Annoying pops and crackles
Mar 20, 2008 at 3:12 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 18

tomek

500+ Head-Fier
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Posts
730
Likes
11
Hey guys,

when I listen to music on my HP laptop with Conexant HD Audio, it often sounds like a bowl of rice krispies.

does anyone else have this problem? I've tried different media players, but it seems that the problem is with Vista or the soundcard, because I get it regardless of the player.

is there a solution to this? would buying a PCMCIA or USB sound card improve the quality?
 
Mar 20, 2008 at 6:24 AM Post #3 of 18
try disabling your wireless card. For some reason, it interferes a whole lot with the sound.
I have a very similar laptop with Conexant HD Audio as well. I used to run my speakers out of the headphone jack. I would highly recommend upgrading to a USB Dac. It's a pretty big difference.
 
Mar 20, 2008 at 12:48 PM Post #4 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by misterheadphones /img/forum/go_quote.gif
try disabling your wireless card. For some reason, it interferes a whole lot with the sound.
I have a very similar laptop with Conexant HD Audio as well. I used to run my speakers out of the headphone jack. I would highly recommend upgrading to a USB Dac. It's a pretty big difference.



Yep, those wireless cards are a big problem when it comes to causing dropouts due to hogging the PCI bus and injecting interference into the analog output of the sound device in notebooks.
 
Mar 20, 2008 at 7:14 PM Post #6 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif
laptop soundcards i've used are bad in general.


that seems to be pretty universal! Yeah, I'd move for a USB DAC as an initial upgrade.
 
Mar 21, 2008 at 4:26 PM Post #8 of 18
I've had the same problem on TWO laptops. I have a USB DAC, and the crackling and popping comes through digital only, not the analog chipset (although it's pretty noisy for being inside a laptop). I thought maybe it was Vista causing this, since I first noticed the noise when using it, but it does it on XP too. Vista almost seemed to "infect" my whole system, since the first time I had XP (I upgraded to Vista) I didn't hear it. For me, when my graphics card is running at normal clock speed, it's really bad whenever I scroll up and down a web page, or if I switch application windows. When I underclock it, though, it almost totally goes away. This is obviously an unacceptable problem, and so is the wireless adapter problems other people have. I don't know of any other way of fixing it than to buy a new computer that's known to not have any problems. and I hope that a cheap soundcard solution will work well for you, though.
 
Mar 22, 2008 at 2:13 AM Post #9 of 18
i downloaded that program and it seems like the computer is fine, except for spikes once in a while which I can't seem to get rid of.

so you were saying that the pops and crackles didn't go away with the addition of a soundcard?

i know there is a separate issue of the buzz and hissing from the power supply etc, that seems to go away when i run the computer off the battery. That I can deal with. It's the pops and crackles that I can't stand, and turning off the WiFi has reduced them greatly, but not completely.

I just can't believe that a thousand dollar computer can't do something as simple as play mp3s....
 
Mar 22, 2008 at 2:30 AM Post #10 of 18
I have an HP dv9000 and used to have the same problem when it was still new..
Try going to HP Customer Care local language selection , choose country/language, find your laptop, and download & install the updated audio drivers.
 
Mar 22, 2008 at 2:42 AM Post #11 of 18
yeah, sorry, i should have clarified. it is an HP dv9000 series laptop. DV9417ca to be exact.

funny thing is, I don't remember having this problem from the onset. when i got the computer new i don't remember the crackles and pops. This seems to be a recent occurrence after updating all my drivers.

However, i was generally listening to it over speakers in my home while i was busy doing other things. only now that I've started listening actively do I really hear it.

I was thinking about actually reinstalling vista and seeing if it helps.
 
Mar 22, 2008 at 3:30 AM Post #12 of 18
This is for a Sony laptop, but it might help:
Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion - View Single Post - Skipping with SZ (AU) Laptops

You should also try rolling back your audio drivers before you reinstall Vista.
HP Notebook PCs - Resolving No Sound or Audio Problems

I hope this helps
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Mar 24, 2008 at 3:16 AM Post #15 of 18
I also didn't notice this crackling and popping when I first bought the laptop. However it does it all the time now no matter what sound card I use or what OS. It's pretty annoying.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top