w520 bad sound quality and audio glitches with current conexant driver

[muddyshooz]

Following up to my previous post, I've tried switching graphics modes, I've disconnected from the network, I've undocked, I've run on battery vs a/c.   Basically, every permutation of possibilities.  The glitchiness seems to occur regardless of whether the system is relatively sedate, whether I'm playing files from the local drive, reading from a physical CD, streaming, whatever.  But it seems to go in phases.  Interestingly, if I keep Task Manager open while I'm playing (and sorted by CPU usage, highest at the top), I see the glitches occur more often when heavier processes undergo a priority switch, "rise to the top" (e.g. firefox, rhapsody, eclipse, etc.).  I suppose it could be a combination of CPU usage and disk I/O, memory paging, etc.  Note that this occurs even while using my spiffy external SoundBlaster USB soundcard.

[PeterTWJ]

Hi all

How about trying this? :
1. Downgrade to older Intel LAN driver:
 http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=ob-960...

2. Update Intel Chipset driver: (Download and Install) V9.3
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=816&DwnldID=20775&ProductFamily=Chipse...

 

Or this (if the above version does not work) V9.2
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=816&DwnldID=20019&ProductFamily=Chipse...

%C2%AE+Chipset+Software+Installation+Utility&lang=eng

It occurs on other machines too:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/DPC-latency-audio-mouse-skip-and-stutter-on...

Heard from a few that this resolves their sound, jerk, lag, etc. issues. Hope it works for you all.

Have a nice day! 

Peter
W520 (4284-A99)

Does someone’s post help you? Give them kudos as a reward, as they will do better to improve | Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future 

=====================================

Sound Enthusiast and Enhancement (Post comments, share mixes, etc.)

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-Discussion/Dolby-Home-Theater-v4-for-most-Lenovo-Laptops/td-p/62... 

[muddyshooz]

DANG! Session timed out before I could submit my post. So, in a nutshell:

1) tried updating the intel chipset drivers first (no noticeable difference).

2) downgraded lan driver to 11.12.38 . At first, I thought I was still having issues but it was hard to tell since our office was experiencing intermittent network outages anyway. However, I gave it another shot this morning. I streamed an entire album down in Rhapsody ... drum roll ... without a single glitch.

So, the jury isn't quite "out" on the issue, but certainly peeking their heads into the courtroom. For now, the downgrade of the lan driver seems to be doing the trick. If I experience any other weirdness, I'll pop in again.

Thanks, PeterTWJ!

[muddyshooz]

Sorry.  I meant to say that I downgraded the driver *from* 11.12.38 to 11.12.36.  Sorry if this caused any confusion.

[kishy]

That driver, the HP-sourced one, definitely helps.

However - would you folks be so kind as to fire up your media player of choice, start playing a song, run the DPC latency checker and then hold down the mute button on the keyboard?

I'm seeing DPC latency spikes as high as 426201us when holding it, and individual presses of the mute button trigger a spike of up to 4000us. Individual presses, of course, mute the sound so you don't hear a glitch, but holding it, it sounds like a badly scratched CD.

[ColonelONeill]

For me, holding it gets 8000ms, as do individual presses.

Holding the button down has the effect of toggling mute really really fast, and auditively, does exactly that, so I don't think that's an issue.

[kishy]

For me there's a distinct chirping/skipping sound, plus the occasional 'grinding' or 'electrical interference' noise combined with screen freezing, so it's more than just toggling mute.

In any event, just pointing out another way to force DPC freakouts.

Me, I've been listening to music for the better part of two days now and shuffling ISO images back and forth across my wired LAN while running Prime95 and occasionally playing Portal all together...had very severe glitching with the newest driver, and since switching to the older HP-sourced version, so far no glitching that I haven't caused myself with the mute button.

Interesting to note that the support rep I spoke to on the phone, after consulting with nearby coworkers, concluded it's a system board defect requiring replacement...which raises the question: is there anyone who has the latest drivers, uses their Ethernet connection often, and has never experienced these spikes?

[ColonelONeill]

Interesting, mine just sounds as if you were to hit the mute button really fast with no other distortion.

I have my ethernet disabled as I'm on wifi exclusively though. Would like a wired connection for BF3 though.

[marmuw520]

thanks a lot guys, this really seems to work! I got an error message after installing the HP drivers, saying something went wrong and asked me if I want to reinstall with the same settings... I just ignored this and within the last 24 hours I haven't hab a glitch / latency issue at all.

but it is really sad that lenovo didn't care about this massive issue and the community had to come up with a solution. shame on you lenovo! I paid over 2000 € for my W520 and some more money on accessories and thought I'd get a decent machine

[w520owner4now]

I haven't had such luck after following the above steps, however, it seems to work by uninstalling the Conexant driver and using the Windows driver instead.  Only thing is, the headphone output level is attenuated, similar to when Conexant Smart Audio is limiting the headphone level.  Is there a way to avoid this?