Sound problem with W520

[flurry]

I've had the W520 for several weeks now and the speakers worked just fine, thru reboots, shutdowns, and sleeps. Until yesterday.... After several sleep/wake cycles while traveling, the speakers now just "click" no matter what sound is played. I attached some headphones, and the sound from them is just fine.I have rebooted and tried everything I know to do with no success at fixing the problem.

It appears that the speakers in the machine are broken or something. Has anyone experienced this problem, and if so fixed it?

[RodneyK]

My speakers have never worked that well. I have to turn it up all the way to hear it. They tell me "That is just the way it is!"
They had to come out and replace the Mic because it would not pick up any sound and the tech damaged the screen cover.

[byrontex]

I am having the same problem with my Lenovo W520 ThinkPad.  I purchased it in February.  Everything has been working fine up until about a week ago.  Now, whenever a sound is supposed to be heard from the speakers, I get only a "click" out of the left speaker.  Changing the volume control does not affect the volume of the "click". 

I have used both Windows Update and the ThinkVantage "Lenovo Updates and Drivers" utility to look for updated Conexant sound drivers.  I have tried disabling the Conexant sound driver in Device Manager, rebooting, and then re-enabling the sound driver in Device Manager.  No change.

USB-attached headphones (w/built-in mic) continue to work.

It does seem that the speakers are broken, however it is strange that the "click" only comes out of one speaker.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be?

Thanks.

[harrisb]

Numerous reports of the speaker wires being shorted against the thermal fan assembly. Remove the keyboard and look to see if the insulation of the wires have been melted/abraded. Reroute the wire and apply insulating medium (tape, etc). Reassemble the unit. The speakers should now work.

Here's a previous post with the link on what you might find:

http://www.samlin.com/david/W520SpeakerFailure/

[xtsubarublazin]

^ wow, I think Lenovo should recall if the average consumer is expected to do that.

[byrontex]

Thanks for replay and advice. Have printed off Dr Y's response and working on the fix now.

[ColonelONeill]

I should probably inspect my speaker cables... They still work fine for now.

[harrisb]

Either the left speaker wire needs better insulation or the wire insulation should be made from Teflon which has a high heat resistance. Of course, rerouting the wire in the first place would have avoided all of this. I looked at my unit which was manufactured in 6/11 and the wires are routed differently.