I have a problem with LOTS of noise when I have my laptop hooked up to my receiver. At first I thought it was a problem with my reciever but nothing else I have plugged in has static so maybe its a laptop problem. I am completly out of ideas.
I posted on avsforum the following (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=494244)
I have what seems to be a power problem that is really throwing me for a loop (pun intended). I don't know much about ground loops or anything so I'll just have to say what I have tried and hopefully someone has some answers.
I've narrowed the problem down to my receiver and laptop.
Receiver HK AVR 8000
Laptop: Dell Insprion 9100
Connection: Via Soundblaster PCMCIA card 5 channel out connected to the 6 channel analog in on the reciever
Problem: annoying static sound ever constant when the laptop is plugged in (not hiss or humm). Switch laptop to battery (or just unplug laptop power) and instantly all static is gone no matter how loud I turn up the laptop or the receiver. There is no static or anything via headphones plugged into the analog out.
Notes: I noticed that none of my home theater components are grounded (all just use a 2 prong cable). I swapped out the big fat power cable the receiver came with for a 3 prong one from my computer (thinner but grounded) and the volume of the static went down by approx 1/3. Tried grounding the receiver directly (via wire to the case) and sound got about 1.5 as loud as originally.
My monster power strip thing does have the green light on for "ground OK" (someone asked me that). Previously I was using the 6 channel analog in for DVD Audio via my DVD player (panasonic XP50) and never had static (the call of playing half life 2 on the projector is strong enough to make me disconnect the dvd audio for now). I've also tried isolating the cable so none run next to each other.
Volume of static is dependant only on volume of receiver. The sound of the static varies greatly depending on things such as accessing the hard drive, fan speed on the laptop, moving the mouse etc... pretty much any activity on the laptop will change the sound of the static (higher pitch louder etc). Again 0 static when laptop is not plugged in.
edit: Just tried using the onboard sound rather than the soundblaster card and the static sounded the same only honestly about 5x louder
I hope someone has some ideas - I'm all out.
I posted on avsforum the following (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=494244)
I have what seems to be a power problem that is really throwing me for a loop (pun intended). I don't know much about ground loops or anything so I'll just have to say what I have tried and hopefully someone has some answers.
I've narrowed the problem down to my receiver and laptop.
Receiver HK AVR 8000
Laptop: Dell Insprion 9100
Connection: Via Soundblaster PCMCIA card 5 channel out connected to the 6 channel analog in on the reciever
Problem: annoying static sound ever constant when the laptop is plugged in (not hiss or humm). Switch laptop to battery (or just unplug laptop power) and instantly all static is gone no matter how loud I turn up the laptop or the receiver. There is no static or anything via headphones plugged into the analog out.
Notes: I noticed that none of my home theater components are grounded (all just use a 2 prong cable). I swapped out the big fat power cable the receiver came with for a 3 prong one from my computer (thinner but grounded) and the volume of the static went down by approx 1/3. Tried grounding the receiver directly (via wire to the case) and sound got about 1.5 as loud as originally.
My monster power strip thing does have the green light on for "ground OK" (someone asked me that). Previously I was using the 6 channel analog in for DVD Audio via my DVD player (panasonic XP50) and never had static (the call of playing half life 2 on the projector is strong enough to make me disconnect the dvd audio for now). I've also tried isolating the cable so none run next to each other.
Volume of static is dependant only on volume of receiver. The sound of the static varies greatly depending on things such as accessing the hard drive, fan speed on the laptop, moving the mouse etc... pretty much any activity on the laptop will change the sound of the static (higher pitch louder etc). Again 0 static when laptop is not plugged in.
edit: Just tried using the onboard sound rather than the soundblaster card and the static sounded the same only honestly about 5x louder
I hope someone has some ideas - I'm all out.
