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Does everyone have headphone hum?

post #1 of 64
8/20/04 at 6:36pm
Thread Starter 
I have a brand new 9100 that I am loving except for a very noisy hum that eminates through whatever is plugged into the headphone jack. The humming corresponds directly to the internal fan's spin speed. If I plug headphones into the jack, I get a very noticable hum even when all volumes are muted. I'm assuming the hum is caused by some sort of interferance with the fans. If the fans are going full speed, the pitch and volume of the hum gets high and loud enough to be heard over music playing at moderate volumes.

I'm wondering if this is a problem with my computer or if this is an inherent problem with all 9100/XPS laptops. Does everyone else have headphone hum?
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post #2 of 64
8/20/04 at 6:49pm
not I, and I use the headphones at work all the time as well as sometimes at home
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post #3 of 64
8/20/04 at 7:14pm
I have had similar problem with my VCR-to-Amplifier. None for my 9100.
Might have some grounding problems of your fan or AC outlet. Could be a poor connection wiring or a bad plug. Check to make sure the phone jack is plugged all-the-way in.
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post #4 of 64
8/20/04 at 10:46pm
I have the problem. Been there since day 1. Most of the time I can just tune it out, especially during a Doom 3 session.
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post #5 of 64
8/20/04 at 10:48pm
try reinstalling your audio drivers or updating them to the latest ones
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post #6 of 64
8/20/04 at 10:50pm
I cant hear them on my cheap sony mdr ex's but I can definetly hear them on my Shure E3's but I try not to le tit bother me since Im usually tuning in my music or movie to kill the hum. This hum does not exist on my 8600
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post #7 of 64
8/21/04 at 12:10am
Thread Starter 
I have the latest drivers and latest bios version and it doesn't effect the hum in any way. I just tried using 4 different pairs of headphones in the headphone jack and I could only hear the hum clearly through 2 pairs (both being professional studio headphones). My cheap headphones didn't pick up the hum nearly as much due to a reduced frequency range.

I especially notice the hum when playing Doom3 because there are lots of quiet moments and the fans are always on full speed during gameplay. At this point I've emailed Dell support to see what kind of assistance they can give but to be honest, I think that there's a chance everyone may have this problem but may not notice it through the reduced frequency range of cheaper headphones.

Being that I almost constantly use headphones in my studio work, I will be very disappointed if I can't get a clear signal through the laptop's headphone jack. I have a Firewire 410 recording interface that has clear output but I don't want to hook that up every time I listen to a mix.

I'll keep everyone updated as there are also quite a few posts about this problem on the Dell Support Forums and I believe this is pretty widespread.
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post #8 of 64
8/21/04 at 1:13am
If it isn't something that can be taken care of why don't you try an external sound card like a Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX
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post #9 of 64
8/21/04 at 2:45am
i have the hum. i have an external amp i can't hook up because the hum is so bad. on headphones it's not too bad. i sure wish it wasn't there though.
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post #10 of 64
8/21/04 at 9:26am
i use my xps for djing and i had a similiar problem...i read on here somewhere that it has to do with the ground so i just use a power bar with the ground plug removed and no hum....don't remove the ground from your main cord just get a power bar and remove the one from it...try it should work....have fun...HJU
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post #11 of 64
8/21/04 at 10:35am
I have a similar hum on my desktop ...

Im pretty certain its due to the fact the sound card is built-in on the mobo

I get hum + what I call "loading artifacts" on my desktop ...

For exemple , in my studio headphones I hear my CPU load when its real busy ... Must be circuits on the mobo distributing low yet palpable voltage as a side effect of high CPU energy consumption
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post #12 of 64
8/21/04 at 10:51am
I think Noodle hit it. the "hum" is electronic noise due to the lack of proper grounding. Likely the solder point on the motherboard isn't solid.
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post #13 of 64
8/25/04 at 6:03am
Thread Starter 
I have isolated the humming problem and will contact Dell tomorrow to see what they say. Meanwhile I am interested to see if anyone else can reproduce the problem I have. Here are easy steps:

1. Plug some headphones into the headphone jack and put them on.
2. Turn the volume all the way down.
3. Go into Ik8fanGUI
4. Enable Direct Fan Control and set your fan speed to "high".
5. Apply the fan speed change.
6. Listen for any change in sound in the headphones between the fan going "high" speed and "off".

If someone can tell me whether they hear hum with the fan on "high" or "slow" but not when "off", that would help me a great deal in determining whether my computer's sound unit is defective and picking up interference from the fan.

Thanks!
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post #14 of 64
8/25/04 at 12:42pm
GreyMatter, I did what you said and I do have a change in the noise, I get interferance when the fans cycle from slow to high then on off I don't hear anything, so your audio isn't defective
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post #15 of 64
8/25/04 at 1:44pm

Yes!!!!

I have the same problem with the hum/buzz. It is very noticable with my Sony MDR-cd580's because they are closed ear headphones.

I called Dell and got this really nice guy, Aaron, from iXPS support and we went through a bunch of stuff (~1hr) trying to find the problem, mostly with volume sliders and microphone settings. Nothing fixed it, so Aaron labeled it as a port failure and last week sent me a new part that consists of the two audio ports and a fan.

I installed it in under 10 min. You can check out what I did on pg 116 of the iXPS manual (not sure if it is the same for 9100). It was actually pretty difficult to get the plastic part on and off b/c it always felt as if I was about to snap it off where it bends. But the install was no problem.

Anyway, I installed the new part and the humm is still there. I called up Aaron and told him about it and asked him if he could get his supervisor to send me one of the external USB sound cards like the Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX and he said that he would see if he could.

It is not that bad in general but when I am playing CS I find the hum drowning out footsteps and for a machine that I bought to use at the Penn State LAN parties, that is a problem.
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post #16 of 64
8/25/04 at 2:09pm

Humming since Day 1

Same thing here. Hum changes in pitch when the fans change speed. Much less noticeable when playing Doom 3, but still there. Almost like the sound of an alternator whine coming through a car stereo.

I've learned to live with it, but if people are getting free Audigy cards because of it, I'm calling Dell up to complain!
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post #17 of 64
8/25/04 at 3:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HumanSmoke
I have the same problem with the hum/buzz. It is very noticable with my Sony MDR-cd580's because they are closed ear headphones.

I called Dell and got this really nice guy, Aaron, from iXPS support and we went through a bunch of stuff (~1hr) trying to find the problem, mostly with volume sliders and microphone settings. Nothing fixed it, so Aaron labeled it as a port failure and last week sent me a new part that consists of the two audio ports and a fan.

I installed it in under 10 min. You can check out what I did on pg 116 of the iXPS manual (not sure if it is the same for 9100). It was actually pretty difficult to get the plastic part on and off b/c it always felt as if I was about to snap it off where it bends. But the install was no problem.

Anyway, I installed the new part and the humm is still there. I called up Aaron and told him about it and asked him if he could get his supervisor to send me one of the external USB sound cards like the Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX and he said that he would see if he could.

It is not that bad in general but when I am playing CS I find the hum drowning out footsteps and for a machine that I bought to use at the Penn State LAN parties, that is a problem.
I have the same headphones and agree, it's very distracting. I actually took apart the whole audio port/fan unit and looked to make sure everything was grounded/connected properly and I couldn't see anything wrong. I think it's just a design flaw on the 9100/XPS architecture, which is a shame, because it completely limits any sort of serious audio editing/monitoring without an external soundcard of some sort. Let me know how it goes with Dell Support. I may be going down the same road as you in the next couple days. I'm really suprised more people haven't complained about this. I guess most people don't have higher quality closed-ear headphones.
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post #18 of 64
8/25/04 at 9:25pm

audigy

Yes, I agree that it is a function of the quality of the headphones and its reproducible audio frequency range that determines if the hum is noticable.

Never the less, the tech rep said that he or his coworkers have not heard of this problem even though it seems to be wide spread (atleast on these forums). This means that, considering that I was speaking with the iXPS tech group, I was one of the first if not the first to address them with this problem.

I can also conclude that no one has been given an Audigy soundcard for this problem. Especially considering I was told that they did not have the authority to do so. And I seriously doubt that a firestorm of calls suddenly complaining about a hum will score you a free external soundcard.
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post #19 of 64
8/26/04 at 3:14am
Omg I just figured out whats making the hum noise... For those of you with this problem please install fangui and with your headphones on with the humming on full annoyance proceed to turn off the both the fans by manually enabling fan control
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post #20 of 64
8/26/04 at 4:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DELL-Machina
Omg I just figured out whats making the hum noise... For those of you with this problem please install fangui and with your headphones on with the humming on full annoyance proceed to turn off the both the fans by manually enabling fan control
Yep, that's essencially what I was trying to say in post 13. Now that you've heard it at full blast, and you know what to listen for, it's going to bother you all the time like it does me.

Out of curiosity, does it happen at all with your 8600?
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