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SigmaTel Audio fan feedback in headphones?!

post #1 of 18
6/13/05 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
Hello!

I've tried playing a game with SONY earphones plugged into the headphone jack (these ones: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...354119-6824440)

...and there is a terrible buzzing from the fans in them! Its definitely the fans because as they speed up the buzzing gets stronger. You can still hear the actual game music/sound but its not worth it with the noise. And I did plug them in properly - in fact the buzzing is fainter if you don't jam the jack all the way in (as is the sound though). The headphones are excellent quality and work very well with my MP3 player, so what is this noise about?! Anyone else experienced it? Is it the crappy sound card? Do I need different ear/headphones?

Thanks!
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post #2 of 18
6/13/05 at 6:39pm
Well I remember there being quite a long discussion on this prob somewhere on this board so maybe try a search for the topic.

U can also try pressing fn+z+r keys which will take u to the fan control setup. Turn 'bios thermal control' to disable and then try turning off each Fan one by one by setting it to '00'. I found that by turning Fan2 off it gets rid of most the noise and I can leave Fan1 and Fan3 on.

If u are playing games etc. where the video card requires a lot of cooling then having certain fans off may be an issue.
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post #3 of 18
6/13/05 at 7:25pm
Try playing the game with the power unplugged. If it's fine then, what you're running into is a ground loop. In that case, the solution is to get an adaptor or extension cord for the system that only has 2 plugs instead of 3.

Although as I recall the ground loop affected the microphone, not the regular playback... but worth checking at any rate.
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post #4 of 18
6/13/05 at 7:37pm
Well if it is the issue Kevda explained then make sure to adjust your powerplay settings under your ATI control panel. Otherwise when u unplug the power ur video card may not be running at its full potential.
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post #5 of 18
6/13/05 at 8:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by brownstone
Well if it is the issue Kevda explained then make sure to adjust your powerplay settings under your ATI control panel. Otherwise when u unplug the power ur video card may not be running at its full potential.
??? What does removing the ground from the power supply have to do with your graphics card?
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post #6 of 18
6/13/05 at 9:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KevDA
??? What does removing the ground from the power supply have to do with your graphics card?
I was just refering to the bit u said 'Try playing the game with the power unplugged'. With the power unplugged his game could run like s*** hence another problem that he may want a solution for. Its all good!
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post #7 of 18
6/14/05 at 9:40am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for pointing out the other threads, I've found exactly the one I need. Seems like this is a common problem. I can't really see how I can not use a three-prong plug here in the UK, so the best solutions I see are:

1. Turtle Beach Audio Advantage USB (supposed to be a "surround system" for your headphones, basically a headphone jack to USB adapter - eliminates all humming). Only available from ebay now, £30, $25.
2. Audigy 2ZS Notebook PCMCIA card. £70, $130.
3. Speakers like Creative I-trigue L3500, £75, $46(!!!!!!!!! from amazon.com, you lucky americans. Still, you're 10000km closer to George Bush than I am The remote on these speakers that sits on your desk has a headphone jack, and the speakers themselves connect through the SPDIF thingy that comes with the I9100. Might as well get the speakers instead of the audio card, I can only afford one.
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post #8 of 18
6/14/05 at 12:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by brownstone
I was just refering to the bit u said 'Try playing the game with the power unplugged'. With the power unplugged his game could run like s*** hence another problem that he may want a solution for. Its all good!
Ah, gotcha. The "run on battery" idea was just to determine if that affected the problem - never intended that as a permanent solution
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post #9 of 18
6/14/05 at 12:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dell-boy
I can't really see how I can not use a three-prong plug here in the UK...
Should work. I travelled to europe for a while (Switzerland, not the UK, but the voltages are the same even if the wall plugs are different) and ran with an adaptor between my north american cord and the Swiss wall plug. That adaptor was only 2 prong - worked fine, no damage done to anything. (Why the 2 prong adaptor? Simply because I have never seen a 3 prong adaptor anywhere for using different nationalities power sockets... Even the UK adaptor I have just has a plastic post for the ground plug.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dell-boy
2. Audigy 2ZS Notebook PCMCIA card. £70, $130.
Since the problem is in the electrical circuit through the system, any audio solution that is powered by the laptop will have the same problem. It's not a Sigmatel audio issue per se, it's a Dell laptop power handling issue.
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post #10 of 18
6/14/05 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
Hmmm, I have a three-prong UK plug on my I9100 and a three-prong UK socket in the wall - I would need 2 international adaptors to connect them! E.g. UK-euro and euro-UK. I'm sure I'd lose the benefits somewhere along the way. Someone suggested removing the grounding pin in the plug, but I don't like the idea.

Is it reall true that a PCMCIA audio card will be affected by the same problem? Wouldn't it be completely unconnected to the circuit fault that causes the SigmalTel output to hum?

I like the idea of the speakers the most anyway.
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post #11 of 18
6/14/05 at 2:18pm
Do they sell 2 prong extension cords in the UK? I know you can get them easily over here, but not sure about your side of the pond. If they do, that would be the simplest approach - get a short 2 prong extension cord and use that to plug in with.

The PCMCIA is connected because the problem is in the power distribution of the the laptop. Anything that runs off the same power supply would be affected.
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post #12 of 18
6/14/05 at 4:20pm
Thread Starter 
Nope, all plugs over here are three-pronged, although I have jammed European two-pronged ones into our three-hole socket (but that was for a crappy radio!)

Well, at least people have reported that the humming is not present if they listen to their headphones via the SPDIF connection. Just need to get a good 2.1 speaker system.
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post #13 of 18
6/14/05 at 9:36pm
I had the same problem. I had the fansreplaced 4 times and the motherboard/soundcard replaced 3 times. I also sent my lappy into Dell to have them look at it. Nothing fixed it. I wish I could be more help, but honestly I think I's just a flaw with the 9100. Every set of headphones I tried had the noise, but the "in the ear" kind and the better quality headphones made it more noticeable.
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post #14 of 18
6/14/05 at 11:52pm
Damn KevDA we have the exact same system... lol...

I had dell do the same by replacing my fans 4 times and 2 motherboards. I just decided to get the 2ZS notebook instead of continuing fighting the onboard problems.
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post #15 of 18
6/15/05 at 7:38am
Thread Starter 
Whackamac - did getting the Audigy notebook audio card fix it for you? If you look above, KevDa seems to think that the electric fault with the I9100 that causes the humming will not be bypasssed with this card.
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post #16 of 18
6/15/05 at 3:42pm
You can also try the USB 2 version of the Audigy 2 NX. That's what I'm using and I get NO headphone hum (Perhaps because it has it's own power supply).

I've been very happy with it, and from what I've seen, It's cheeper than a PCMCIA card.
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post #17 of 18
6/16/05 at 4:05pm
I got the Echo Indigo PCMCIA card, and that fixed all the humming issues. The card is only in stereo, by the way (which is all I need since no room for surround and I use headphones most of the time), so if you're a surround freak go with Audigy (if they have resolved their clicking problems). The Echo card apparently takes very little processing power according to reviews, another reason why I got it.

The onboard speakers don't work through the Echo card; if I want onboard sound I have to "eject" the card. The computer will automatically revert to onboard. Takes all of 30 seconds to do, so no big deal!
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post #18 of 18
6/16/05 at 5:29pm
Cheap headphones tend to pick up the feedback. I have used the Sony MDR-EX71SL
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...onics&n=507846

You need a "Closed type earphone structure with deep bass sound"

Sony also have the MDR-EX81LP
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...onics&n=507846

The same thing happened with a mp3 player i have. The headphones that came with it would "screech" when changing songs.
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