T61 and prior T series ThinkPad Laptops

[#1]

Firstly, apologies if this has been posted / resolved before.   I've been searching for a solution for the last three hours without success.

As the subject suggests, audio will "stutter" - a slight pause / cut out / break up)

The problem only occurs when the volume goes above a certain level.  It does not show itself when using headphones, or, when playing at low volume.

Using Winamp and WMP for testing, with a known good MP3 [Green Day, Bullet In A Bible - Live At Milton Keynes (2005), Brain Stew (Live)].

I'm using a T61p, 6460-6XG. 

Dual boot, Windows XP SP3 & Windows Vista Ultimate SP1.  Both O/S's show the same problem.

Both O/S's are fresh installs with what I would consider a bare bones install with no unnecessary software installed and fully up-to-date from "Microsoft update" and "Lenovo update" .

I've read suggestions elsewhere that the "Intel® 8256x Ethernet Controllers" driver caused the problem.  Upgraded to latest version, problem not resolved.

Likewise the "Enable audio enhancements" checkbox has not solved the problem.

I've previously upgraded the warranty to next day onsite and had one system board replacement to resolve a crashing 570M, so, before I call them out AGAIN and go through the pain barrier of convincing the person at the end of the phone that it's a not a software problem, does anyone know of a solution?

TIA.

[#2]

I had a similar problem and had to roll back my video drivers to 15685... I think the latest on Lenovo's site is 17597 and it cause the stuttering on my system.  I've been trying to find a solution myself.

Thanks,

Adam

[#3]

Thanks for the suggestion Adam, I'll give this a try.

Not sure if this is significant or not, I plugged the T61p into a two channel stereo last night.  The sound was appalling, almost like it was being played underwater.

It was like the was some form of DSP taking place that was attempting to remove singing, or, like DD5.1 with the front & centre speakers disabled.

Does anyone at IBM / Lenovo have a suggestion as to what the problem could be?

[#4]

I have the same 'stuttering' when playing loud audio through the onboard speakers. A USB set of speakers does not have this issue. Rolling back the video drivers didn't work for me, but perhaps I didn't roll them back far enough!

[#5]

I've tried rolling back the video drivers - It did not solve the problem.

Can anyone at Lenovo offer a solution before I place a support call?

[#6]

Earlier this year, I tried calling this in as a support issue, but the step they reached was that I should bring in the laptop to a repair centre, and I didn't have the time to be without it. Plus, I'm firmly convinced that it's not a hardware issue (but could do with a way to conclusively demonstrate this). I would say, let's go for it, make the support call - I am under warranty until November, so I'll make my call this week.

[#7]

Good luck, let me know how you get on and I will place my support call tomorrow - I will have free time then.

I upgraded my warranty and have next day on site repair, it's the three hours going through the pain barrier of support checking existing configuration and moaning about dual boot not being supported.

[#8]

Sigh,

Call logged (A18HFJR)

They are sending me the Lenovo product recovery disks for Windows Vista

If I can recreate the problem using their install set the call will be progressed further.

So, a fresh install of the O/S and an update via Lenovo System Update is not good enough.  Great.

[#9]

I had the same problem with the audio stuttering on the T61p (Windows XP Service Pack 2).

As Adam suggested, I rolled back the NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M graphics driver to an older version and the problem went away.

A discussion of my driver versions are here:

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=16642

Regards,

Nathan

[#10]

Let me for warn you. If you have configured your unit to dual boot an OS....Not only are you no longer using the preloaded image that came on the unit, nor will you get any type of technical support for the OS from lenovo. You are suing a customer image. What they will have you do is run PC Doctor on your unit. You will need to burn the bootable cd version from the lenovo website. It will tell you if there is any hardware "Failing". If it passes. Your hardware is fine and thats all your warranty supoprt will cover.