Thinkpads Forum

Hey folks,

Been a lurker for some time, but I have a question now about my x200t that's just baffling me completely.

My x200t recently has taken to generating a "popping" noise on its speakers at seemingly arbitrary intervals... it does so in both the BIOS and in a fully booted OS.

I have tried the following:
I disconnected the internal speakers and popped it on the ultrabase -- the popping comes through the ultrabase speakers.
I reseated the I/O ribbon on both sides of the connection.
Muting the sound card doesn't seem to affect the condition.
Using the headphone port, the popping is not sent out via the headphones, but does continue to emit from whatever internal speakers are connected.

I thought that maybe the I/O board needs replacement.

Past history:
This machine had to have its fan assembly replaced because the fan died/started stalling. I had an acquaintance's facility do the repair; I can't remember if the issue immediately coincided with this -- but considering the fan would stall and temps would go above safe limits, it may just be coincidental that post-repair the I/O board is acting up.


Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Hi J,

When I hear about computers, audio and popping noises my first thought is something is not synchronizing.
Maybe some part of the signal chain is not getting the correct signal.
This is a common issue with external audio interfaces, though less likely with internal audio systems.

I suggest checking that a standard CD recorded at 44.1/16 is playing properly, and see if any software/hardware is somehow set to some other format.

Good health, Weogo

LiveEdge dot net

I thought that at first, but the fact that the popping occurs while in the BIOS doesn't seem to suggest any kind of driver issue, but perhaps SMC/EC could be involved.

In fact, disabling the audio device in Windows or Linux doesn't stop the issue at all; it continues to pop -- the only way I was able to get it to stop was physically disconnecting the internal speakers from the I/O breakout board.

Then, when I connect the ultra base it starts popping from those speakers.

I tend to believe there's some kind of interference on the I/O breakout board or the ribbon cable between it and the motherboard... but I was hoping someone here had past experience with a similar issue.

Sorry to necro my own thread, but for the benefit of anyone reaching here via search engine: replacing the I/O card solved the issue; and I noticed that the shielding was not attached to the copper pads near the screw holes any more. This could potentially cause grounding issues which would lead to this.