Crackling Sound

Alsen87 · 10-13-2009, 02:35 PM

Hi, I've got an old Dell Dimension 4500 and everything is working fine except the sound. A few months ago, my speakers suddenly started to give off annoying crackling, raspy sounds at random (often even when there's nothing sound related playing). This would usually go on for a good 15-20 minutes and finally die down, to only come back within the next 1-2 hours.

My first thought was that my speakers (logitech x-140) were simply blown or the audio chord was damaged and figured I just needed to replace them. But then I noticed how the speakers work perfectly fine when connected to everything else (Mp3 players, others computers, etc.). So I tried connect a different set of speakers to the Dell and it was having the same problems.

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computer audio, so I'm just trying to figure out what's causing this problem. My only guess so far was that something might be wrong with the sound card. Do I need to replace it or is there something else that's wrong?

Dogg · 10-16-2009, 11:21 AM

Typically two causes for this type of problem. Interference (see the Sticky at the top of the forum) or faulty hardware. Hardware issues would be speakers, wiring, or sound card. You're already eliminated the first two. If you have a spare PCI slot in your PC, you can get a cheap Sound Blaster or equivalent ($5-10 / unless you have a spare onhand) to use to test.

10-13-2009, 02:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
Alsen87 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 1 OS: Windows XP	Crackling Sound Hi, I've got an old Dell Dimension 4500 and everything is working fine except the sound. A few months ago, my speakers suddenly started to give off annoying crackling, raspy sounds at random (often even when there's nothing sound related playing). This would usually go on for a good 15-20 minutes and finally die down, to only come back within the next 1-2 hours. My first thought was that my speakers (logitech x-140) were simply blown or the audio chord was damaged and figured I just needed to replace them. But then I noticed how the speakers work perfectly fine when connected to everything else (Mp3 players, others computers, etc.). So I tried connect a different set of speakers to the Dell and it was having the same problems. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computer audio, so I'm just trying to figure out what's causing this problem. My only guess so far was that something might be wrong with the sound card. Do I need to replace it or is there something else that's wrong?

10-16-2009, 11:21 AM	#2 (permalink)
Dogg Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 1,965 OS: XP sp3	Re: Crackling Sound Typically two causes for this type of problem. Interference (see the Sticky at the top of the forum) or faulty hardware. Hardware issues would be speakers, wiring, or sound card. You're already eliminated the first two. If you have a spare PCI slot in your PC, you can get a cheap Sound Blaster or equivalent ($5-10 / unless you have a spare onhand) to use to test. __________________ Google is your friend !