Noisey 8890 soundcard - Page 2

gee, I think some people are just a bit too sensitive about slight background noise... The 8890 wasn't designed for audiophile work- it was designed for heavy gamers that don't move around much, who attention is not on the audio, but on the game at hand. Of course they didn't pay that much attention to the audio...

Try disconnecting the ground by using a three prong to two prong adapter for the wall outlet. It will cost less than $1.00. If this solves your problem but you are worried about safety I would suggest buying an Isolation transformer. Plug the Isolation transformer into the wall outlet then your Sager Power Pack into that. You are now 100% Isolated from the wall power outlet source and as safe as running from the internal battery. An Isolation transformer is bulky and may range from $20.00 to $120.00 but if this solves your problem and you are worried about safety than this is one route to go. Of course check with Sager for a second opinion and make sure that you talk to someone that specializes with this sort of issue. But running without a ground wire is usually safe with no safety issues but I have neither your laptop on my workbench nor the Power Pack Schematic so I can't make that decision. So an Isolation Transformer is the absolute safest way to go but In my opinion call up a local repair shop and get a second opinion about simply running without the ground with an adapter like I suggested above. Call up Sager and make sure that they approve and that it will not void your warranty. An improper ground is usually more dangerous than no ground. Look at most Power Packs for other items in your house, they are almost all two pronged but I would recommend that you always use a surge suppressor.

The problems people are describing with audio-noise are multi-faceted problems with a different solution for each. But there should be NO PROBLEMS arising from the Power Pack. I have built so many from scratch with my own Schematics and all the problems mentioned over the past several months are ones that should have been solved before they left the factory. For instant buzzing when using the Power Pack is also many times a 60 Hertz (Hairtz) buzz arising from an insufficient Electrolytic Filter Capacitor. It works similar to a mini storage battery at the output of the Power Pack so you get pure Filtered Direct Current supplied to the Laptop. But when you are dealing with a High-Current draw piece of equipment like a Sager then the Laptop is consuming power from the Power Pack faster than the output Electrolytic Capacitor can Filter and store it. Very common and an easy fix, crack open Power Pack and increase the microfarad value of the Cap. I feel helpless because this is I field that I do have quite a bit of knowledge in but the fixes many times have to be internal, so It is something that I am able to do on my equipment but it would void the Warranty if you were to do such a thing as to add an internal R-F Filter or beef-up the Electrolytic Capacitor for a 60 Hertz buzz fix. If I come up with anything that might help fix other peoples problems I will let you know. Soo many people here have been nice enough to share their knowledge with me that I happy when I can return the favor once in a while. I'm just sorry that I can't be of very much more help here.

Later
KP

I recently was messing around with my 8886 with my headset on. As is sometimes the case, there was the clicking and buzzing. Sometimes fiddling with the mike plug will help with that. This time, for some reason, some of the volume settings were off so I was fiddling around with them, muting some, moving the sliders up and down to see what would happen. When I muted the SP/DIV, the buzzing, crackling and popping disappeared. Whoa! Absolute quiet. Total silence. This makes sense too, after I thought about it, the same plugs are used for the mike in, headphones out as for the SP/DIV. Why they don't give the sound output its own set of plugs is beyond me. Well, why they don't get rid of the serial, parallel and PS/2 plugs as well as the floppy is beyond me too. Or why they duplicated existing facilities with the MP3/6in1 reader port or a lot of other questions. They should just ask me.

Anyway, I disgress as usual. So try turning off the SP/DIV and see if it doesn't get rid of all the noise.

MY 8890 has a buzzin noise from the headphones port whenever i plug in the power cord in. When I unplug it the sound goes away. I want to know how to fix this becouse it is very noticable when i use external speakers or my PA.

This is a MoBo issue caused by crosstalk on the V+ bus. How does Digigram compare to Indigo?