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Computer noise coming through Firewire?

post #1 of 9
7/13/07 at 10:47pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys,
I have got a Dell 9300 that I've been using for recording for a while. I've recently gotten a new external audio interface, a Presonus Firestudio that I connect to the Firewire port on the 9300. I'm getting digital noise coming through the Firestudio from the 9300 through the Firewire port. The noise, ie. chirping, clicking and popping, happens when you move your mouse or resize a window.

I've tried running the interface into the computer using a PCMCIA to FW adapter and running it into the cardbus slot. That has reduced the noise some, but has not eliminated it.

I don't remember getting this noise always, but I certainly have been dealing with it for a while. The noise isn't recorded so I can record just fine, it's just noisy when I'm monitoring. Any thoughts?

Unfortunately I'm not near my recording setup and won't be anytime soon. My wife and I are away from home for the next couple of months, but I thought I'd post this to see if anyone had any thoughts.

Thx.
Jonathan
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post #2 of 9
7/14/07 at 9:28pm
I've found there's quite a bit of noise in the 9300, i.e. the speakers 'pop' when a pcmcia device is removed. I also get that clicking when I move the window.

I'm guessing because the motherboard is built to a budget, they haven't bothered to deal with noise.

Your using the wrong computer if you want to do professional digital recording.
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post #3 of 9
7/15/07 at 9:45pm
I've had this problem before: try running "dxdiag" from the Run prompt and disabling hardware acceleration notch by notch. You might also want to try a different set of drivers, or tweaking around with your audio software's settings in terms of speaker output, s-pdif, etc.
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post #4 of 9
9/5/07 at 9:03pm
I've spent the last few months testing and testing and just finally figured out last night that the buzz from my rig was because of the AC adapter. My setup is as follows:

Dell 5100 > M-Audio FW410 or Presonus Firepod Audio Output > Sound System

and whenever the AC adapter is plugged in it's the most horrific crackling and popping, but unplug it and everything's pristine and clean.

So...is it a problem with every Dell AC Adapter like this, or is there something else I can try. I've spent too much money beefing up this computer for audio production to let this little adapter ruin everything!!

Any tips?
thanks
--bp
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post #5 of 9
9/5/07 at 9:06pm
try this out:
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread204056.html
it worked fine for me
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post #6 of 9
9/5/07 at 10:48pm
I'll have to try that, but I'm not holding out much hope. These machines really weren't made with pristine audio in mind. Even USB and Firewire exhibit noisy audio. At first I thought it was my AV reciever as its fairly old and could easily be picking up electromagnetic interference, but I removed it and isolated the sound to the notebook itself. It may be related to the Intel Speedstep feature so another couple of things to try are: set power profile to Deskto/Always On, which should make the processor run at its maximum instead of stepping down while idle. Another thing is to enable "Send HLT command" in the utility RMClock, this fixed the electronic buzzing noise eminating from the CPU in 9300s and XPS Gen2's that you could actually hear coming from under the keyboard area, not just over speakers or audio outs.

So try all three fixes and see if the noise is reduced or eliminated.
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post #7 of 9
9/6/07 at 2:44am
Well the RMClock fix worked for reducing the high pitched squealing noise but there are still annoying lower pitched sounds and popping related to the CPU.
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post #8 of 9
9/6/07 at 8:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jabulani_jonny View Post
The noise, ie. chirping, clicking and popping, happens when you move your mouse or resize a window.
I think some of us are talking about two different noises. I've never had the physical noise of CPU, fans, HD or whatever...but when I've got a FireWire audio device plugged in, I get all the same digital line noise that jonny mentioned above. Here's where I am thanks to the Ableton Live forums: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=71860 it's a problem with the grounding on the Dell AC Adapter I've got two 3-prong adapter cables...on one I broke off the ground prong, on the other I just used one of those 3 to 2 prong plug adapters - both had the same effect...the gross, buzzing digital line chirping squealing whistling clicking cracking popping noise that was by mouse and window movements was gone, but there was still some lower buzz I'm trying to get rid of. I also added an APC power conditioner / surge supressor / noise filter box - it helped slightly but didn't actually solve the problem, or even help enough to matter. Keep me posted if you have other discoveries --bp
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post #9 of 9
9/6/07 at 3:30pm
Thanks, the 3-prong to 2-prong adapter fixed my CPU related noises. Still have that low constant buzz like you mentioned but thats MUCH more manageable and only manifests itself if I crank the volume on my receiver, whereas the computer noises were much louder and more annoying. It's plugged into a surge protector that is also grounded so my machine should be safe, I hope.
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