Thinkpads Forum

Every so often, the audio card seems to go wacky on my in my T400.

I start hearing static, a distorted signal, the signal breaking up, as if the sound card (or speaker connections, possibly?) is having difficulties.

I wanted to check for a driver problem, so I rebooted to Ubuntu, and the problem wasn't there. I then rebooted to Windows, and it was gone there too.

I may have jostled the laptop while doing this, however. I *seem* to recall this happening in Ubuntu before, too, which would point to a hardware problem.

So far, tho, I can't tell if it is:

1. A driver issue
2. Bad internal connection/bad speakers/etc.
3. Semi-broken audio card
4. Electrical condition the audio card gets into (static build up, for instance)

I don't want to go through the hassle of sending it in to Lenovo (I need it very much for work), and it's only annoying, not detrimental to the computer as a whole, but I really would love to know what could be causing this, and if anyone else has seen this ever.

- Tim

Try to renew your driver

seanax wrote:Try to renew your driver

Some other folks have suggested this; however, being a programmer and having written device drivers myself, I think it would be highly unlikely that a bad driver install would cause a driver that "kind of" worked... why do you suggest this?

- Tim

Now that more people have these machines, I'm wondering if anyone's seeing this problem? I've tried EVERYTHING, and it still happens. I'm thinking it's a bad audio chipset or something.

- Tim

A bad driver install can cause the audio to mess up only when it tries to execute the problematic part of its code. This would explain an intermittent problem, but if the problem occurs in Ubuntu too, then it indicates a component in the audio hardware isn't working right (most likely loose, static is caused by slight resistance between component and motherboard.) Your best bet, since nobody else seems to have this issue, is lenovo. If you'd like to keep debugging, see if it occurs with both internal and external speakers, and maybe even try a dock output if you have one. Also, just because of my curiosity, see if it changes depending on the actions you take (I had a static out of my dock that seemed to be linked to mouse movements, but I think it was a bad cable and my overtired imagination.)

I've been having this problem since the last BIOS upgrade. Very annoying and particularly noticeable when shutting down the machine.

I did the latest BIOS update. ALSA works like a charm. Running Linux 2.6.28.

Well, I had a Lenovo guy come and swap out the motherboards. Probably a bit extreme, given the problem (I hate to think that perhaps I got a bad refurb board in the bargain), but I'll report back as to if I still have the problem... I have to use the computer a lot for it to happen... lots of sleep/wake cycles, etc.

If it happens again, I'll be especially annoyed for having swapped out the motherboard for no reason. This Thinkpad's my baby and workhorse, so I like it to be as perfect as I can make it.

- Tim

I have the same issue. Others have it too, just not too many folks. It's reproducable for me by putting the machine on standby, and then waking it up. It's bad from then on, until i start Mediamonkey (or close it and start it again). Very strange.