posted April 9th, 2004 16:00
I have tried it without the ac adapter connected: still hissing also with the sound muted.
I have also tried is on a grounded and non-grounded outlet. Still hissing also with the sound muted.
I have also tried different earphones: the same problem.On playing MP3's on the i9100 the sound get dissorted through the headphones connector. Even when I use top-of-the-line Sony earphones (costed me about $150) which I normally use on my audio system, the sound is still dissorted and hissing.
The mp3's get played ok on the speakers of the i9100, also on my Toshiba laptop with earphones there is no problem at all.Can someone with an i9100 also confirm this. Maybe I have got a defective headphones port
?
299
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Posted April 10th, 2004 15:00
I've got the same problem on my i9100. The sound is fine on the build in speakers but the sound coming out of the headphones jack is garbuled and quiet. How do I fix this?
299
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Posted April 13th, 2004 02:00
I just got a 9100 and I think I have the same problem, maybe. I have isolated my problem down to one of the cooling fans. If you look in the manual, there is a service section that shows you how to change the fans. On of the fans is in a contained unit which also houses, guess what, the headphone and mic connectors. The noise that I have is coming from that fan. I got a program that controls the fan speed, when the fan slows down, the noise lowers in pitch, when the fan turns off the noise goes away. The noise is there regardless of the volume setting, the mute setting, or the driver.299
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Posted April 13th, 2004 02:00
I tried the AC'97 and it didn't help much, but I think the sound quality went down slightly. Do any of the AC'97 drivers enable the bass and treble slider controls in advanced properties? Do any other drivers enable them for a 9100 with sigma tel cruddy audio card?299
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Posted April 23rd, 2004 19:00
I have the same problem. Check out my post at http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=17571&view=by_date_ascending&page=2
jk79
412 Posts
299
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Posted April 7th, 2004 15:00
I have the 5150 and picky ears. I too noticed a hissing noise while using headphones. As the two systems share the same audio chip (SigmaTel ST-AC9750), this could very well be the same problem. It seems as though either the DAC or amplifier circuit in these chips is rather noisy. Dells drivers seem to artificially boost the gain in these chips to drive the built in speakers adequately at higher volumes. I've found that replacing the Dell Sigmatel Driver with the Windows supplied generic Intel AC'97 driver lowers the gain so that the noise level is lower, however, the built in speakers will not be able to acheive volumes as loud as with the Dell drivers.
JK