Lenovo T61 : Problem with speaker making static noise

[wesleyfraser]

Hi Guys, I hope someone can help.

I am having problems with the sound on my laptop, the sound was working fine last night and when it came out of hibernation today the speakers are making a loud scratch/static noise, when I put the audio on mute it is quiet.

I am running windows xp sp2

I have tried reinstalling the sound max software and audio drivers. Can anyone please help me?

Thanks in advance

 

[useragent]

whats on your desk apart from the laptop?

 

[wesleyfraser]

It's sitting on my lap... At the moment.

 

[useragent]

well that wipes out magnetic interference from the possible reasons....

you'll have to open it up and give all your connections a good wiggle. its most probably a hardware issue.

 

[HavocXphere]

You tried a proper restart yet? i.e. not a laptop hibernation style shutdown.

Easiest way to eliminate driver issues would probably be to find a linux live-CD boot from that and see if it does the same thing. (ps live CDs don't remove your windows+data if you just boot from it and don't install).

 

[wesleyfraser]

The laptop is still under warranty so I dont think I should open the laptop just yet. I have a GOs operating system at work so I will give it a try tomorrow. I have restarted, shutdown and still now luck.

 

[.Froot.]

I had a sound issue and I did the following:
Went to the actual drivers of the sound card (control panel, sound), speaker<properties> , properties (again), drivers->update drivers. If this does not work, do a driver roll-back and then (if still not working), update. This should work.

 

[wesleyfraser]

I have tried to do the rollback but it says that there is no drivers to rollback to

 

[nihilist]

Does this happen with headphones, too?

 

[wesleyfraser]

Does this happen with headphones, too?

Yip

 

[nihilist]

I see you posted on Notebookreview's forums and someone suggested updating the soundmax drivers.

I have a Thinkpad T61, too and I don't have this issue, the driver package I am using for XP is version 5.10.1.5520 - also, you can check that your CD volume/line-in/mic is disabled, have you tried that?

Apart from your sound issue, how are you finding your T61 to be?

Yip

 

[wesleyfraser]

I am really enjoying the laptop. Well I have tried removing the drivers and reinstalling them, I guess the problem is a little worse now seeing as the sound card is not being picked up in the device manager anymore and I have restarted several times.

 

[nihilist]

You haven't disabled the modem in the BIOS have you? Because they are paired together and if I remember correctly, the soundcard will not be detected if the modem is disabled.

 

[wesleyfraser]

I dont think so, but I will go check the BIOS just to make sure

 

[nihilist]

a) Does it sound scratchy in the BIOS?
b) in Windows, does it still sound bad when the master volume is muted?
c) is there still static when it's on batteries?

 

[wesleyfraser]

a) How do I check it out in the bios?
b) If I muted there was silence.
c) Not sure cant check at the moment

 

[nihilist]

a) if there's was static in the BIOS then you could rule that it is a hardware issue with the minijack/bad earthing/emi
b) if there is no static when its muted, then it sounds like a driver issue, or you've got your microphone output enabled/midi/etc;

 

[wesleyfraser]

With regards to (a) to you mean do I hear the sound while the pc is starting up?

 

[nihilist]

no, by a) I meant in the BIOS, if you left the laptop idling at the BIOS setup, do you hear any static.

 

[wesleyfraser]

I was in the bios for a while and I had no static. But I still cant pick up the sound card when I get into windows. Looks like a trip to my closest Lenovo centre.