Strange buzzing sound

[Kite]

So, I've had my laptop (an Advent Modena) for... about a year and a half now. Something that's been there for a while now is this weird buzzing sound when I plug in my headphones. Not sure how long it's been there, but it has been for a very long time, and recently I've been noticing it more an it's been getting on my nerves.

Through my headphones (not the speakers strangely) I can hear consistent white noise being played, it's like a constant drone. Whenever I press a key on my keyboard, it then turns into what I can only describe as the sound of a cricket (I can still hear white noise in the background, but without the droning). And when I move the mouse through the touchpad (a USB mouse is fine) a sound comes through which I guess is similar to that of the old dial-up connection sound.

Anyone have any clues? I have no idea what it is. I know it's not the headphones because it's been exactly the same sounds through every pair of earphones/headphones I've had and any other computer, it's fine.

[Vosur Aekira]

If you're using your standard two-jack setup for a headset (one jack for headphones, the other jack for microphone), then look at where you're plugging into. There's several possibilities that you might be having:

1: Plugging into the wrong jack. This usually gives you no sound in most cases though.

2: The jack you're plugged into is dirty. This will give distorted sounds quite often.

3: The drivers for your audio-card may be corrupted somehow. If you need to fix this, consult the maker of your laptop to find the right drivers.

If you're using a USB headset, 2 and 3 of the above are your better bets.

In either case, give a check to see what you're plugged next to. Some jacks/ports receive interference very strongly.

[anoni]

Pretty much what's above ^

but also it could be your headphones themselves.
Try using different headphones or the same headphones for different devices and see if it's a problem with the laptop or a problem with the headphones

[legolyle]

Does the sound go away when the laptop is unplugged from its power adapter? (just running on battery).
generally, in my experience, this "noise" is caused by interference in not properly shielded power cables, and such. (or the audio cabling within the laptop isn't properly shielded). Unfortunately, if that's the case-its much harder to fix.
However, if it wasn't there when you first got the laptop, I'd take the above advice and start checking other things first xD

[Thagrahn]

One possibility that hasn't been mentioned is if the headphone jack is near the CD-Rom or hard drive, the spinning drive can create a white noise effect usually only head through headphones as they are more prone to white noise problems.

[maggintons]

it happens to my headphones when im playing tf2 i have no idea why


also buzzes when playing music too >_<

[anoni]

@Maggintons So pretty much in buzzes anytime you hear a loud noise on the computer?

If so, then I'd pin that on quality of ear phones

[Kite]

Pretty much what's above ^

but also it could be your headphones themselves.
Try using different headphones or the same headphones for different devices and see if it's a problem with the laptop or a problem with the headphones

Already tried that, as stated in the OP

As for all other options, I'll look into those and get back to you when I can, thanks for the tips

Post Merge: February 28, 2012, 02:21:23 PMJust tried the two suggestions.

The white noise doesn't go away when I unplug the adapter - in fact, it's actually lead me to find that, if the brightness is turned down, the white noise gets worse.

I tried ejecting the disk drive  and leaving it out, that did nothing either.

I blew into the jack to try and clear it out - no luck, and it looks clean as far as I can tell.

Yeah... Think I'll take it to the shop and find out what's going on

[legolyle]

so, im going to take a shot in the dark here, but the fact you say it gets worse when the brightness is turned up immediatly says to me: unshielded wires/increased interference


your laptop screen uses (if its not lit hy LEDs-yours likely isnt) CFL bulbs to light the screen, and uses a small built in high frequency/voltage dc to ac power inverter.
when you turn up the brightness...it sounds like its causing interference...back to the unshielded thing again.

I would take it to a shop, and mention that^^
maybe your LCD inverter is on its last legs? theyd know more I dont know enough.