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New Info on Headphone Hummmmm..... - Page 3

post #41 of 55
1/22/05 at 2:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KGB420
I was reluctant to call tech support for a while... I have been using my XPS so much the past couple of months that the thought of being without it was practically unbearable


However, it recently developed another issue with the sound. In addition to the hummmm and standby/fan issue, the volume is now very quiet. I'd guesstimate that it is about 40% as loud as it used to be, with everything cranked to the max. Got on the phone with Dell... pointed the tech to this thread... and he claimed he hadn't heard anything about a mobo revision. (Very disconcerting...aargh) Anyway, he offered to send me a new fan assembly/soundcard to see if that fixes the issue. I told him that I was willing to give it a shot. (Might as well be nice.) The parts should show up in a day or two, so I'll post again to let you guys know how it went.
Please do.
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post #42 of 55
1/24/05 at 10:43pm

How to get rid of the hummmm

All you have to do is get a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter or use a 2 prong ext cord and use that. If you bypass the ground on the adapter the hummm goes away.
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post #43 of 55
1/25/05 at 8:41pm

Ok, but...

Even if that is the case... as far as I understand, grounding is necessary to eliminate electrostatic discharge which can destroy sensitive equipment and disrupt power supplies. Any voltage differences between individual electronic units can damage or destroy valuable equipment. There is no way I'm plugging a multi-thousand dollar laptop into anything but a fully grounded surge protector, if I can possibly help it. The hummmm is a design flaw, and it's Dell's responsibility to correct it.

DHL tried delivering the parts today, when I was out.
I'm going to call them back and arrange for a better time.
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post #44 of 55
1/25/05 at 11:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KGB420
Even if that is the case... as far as I understand, grounding is necessary to eliminate electrostatic discharge which can destroy sensitive equipment and disrupt power supplies. Any voltage differences between individual electronic units can damage or destroy valuable equipment. There is no way I'm plugging a multi-thousand dollar laptop into anything but a fully grounded surge protector, if I can possibly help it. The hummmm is a design flaw, and it's Dell's responsibility to correct it.

DHL tried delivering the parts today, when I was out.
I'm going to call them back and arrange for a better time.
Your absolutally right. Simply put... They put the ground wire there for a reason. They wouldn't have if it wasn't necessary.
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post #45 of 55
1/26/05 at 4:15am
Thread Starter 
You dont want to hear the horror stories I have about people removing the ground from their systems... just wait for that lighning storm to come.... lol
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post #46 of 55
1/26/05 at 9:09pm
So does anyone have a good way to fix this?
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post #47 of 55
1/26/05 at 9:14pm
Why don't you guys just get that SB PCMCIA sound card, that'll get rid of the hmmm
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post #48 of 55
1/26/05 at 9:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fractal
Why don't you guys just get that SB PCMCIA sound card, that'll get rid of the hmmm
$$$$$$$$, dont have any, and it is dell's fault anyway. I don't know about these other guys but i paid for a super expensive laptop and warranty, it better work perfectly with no obnoxious hummmms.
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post #49 of 55
1/27/05 at 12:40am

Common sense?

Simply put... I am shocked by some of you!

Remove part of the power supply that was put there to keep it from blowing up? Go out of pocket and buy a new part? Please.

If you bought a brand new Porche, and the speakers popped and crackled when you tried to play some tunes, what would you do? Would you follow someone's suggestion that you buy a whole new set of secondary speakers? Or would you think to yourself, "I already have a set of factory speakers, and this is a brand new car under warranty. I should not have to pay extra for this to work properly." ?

This is a pretty high-end laptop. My thirteen year old PowerBook Duo 230 does not go BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ when I plug headphones into it, so why in the world should I be content with a 2 month old laptop that sounds like crap?

If Dell was at a total loss, and offered me a free soundcard, I might take them up on it. Only because I'm not using the PCMCIA slot for anything else at the moment. But other than that... let's not pretend that it's ok for our nice new laptops to imitate beehives.
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post #50 of 55
1/27/05 at 9:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonehead848
$$$$$$$$, dont have any, and it is dell's fault anyway. I don't know about these other guys but i paid for a super expensive laptop and warranty, it better work perfectly with no obnoxious hummmms.
Well Dell should have put in a SB chip in instead of that crappy SigmaTel.
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post #51 of 55
1/27/05 at 9:23pm
I agree totally. I just got my XPS two weeks ago and it has the head phone humming problem. Maybe I should wait till the next revision of the XPS comes out and see if they will replace it with that like they did for whackamac.
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post #52 of 55
2/2/05 at 6:59am
Nice, finally an end to that buzz. My headphones do not buzz, but when I put the lappy on my Logitech Z-560's, the buzz is there and it is extremely annoying.

Only problem is that we have to send our laptops into dell. That'll take what, 10 years to get back.

Edit:

Just looked at the date of the original post. Looks like my laptop is definitely in the affected range:

System Type:Inspiron XPS
Ship Date:9/15/2004 --> original post = 9/13/04
Dell IBU:Americas
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post #53 of 55
2/7/05 at 11:23pm
OK guys I emailed dell, they got me a new motherboard, revision a05 and my headphones no longer hmmm, I do have a problem in that i cant get my comp to recognize my 9800, buy other than that, It works great
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post #54 of 55
2/8/05 at 12:18am
I think the XPS is really let down but the sigmatel audio. Its very poor. I didnt notice it till i recently got my plantronics headphones. On speakers its not too bad, but on headphones you can hear all the crappy crackles and hum from the fan.

JAmes
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post #55 of 55
2/8/05 at 1:49am
Seriously, why they didn't put an Audigy chipset on there is beyond me. Could it really have been that hard?! It should have been an upgrade so if it actually costs more, then those who don't care can get the standard Sigmatel.

I suppose their reasoning is that since it's a laptop with laptop speakers we're not going to notice the high quality sound of the Audigy. What they didn't think of is that some of us connect our laptops to external speakers, and almost all of us use headphones.
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