Annoying sounds

J

jnewbiggin

Member
Just got my vortex 2.....

Plugging in speakers is producing some seriously annoying hisses and squeaks, as well as interference when the mouse is used/scrolling. I've tried this with a separate USB sound-card adaptor also with the same results. The speakers and cable are fine on other devices and old laptop.... Only decent sound I can get is via headphones for some reason.


Also, the power brick/adaptor has started hissing and squaking too. A bit disappointed after waiting 3 weeks and spending £1500.

The fingerprint reader also cannot be found. Help?
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
I don't think so. Works ok with headphones, but speakers are getting interference via the jack and via a separate usb connected soundcard....
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
After some messing around, it appears the power adaptor is the cause of interference. Without the laptop plugged in my sound quality is perfect, as soon as I plug it in and connect the adaptor to the laptop I'm getting static and interference, as well as actualy hissing and squeaks from the block itself.....anybody had similar issues?
 
Corfate

Corfate

Author Level
Probably worth sending an email, with this link to your other vid showing clearly the problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMwrx7gGfZs&feature=related

I think, like Vanthus said, ring up PCS, and talk to them. Ideally, what i think will happen is they will send you out a new power charger, so you can see if that works correctly. If it doesn't, there may be a more serious problem, possibly with the battery in your Laptop, or something else. But, don't worry, just give them a ring, and if they don't suggest it, ask for a power cable RMA :)
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
Actually, I've been trying to get some resolution with them since 16th December, and due to multiple failing to reply or being misinformed, I've already wasted a day at home waiting for a delivery that didn't arrive. I have resisted the temptation to complain via the forums and have been dealing with PCS via email.

Thanks for the feedback though, hoping it is just the charger or battery and not some kind of chassis fault!
 
4

4dsounds

New member
Thanks for posting this. I was about to buy one of their laptops but i've been hessitant for this exact reason. Some laptops just have it...i think its partly due to poor grouding. I don't know if a better quality PSU can be bought?
My 8 year old Dell doesn't produce this noise, some newer Dells do, Apple Macs are properlly grounded and shielded and don't cause this.
Which i knew how to fix this kind of issue!
PC Specicialist just lost a customer which sucks as the price was great.
 
Corfate

Corfate

Author Level
4dsounds said:
Thanks for posting this. I was about to buy one of their laptops but i've been hessitant for this exact reason. Some laptops just have it...i think its partly due to poor grouding. I don't know if a better quality PSU can be bought?
My 8 year old Dell doesn't produce this noise, some newer Dells do, Apple Macs are properlly grounded and shielded and don't cause this.
Which i knew how to fix this kind of issue!
PC Specicialist just lost a customer which sucks as the price was great.
Click to expand...

You can't just assume that most Laptops PCS sell have this problem.. Nothing is 100% perfect, on some you will get failures, on others they will be perfectly fine.

Email is usually the slowest way to get a reply, so you can ring them up, which would be better. It's a low cost phone line i believe :)
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
Some people don't always have the time to call during their open hours, and that has been the case for me recently..

Sorry I've discouraged you from buying with PCS. The actual Laptop seems fine so far, just the charger noise which is becoming torture. After a long complaint letter to PCS I received a mediocre reply and half hearted apology. I will be speaking to them over the phone tomorrow, so no results on this fault so far. I'll be keen to post any news when I have a new charger to show the causes of the fault for everyone else's curiosity...
 
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P

PokerFace

Banned
Sorry to hear about your troubles with this. I would be interested to hear the end result. I'm sure that PCS will help you resolve this matter soon.
 
NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
if you headset works fine its more than likely a problem with the speakers power transformer out of curiosity are both laptop and speaker power blocks plugged into the same multiplug extension? sounds weird but as a test you could try plugging one into a long extesion and taking that to a seperate power ring in the house e.g plug the laptop in downstairs and then use the extension to take power from upstairs to the speakers, sounds like a faf but if this solves the problem a high quality surge protection device should sort the problem for you, hope this helps.
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
I've played around with different plugs and sockets etc, however I do seem to keep coming back to the charger being the issue so far - as it itself is making rather odd noises regardless of having speakers connected or not. If I receive a new charger and the static remains then at least that cause is ruled out and I can move on to investigating other possibilities, but the fact that at the moment it sounds like something that I wouldn't allow to pass a PAT is what is making me feel this is the root of the issue.
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
I've just actually tried specifically what you suggested with no change. I left the speakers plugged in to their own socket, and ran a longer jack cable into another room where the laptop was plugged in alone, still getting the noise from the charger and interference through the speakers... I really doubt this to be my speakers causing interference, it's either going to be a fault with the charger or maybe something to do with the laptop chassis itself. Either way, not what you expect for paying around £1500! :)
 
J

jnewbiggin

Member
Right, here's the solution guys.

It turns out this was 2 separate problems.

Charger:-
It appears the charger I was provided out of the box was faulty, as the new one I've spent almost a month back and forth with PCS to get delivered is functioning silently without the weird sounds.


Sound interference:-
After trying the new charger and getting the same sound problems, it could only be concluded the charger wasn't the cause even if it was faulty. After some research and deciding it was noise from the laptop chassis and caused by ground loop interference, I've installed a Ground Loop Idolater between the speaker photo sockets and the laptop audio cable - problem now seems to be solved. These can be picked up from electronics/audio stores fairly cheaply.

Hopefully PCS support can take this knowledge away with them and save a different customer all the frustration I've suffered.
 
R

Rehash

Member
I have this very same problem, in addition to the firewire chipset being incompatible with Mackie and Focusrite audio interfaces!

I will have to buy an AIT and hope, as in your case, it solves the problem. I will also have to flog my 3-month-old Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP and buy a USB interface.

Absolutely gutted to the pit of my stomach. PCS haven't even apologised, let alone offer a solution, to the firewire chipset issue. Wish I'd have gone for a model with expresscard slots.

:(
 
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