Is my laptop haunted?

A week ago, my laptop (Toshiba, 3 years old, Soundmax Integrated Audio)
speakers started crackling really loud for no apparent reason (I hadn't
installed anything new). For example:
http://h1.ripway.com/cheesemon/brokencomputer.mp3

It only happened when I did something audio-related, like listen to
music, watch a video, or even during a windows alert sound. It began
at random intervals, and continued for variable lengths of time after
audio was stopped. It also occurred when I listened through my
headphones. Unsure if it's related, but I had a BSOD recently
involving smwdm.sys which is a Soundmax file.

So far, I've tried the following . .

1. Turned the O/S volume control to half.
2. Deleted a conflicting sound device.
3. Updated the sound drivers.
4. Updated the bios.
5. Opened up my laptop -- speaker cable connections are fine
6. Did a full virus scan
7. Defragged my harddrive
8. Used system restore to rollback my computer two weeks
9. Reversed the rollback

Only #9 showed improvement, but only for a day. Now the crackle is
back after I had another BSOD episode. It's also gotten worse in that
it would sometimes start as soon as I put my hands on the keyboard, and
stop when I leave the room.

Is my computer haunted? Or is there anything else I could do to try to
fix this?

Thanks in advance!
Kevin

kevlovescheese@yahoo.ca wrote:
> A week ago, my laptop (Toshiba, 3 years old, Soundmax Integrated
> Audio) speakers started crackling really loud for no apparent reason
> (I hadn't installed anything new). For example:
> http://h1.ripway.com/cheesemon/brokencomputer.mp3
>
> It only happened when I did something audio-related, like listen to
> music, watch a video, or even during a windows alert sound. It began
> at random intervals, and continued for variable lengths of time after
> audio was stopped. It also occurred when I listened through my
> headphones. Unsure if it's related, but I had a BSOD recently
> involving smwdm.sys which is a Soundmax file.
>
> So far, I've tried the following . .
>
> 1. Turned the O/S volume control to half.
> 2. Deleted a conflicting sound device.
> 3. Updated the sound drivers.
> 4. Updated the bios.
> 5. Opened up my laptop -- speaker cable connections are fine
> 6. Did a full virus scan
> 7. Defragged my harddrive
> 8. Used system restore to rollback my computer two weeks
> 9. Reversed the rollback
>
> Only #9 showed improvement, but only for a day. Now the crackle is
> back after I had another BSOD episode. It's also gotten worse in that
> it would sometimes start as soon as I put my hands on the keyboard,
> and stop when I leave the room.

> Is my computer haunted?

Yes, the battery will catch fire any day now.

> Or is there anything else I could do to try to fix this?

Most likely something has developed a dry joint
or cracked trace, most likely the motherboard.

Nothing you can do software wise will fix that.

> Only #9 showed improvement, but only for a day. Now the crackle is
> back after I had another BSOD episode. It's also gotten worse in that
> it would sometimes start as soon as I put my hands on the keyboard, and
> stop when I leave the room.
>
> Is my computer haunted? Or is there anything else I could do to try to
> fix this?


It's a hardware problem. Most likely a loose connection on one the the audio
jacks, or possibly the microphone.

Does muting the microphone in the Windows mixer help?

Try plugging in your headphones to each of the sound jacks on the laptop and
then wiggle the plug. Does that make the noise happen?

kevlovescheese@yahoo.ca wrote:

> A week ago, my laptop (Toshiba, 3 years old, Soundmax Integrated Audio)
> speakers started crackling really loud for no apparent reason (I hadn't
> installed anything new). For example:
> http://h1.ripway.com/cheesemon/brokencomputer.mp3
>
> It only happened when I did something audio-related, like listen to
> music, watch a video, or even during a windows alert sound. It began
> at random intervals, and continued for variable lengths of time after
> audio was stopped. It also occurred when I listened through my
> headphones. Unsure if it's related, but I had a BSOD recently
> involving smwdm.sys which is a Soundmax file.
>
> So far, I've tried the following . .
>
> 1. Turned the O/S volume control to half.
> 2. Deleted a conflicting sound device.
> 3. Updated the sound drivers.
> 4. Updated the bios.
> 5. Opened up my laptop -- speaker cable connections are fine
> 6. Did a full virus scan
> 7. Defragged my harddrive
> 8. Used system restore to rollback my computer two weeks
> 9. Reversed the rollback
>
> Only #9 showed improvement, but only for a day. Now the crackle is
> back after I had another BSOD episode. It's also gotten worse in that
> it would sometimes start as soon as I put my hands on the keyboard, and
> stop when I leave the room.
>
> Is my computer haunted? Or is there anything else I could do to try to
> fix this?
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Kevin

Its a hardware problem, a bad connection somewhere. If turning the
hardware vol ctrl down helps, set your software vol ctrl to max and
turn down the hardware one, this may at least reduce it, depending on
where in the circuit the problem is.

Otherwise you can either fix it, live with it, or uninstall the sound
system. Its also possible plugging in external active speakers may
bypass the problem,


NT