# Crackling speakers when power plugged in?



## freerider (Mar 21, 2006)

Ok heres the deal, i bought some speakers about a year ago until today i hadnt used them. i know my brother had used them and they were fine on his desktop pc. Now, wehen i plug it into my laptop, whenever the power pack is plugged into my laptop the speakers will crackle and hiss. as soon as i take the power pack off my laptop, the speakers are fine :S

whats up with this? too much power?
and is there anyway i can tone the power down so i wont effect it?

my computer stats are in my profile, as for the speakers i dont know anything about them, sorry.:4-dontkno


----------



## agentRed (Nov 7, 2006)

Are you using a generic or otherwise non-original AC Wall Adapter for your laptop? I had a similar problem with my IBM laptop...I used a generic power adapter and it caused popping and whatnot in the sound that came from the laptop.

If you're using the original power adapter and other hardware, the only thing I see could be wrong is poor grounding within the laptop itself. I'm not going to tell you to dismantle your laptop...or your AC adapter...so yeah...

One other thing though, could be fairly important, might not be. Anyway, does the AC adapter have a ground on the part that plugs into the wall? If at one point it did and now it doesn't, that could also be your problem. Additionally, there is no way to 'tone down' the power, unfortunately, without modifying hardware and that will void warranties and...well yeah.


----------



## freerider (Mar 21, 2006)

ii just dont understand it what so ever, no grounding, never had, its just so odd :S
nothing i can do is there?


----------



## LexSucio (Dec 14, 2007)

I just came across the same problem today. Well, sort of. A few months ago, I set up my TV, cable box, and laptop to run audio through a 'high end' mixer and then out to two large studio quality speakers. That soundcard eventually quit on me, so I was just running the TV, and occasionally my iPod. About two weeks ago, I rearranged my room, and when it came time to hook everything back, there was brain-melting humm/hisss. I stayed up till 4am that night trying to fix it, when I realized that when I unplugged the power to the TV, it disappeared. After a while, I figured out a working configuration where the devices are plugged into a different jacks. Good to go for a week or two, and then when I sent my old HP POS5000 in for repair, my mother loaned me her HPdv9000 Vista laptop. I mainly use the computer for music and production, so I plugged it into the mixer immediately; it was the best sound quality I've ever heard. Then last night, I didn't have the audio hooked up, and I was just deleting all the b.s. on my moms pc (she had over 100 processes, more than hallf running at full rate(?) in the background. In my robot-like methodology, I ended up erasing the software and drivers for the modem. The stickler is that the laptop uses some of sort of combination (Conexant High Definition Audio & HDAUDIO Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP). When I finished "cleaning", I went to plug the jack back in, and there was the instant feedback/hissing. I tried for another few hours last night, before I gave up and yanked the AC adapter out of the laptop. Instantly, the hiss stopped. So there it was, 
power in = hissing, power out =none, but no matter where I plugged in the power ( and I only left the 2 speakers, mixer, and pc power hooked up) there was feedback. I've tried to reinstall a few different drivers; I don't know if that makes things worse). There weirdest thing is that if I just slightly hold the 1/8in cable tip against the audio jack, the feedback turns into a completely audible radio station. Can anyone figure this out? Maybe a way to alter the frequencies of the laptop? Any help will do; thanks in advance.


----------



## endersblade (Dec 13, 2007)

Lex,
Try reading the first post in the sound forum...it talks about tying something into your cables to fix your exact problem. I've never had the problem myself, so I have no idea if it works :laugh:


----------



## LexSucio (Dec 14, 2007)

Yeah, I saw that. It just seems pretty unconventional. There has to be a way around it, but if all else fails...


----------



## LexSucio (Dec 14, 2007)

Alright, after unplugging everything in my room and checking for the hissss and crackle, I found that the problem remained. I think they talk about it somewhere else on this sight, but the problem was a "ground loop". Basically, every cable you have connected (including audio cables) act as part of one big circuit, so when you have different components plugged into different places, you're introducing the circuit to multiple grounds, which is a big no-no in this type of circuitry. So.....the easiest way to resolve this would be to use a power strip, and have ALL your devices plugged into it, so all are using the same ground. NOW, I tried this, and it still didn't work. The problem is the AC power cable of laptops acts as a transformer/converter (the klunky box in the middle. That's why if you go to another country, you don't need a converter, just an adapter to fit the wall jack.) This cable introduces a completely different and more complicated circuit component, resulting in the static/hisss/crackle. I fixed it by using a little adapter on the end of the laptop power cord that has a three-prong input and two- prong output, which is dirt cheap. Problem solved, but don't do the same with any other device in your setup. Removing the ground of the laptop is safe and insignificant, due to its aforementioned variance. Good luck.


----------

