New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

LOUD hissing in headphones

post #1 of 42
11/17/05 at 1:44am
Thread Starter 
YIKES! For the first time since I got my notebook, I plugged in a pair of headphones that I know are working, and I get a terrible, very loud hissing through the headphones. What's causing this?

Here's what I've tried:
  • Ensuring that I am plugged into the headphone jack on the right side.
  • Ensured that volume levels were appropriate
  • Muted the audio through XP.
  • Muted the audio through Fn-F3.
  • Changed audio input source.
  • Ensured that proper audio drivers were installed.
  • Ensured that sound does come through the headphones (but VERY loud).
  • Disabled IrDA port (that removed some squeeking).

I'm guessing that it's some sort of "Blast your eardrums" option (or similar) that's checkmarked somewhere. I even hear the hard drive a little through the headphones.

Any ideas? This hiss is unbareable because it's even louder than standard system noises would be.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 42
11/17/05 at 1:47am
Thread Starter 
Oh. A couple more things.
  • No matter how I change the volume, the hiss is unaffected. I can move the volume up or down through Windows or the keyboard, but nothing affects the hiss.
  • The hiss does not come through the internal speakers.
  • I've played with the settings in Audio Manager, but nothing seems to affect the hiss.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 42
11/17/05 at 2:41am
working fine for me
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 42
11/17/05 at 3:08am
Check here: http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=115969
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 42
11/17/05 at 3:29am
theres an odd hissing in my speakers.... i have them plugged into the headphone jack.... the volume of the hiss is dependent on the volume on the software control.... so i keep that very low and my speakers high....
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 42
11/17/05 at 4:30am
hmmm.... new development... i just discovered that pressing fn+f1 makes it go away..... so, uh what is fn+f1 ?
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 42
11/17/05 at 1:26pm
If you downloaded the new bios I believe that is what Sager is using to turn off the touch-pad. Ahh yes here it is: http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=116386
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 42
11/17/05 at 5:54pm
Thread Starter 
I just tried some new things with this. A coworker has some really nice, ultra-high quality headphones that he plugged in, and the hiss was even worse than my cheap headphones. Then I did a little test of my own. I kept the headphones plugged in and I restarted the computer into the BIOS settings. As I feared, the hiss was still present.

So it's not a software issue. It's 100% hardware-related. But Sager is replacing my 5720 anyway due to the heatsink fiasco.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 42
11/17/05 at 6:44pm
Did you try disabling the Irda? Lotta people said this seems to have fixed the problem.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 42
11/17/05 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Those were reports of weird little noises, which I did hear and already knew to disable IrDA. In fact, I already said that I did:

Quote:
  • Disabled IrDA port (that removed some squeeking).
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 42
11/17/05 at 6:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJosephDesign
Those were reports of weird little noises, which I did hear and already knew to disable IrDA. In fact, I already said that I did:
with all these problems you've been having, either talk to luke and see if he knows anything about it, or send it back for a new unit. my .02
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 42
11/17/05 at 6:58pm
Thread Starter 
Several times, I've already pointed out that I am getting a replacement already from Sager, but I was trying to determine if this problem was software- or hardware-related.

After my last test with getting into the CMOS, I've confirmed that the problem is hardware-related. I'll let Sager know anyway.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 42
11/17/05 at 8:15pm
Nvm, I am an idiot
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 42
11/22/05 at 11:28pm
Thread Starter 
WOW. I can't believe that Sager would allow this, unless I'm just the victom of two bad computers.

I just got my replacement 5720 (after the heatsink-tape fiasco) and was extremely disappointed in Sager when I discovered that this notebook also has the very loud hiss through its headphone jack. Is the notebook really designed so poorly that the headphone jack has more hissing than a bad radio?

I can plug headphones into any of the other audio jacks and there is no hiss. And I can take those same headphones and plug them into any audio device, brand new or fifteen years old, and there isn't this much static. Just for fun, I even plugged into my ultra-cheap old Gateway 2000 laptop computer, and there was no hiss.

This is totally unacceptable. Being on the second PC, I would expect the problem to have gone away, but it is here in full force.

I'll record an audio sample of the hiss. Imagine the CPU fan blowing right against your hear; that's how loud the hiss is.

Again, this is NOT a software issue but an issue with poorly design hardware.

At least with this replacement 5720, I don't hear the hard drive through the headphones.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 42
11/22/05 at 11:50pm
Thread Starter 
BTW, here's something else weird. Through the audio software, I can tell the computer to use one of the other audio jacks as a headphone-out jack (but it doesn't disable the speakers), and I get no hiss, but good volume.

For this reason alone, I would consider a different computer. Unless I just got the only two notebooks that do this, you should be able to hear the same loud hiss. Only if you have really small earphones might you not hear it, but any sort of headphones (and I've tried about five pairs) will clearly showcase the hiss for you.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 42
11/22/05 at 11:56pm
Thread Starter 
Also, I've noticed poor sound quality through the headphone jack. I head clicks and pops all of the time with sudden sound effects.

What's crazy in all of this is that the Realtek HD Audio Manager that came with the computer supposedly has the ability to change what plugs into each jack (headphones, side speakers, microphone, etc.), but it won't let me change the headphone jack, and it shows icons of two speakers with "L R."
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 42
11/23/05 at 12:01am
Thread Starter 
I just showed this to someone else and they described the hiss perfectly: "It sounds like a blank cassette played at maximum volume."
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 42
11/23/05 at 7:34am
yah... that sounds about the same as mine...


pressing fn+f1 makes it much less noticable, however the sound quality and volume go down....


what is the deal with the hiss? how do i change the jack to be a different one?
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 42
11/23/05 at 8:43am
Thread Starter 
What each jack does can be controlled through Realtek HD Audio Manager, but plugging headphones into any jack other than the green one won't turn off the internal speakers. I played with this for quite some time and couldn't get the interal speakers off but the headphones on when using a different jack.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 42
11/23/05 at 10:46pm
Thread Starter 
Here’s my theory. Sager way over-amplified the headphone jack. Audio coming from it is much louder than audio from the other jacks or from the speakers themselves. My reason for this thinking is that I have to turn the system volume down to 1% in order to not hurt my ears from the loud volume, but up to 50% for anything to be audible through the internal speakers.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Sager & Clevo Notebooks