Tip : Increasing the Dell Studio 15 series laptop’s sound

Dude u r gr8. I had given up all hopes to ever watch any movie listen to any song on my Dell Studio 15 with its internal speakers. Can’t imagine the the so called brilliant Fu@#!ng minds in Dell came up with a driver to screw the output from a perfectly good speakers. Vista High Definition Drivers Rock. Thanks a ton man.

I’m not a computer geek but would love to uninstall the IDT driver and follow what you’ve recommended…if somebody would help me understand just what I have to do.

Thanks.

Just go to Control Panel -> click on Add or Remove Programs -> uninstall IDT driver , Audigy software( if you bought it) and any other audio drivers one by one. It may ask you to reboot the computer but select will do it later.

Once all three are uninstalled reboot and it will automatically install the Vista High Definition Drivers. Hope it helps.

I verified that I have the IDT driver, but it doesn’t show up in the control panel to remove. No drivers do. Any suggestions?

try this:

Control Panel ->click Hardware and Sound -> then go Device Manager
look the “Sound, video and game controllers” you will see there under it the IDT right click on it and then unstall. and then restart.

if doesn’t update automatically the driver, there’s another option.
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Device Manager ->right click in Sound, Video and game controller ->choose “scan for hardware changes” then automatically will update your driver to “High Definition Driver”.

Hope it will help.

Thanks for that, it definately did increase the volume level quite considerably. The only problem is it brings the speakers up to a level where they distort, yes i can turn them back down, but that would be completely pointless due to the fact I would like a louder output.
I’d have to say I’m most dissapointed with the speakers on the studio.

O.K. uninstalled and restarted. Now no audio at all. I saw that High Definition Audio Driver was installed. So, what’s up???

hi,
I did the uninstall and it really did improve the volume – thanks!
Unfortunately, now I lost the audio effects for the webcam!
Any advice on how to get the audio effects back?
Do I have to choose volume or audio effects???
Thanks!!!

Thanks abhi n all others..

I was trying to amplify the sound of my laptop and this was just the result of that little fooling around with it and the drivers.:)

Yep i do agree that the sound gets distorted if its 100 % and that’s the problem.I can’t help it.:oops: .But it does give a louder volume than the normal driver even if we reduce the volume down to level with no dostortion.

Also i have one suggestion of disabling SRS WOW settings in Windows media player if you are using it.
Too much bass wont do any good in the tweeter 10W [or so.. ] speakers in the lappy

And to TLS, yeah ,it does remove the microphones effects.Well it means you have to make the choice between audio out / in .
Dell should have worked on their sound system atleast on the “Studio” Series.

Chao!

Keep in touch :smile:

Chris,
Follow Djvox’s tip…

Thanks a lot man [ Djvox ] for chipping into the discussion
Cheers and Welcome to dell family…

I love my lap [ except the audio part]….. it’s working great.What about you guys ?

hi guyz,

The tips mentioned worked well to increase the output from the speaker but when i tried to use both the headphones jacks simultaneously, it didn’t work. Only 1 of them gives the output and than i installed the IDT driver again..it gave me output on both my headphones…

Well im not sure if im doing nething wrong here.. please correct me than and if not 1 has noticed it here please try and tell me the result.

And also , i tried few things to make it work without the IDT driver but hard luck . Hence, I installed IDT driver again.. Hope some 1 comes out with the solution

i am new with dell studio . same problem with me. does the audio blaster soft make sound good. if it does then please mail to my email nightstalker.55555@gmail.com.i would be thankful ever.pleaaaaaasee.

My friend I already found the same simple thing!
With Default Vista Driver – I have perfect (or near to perfect sound/audio)!
Especially with my headphones!

With DELL IDT DRIVER (or immediately after I installed it) the sound/audio started to crackling and the sound/audio quality was very bad!

So I just uninstalled IDT driver from Add/Remove Options and from System Devices…
My Windows Vista Ultimate X64 automatically found/detected its default drivers – “HD AUDIO…..”

Everything now is fine!
I had answer from Dell – They are working on new improved AUDIO DRIVER, but sadly realize date is unknown.

Anyway Thank you for sharing this with US!

i just did the same procedure to my 1537 and it works 1000x’s better.

thanks!!!

now, i wonder if there’s better vid driver out there.

shuang: Yes.you can make your video driver better.
Just download from Ati – Latest normal video driver and mod it with Mobility Modder.NET!
BUT PAY CLOSE ATTENTION:
YOU NEED ONLY THE DRIVER!
CATALYSTIC CONTROL CENTRE WILL MAKE YOUR VIDEO CARD (ATI 3450) VERY SLOW!
I tested it already!
With CCC – Need For Speed UnderClover -everything low – very bad performance
Without CCC – both Vista x64/XP – Need For Speed Undercover – everything high + 1440×900 (you no need anti on this resolution); Prince of Persia – Medium (no time to test on High)

Result:
Without CCC – 10 times better “in game” performance

hi all…i too got same prob wit my dell studio 15 lappy…i uninstalled IDT Driver. and finally its working. thanks folks…

hey….me had a same problem with dell studio 1535. the sound was too poor with IDT driver. after installing it is lot better.

KUDOS to all the contributors

zinal you mean “After Uninstalling”?!

I paid for the Sound Blaster upgrade and after having to reinstall the OS using the DVD that came with the laptop I found out that the Sound Blaster software that Dell supplied will not install on 64 bit Vista. This is after Dell tech support worked10 hours on my laptop trying to get it installed. I told them they need to refund the money to everyone who paid for the upgrade since it doesn’t work. They refuse to refund the money for the Sound Blaster upgrade but was willing to let me return the laptop for a refund – go figure – . Another thing: their factory re-install is not an option with this laptop with 64 bit Vista.

Wah i was jealous abt HP laptop sound,,,,,,but now my DELL studio is doing well

thanks, i downloaded sound blaster but those r useless,,,,,,,,

any way thanks again

Thanks very much for the instructions for improving the audio on my new Dell Studio 15. Unfortunately there are some side effects of this method.

If you have no sound after rebooting and giving it time to reinstall the High Definition Audio Device drivers, it’s most likely because Vista has made “Digital Output Device (HDMI)” the default Playback device. Right click the speaker icon in the systray, choose Playback Devices, and then right click the new “Speakers” device and make it the default rather than HDMI. You’ll notice the old Speakers device is still there, but grayed out and you can’t disable it or do anything with it.

The other side effect is that the blue OSD (On-Screen Display) that used to appear when using the volume and mute buttons no longer works. If the HDMI device is the default, the OSD works. If the new Speakers device is the default, no OSD.

It’s very annoying but I suppose I can live without it. I mean, my desktop at home has no OSD, I just guesstimate and use the speaker icon in the systray to judge where the volume is at. The OSD was just a nice thing to have.

I figured out how to make the OSD work. I uninstalled the Quickset software, and reinstalled it, and now my OSD is back.

Your a hero.. just did this for my studio 17 and the crackle etc has stopped

Hi…… Trying to fix the sound on my Dell 1537 as suggested by BigDarkMad by removing the IDT driver (where exactly is it that I do that?) Went to sound and then IDT driver properties and its grayed out. (the uninstall…….. well all but driver details) so Im wondering if BDM can help with a little more instruction?

I…i….i… (Shivering and shuddering )

I just want to say that this worked perfectly….. And well…. you can do me… if you want… I mean…. im a guy…. but for this booming audio i would had done EVERYTHING.

Please be gentle.

greetings, my studio 1535 is sounding louder and better now that ive uninstalled the idt devices, thanks! but the cracking sound is still there, i know that it stems from the wifi, but is there a solution to this anyone can tell me about. glad i found this!

Well the WiFi Card is interrupting the signals…
there’s no workaround it as far as i know
and

Hey …

Uninstalling CCC Did really help speeding up the graphics!!

THANKS to d contributer ‘BigDarkMad’

Greetings fellow dellmate

Uninstalling the IDT device and choosing to delete the driver, and then letting it redetect did wonders. The sound is not only louder at the same volume levels, but it sounds better at the same loudness. It’s much less awful than before, but still “very poor”. Dell should be seriously ashamed to have this crappy of speakers on their mid-range machine. For the software problem though, I’ve sadly come to expect this kind of awful software on Dells.

Like Chris (from Nov. 6) said, I followed the instrux, got the Hi Def drivers from Microsoft, and now there’s no sound at all. Now that the original driver is deleted, i’m going to have to locate my restore discs. Note to others: beware of free advice.

This Driver (Wi Fi Driver) will fix your crackling sound problem!
It is official Studio Dell WireLess Driver from Dell, so It is 100% safe!:!
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R206848&SystemID=STUDIO1535&servicetag=&os=WLH&osl=en&deviceid=16118&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=289450

Works like a charm. Thanks!

soooooo great!!!! easy instructs and sweet sound

I have also uninstalled IDT audio driver.The sound is louder,but one of d headfone jack has stopped working.

Dell has come out with a fix for the crackling of the speakers and it is an update for the internal wifi card. I installed it and it works great no crackling what so ever comes from the speakers. It was released on 1/12/09 and is available from support.dell.com here is the info hope it helps.

Dell Wireless WLAN 1397, 1510 Half MiniCard
Fixes and Enhancements:
This release enables WLAN channel support for some countries that were not supported in previous versions of software. For these countries, the country listed in the Information tab of the Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility may not match the OS locale. It also fixes a crackling sound when playing music.

Compatibility:
Systems Operating systems
Inspiron 1545
Studio Laptop 1435
Studio Laptop 1535
Studio Laptop 1536
Studio Laptop 1537
Studio Laptop 1735
Studio Laptop 1737
Studio XPS Laptop 13
Studio XPS Laptop 16
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit

@Sponge , I don’t what made your OS to disable sound. But it’s working for most of the others including me.
I wouldn’t have posted this , if i hadn’t done this.

Free advices are what makes google live and us too!

@ Kapil, My headphone jacks are functioning properly. All of them.
Try The “playback devices” window , By right clicking the speaker icon and see if it’s disabled.

and also
The driver for WLAN Card [ Dell WLAN 1510 ]
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R206848.exe fixes the crackling issue.

awesome man.. works like a charm!

I didn’t even have to install the quickset again. It got detecetd automatically. Also, as someone said above, at some point you really have to lower the sound otherwise it’s too loud

Hi Guys,

Problem with my DELL Studio 1535. My audio is working but it TURNS ON and OFF, ON and OFF automatically. the audio icon on the tasktray will set to MUTE status and then turns ON again. This thing happen continuously. I already upgraded my BIOS from A02 to A06 and even reinstall my audio driver but still have the same problem.

Any suggestions guys?

Thanks

Hi Niranjan,

Thanks for all the instructions and my speaker was really g8 when i uninstalled IDT codec.

But as most people said above, one of my headphone jack stopped working and my webcam also stopped working. OSD when controlling the sound was disabled.
Is this wat happened to you.
If not, do u have any idea on how to resolve these issues without re-installing IDT.
Note: Now i have reverted back to IDT for make everything to work.

Thanks

My webcam was working perfectly after this.

Headphones too .But the microphones had the “special effects” removed.

well, the audio driver is of 2.1 system i think.That might be the reason for one of them to get disabled.

+ i really didn’t care about the OSD.Which is rather distracting .:)

OSD can’t be fixed.

Just wanted to say a BIG thanks to BigDarkMad, crackling all gone and my studio 17 is now the machine I wanted it to be and not the most fustrating, crackling beast it became. The Dell download did indeed work but who would have thought that a wifi card driver would affect the speakers so badly? I was doing my barking up the wrong tree!

And thanks to niranjan for airing the problem, so many comments about this problem and here is the only place I have found resolution, RESPECT!!!

Hi, I just uninstalled IDT and restarted my PC, however, it just reinstalls itself again. My pc does not find the vista codec but installs IDT all over again…
What should I do?.. oh. and IDT does not show up in the remove programs section.

Does this works with XP? and hot to receive sound on TV via HDMI cord?

Looks like Dell came out with new IDT drivers for the Studio – can anyone load them up and see if it fixes the speaker volume issue, while retaining the OSD and the dual headphone output? I don’t have the laptop – it’s for a family member – trying to determine if this update is a fixall, of if I should recomment Niranjan’s vista driver fix. Thanks:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R214419&SystemID=STUDIO1537&servicetag=&os=WLH&osl=en&deviceid=16518&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=3&fileid=303562

Ihave a different problem: When I hook up my laptop via HDMI out to my HD LCD tv, every 2 mins the sound gets distorted (crackles, fuzzes) and then goes back to normal. What is this about? It’s so frustrating.

Under my sound cards I have this: IDT High Definition Audio Codec and Intel(R) High Definition Audio HDMI.

Sound is fine when I’m just playing it through computer speakers. I have a dell studio 1537

I didn’t buy my Studio 1537 until 31. March 09, and not sure if I have a sound problem.

After reading all the posts I wander whether my sound would be louder by removing the IDT drivers or whether Dell have fixed it. I have no crackling or popping at all and the volume seems reasonable (but I haven’t had a laptop before). My IDT driver is dated 17.11.08, so is quite recent.

Does anyone know whether Dell have fixed the problem on new machines or if I would benefit from uninstalling the IDT driver?

I finally took the plunge and uninstalled my IDT drivers.

I followed the advice and went through ‘control panel’, device mamager, sounds, then right clicked on the IDT CODEC and selected uninstall. Rebooted and Windows automatically installed is drivers.

The volume is hughly increased. Still have control of the levels through windows media player.

Its ashame I have lost the second headphone jack and external microphone jack, but I can live with that.

Thanks for the advice guys. Its worth doing!

Thanks for this, works a treat. Shame it kills the second headphone jack/mic jack but I probably won’t use them anyway.

The OSD was easy to fix as mentioned – just reinstall/repair quickset – available from Dells site iff you don’t have it.

Have to say the Studio sound is still p*** poor compared to the Inspiron 8600 it replaces. It least it is now audible p**** poor than too quite I suppose!

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean about the OSD, what is it and how did you fix it.

Is this a way of having the increased volume whilst still retaining the mic jack and 2nd headphone jack. If so can you talk me through it.

Hello,
I just got my laptop from dell direct site 3days ago.
My laptop is Studio 1537, Intel Core 2 Duo T6400, 2.0 GHz, 800 MHz, 2M L2 Cache, Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0.

My audio quality is poor very very poor…..

Now, I wanna try to do whatever I can to my new dell audio quality before return it to them.
I wanna keep this laptop if the sound can get better….

Would you please tell me there is any new ways to increase the sound? Or

• Uninstall the IDT Driver [ or Sigmatel . Whatever it is!, it's not using the speakers of the lappie well,So give them a break ]
• During the uninstall make sure that the driver files are removed too.!Otherwise it tends to reinstall using the same driver over again.
• Then,Install the driver ,Vista should pickup the driver automatically,if it doesn’t then select “Locate and install suitable driver”..The name of the driver should be “High Definition Audio Device”.

is still the best way to start?

Thanks!

Hey Guys,

I’m a pretty cautious person so I need to know a bit before I do something .Could someone give me a quick pro/con of uninstalling the IDT Driver is? I know theres things such as webcam sounds not being able to work anymore and so forth…

Also, I wanted to know just in case the uninstall makes things worse, is there a way i can reinstall it for free? I’m not too much a computer techie so maybe this is a stupid question haha.

Thanks for your help!!

Hi Niranjan Thilak, thanks a lot for the simple, but effective solution. Tried and worked like a charm, now my laptop’s sound is lound and crisp to a satisfactory level !!!!!

Great piece of work dude!

sound like a great little fix. just wondering if anyone knows if it also works for studio 1555 model, and if it is worth doing?

This all sounds great, I have the same question as James about the 1555, it’s supposed to have a Sub-Woofer for better bass response, the sound is not impressive so would look for any tested advice on the 1555. Many thanks for any help your able to offer.
cheers Phil

followed exactly what you said, works perfectly.
thanks a lot!

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You!!!!

Thank you Sir!
Its Rocking

Studio 1555 – This does work on this machine, the sound is considerably improved by removing IDT.
Volume and sound quality – bass response is a lot better, it has a sub-woofer installed and it now sounds better than a standard laptop, which is what IDT made it sound like. I’ve had Toshiba, HP and IBM laptops and this is the best sounding of them all. HDMI became the default output and lost the OSD – use the previous notes to quickly get these back and you will be very happy with the results.

Yep .. thanks a lot .. sound has been boosted.. but as said above .. one of the headphone jacks has stopped working..

and the sound i was gettin in the bundled creative earphones before uninstalling IDT driver was awesome..
awesome to the level of unexplainable…

but now..its just okay..not tat great …

anyone has a solution to these 2 problmes..

headphone jack..
and sound in earphones

I have that same problem after uninstalling the IDT driver. I have no second headphone jack and no external microphone jack. Does anyone have a solution to meke these work again?

Thanks a lot mate,…..worked like a charm in my ‘DELL Studio XPS 13′ (the latest StudioXPS range)…………..anybody who is using IDT audio software in their laptop…..I guess his method will work just fine……………..my laptop volume is now more than DOUBLE after uninstalling the driver of IDT audio from Device Manager…………and yes after you restart the computer …… Vista will automatically installed its own High DEF audio…..so dont worry about it……..I was searching for an easy solution for a long time……….Finally the answer is most satisfactory……….Cheers mate……….Have a good one……..

even i have dell studio 15..wid xp installed…can some one please tell me how to do this in xp?

Just go to device manager [right click the my computer and select manager. in the window select device manager from left panel ] …. then look for sound and audio devices and uninstall IDT driver.
O h waitt!!!

Why dont you READ the post yaar?. read it.!!

Just installed windows 7 RTM on my Dell Studio 1537, and let it install the audio driver, “High Definition audio Device” much better than the dell driver I was using under Vista. Only wish i had for this info out months ago.

I also suffered crackling when streaming audio/video, this is now also resolved. I tested my windows 7 install on virtual PC prior to commiting to a bootable install, must say, system works far better under windows 7 than it ever did under Vista.

The only Dell drivers/software I used was:
Chipset drivers – always required
System software – always required
Bluetooth – Bluetooth mouse workd witout any BT drivers, but for everything else i needed the drivers.
Dell wireless 5530 – the only bit of hardware that windows 7 did not have drivers for.

you know, IDT might sound like crap at first, but it’s actually the better codec.

it causes crackling,but with the right headphones, and deft equalizing, i actually prefer the IDT to the flat equalized sound that the high defintion audio device gives me.

nonetheless your emphasis on volume is justified, even then somehow with IDT i have a very, very loud system. so i guess im just weird.

your tutorial is fantastic though, keep it up !

Unreal! The reason I even looked into this is because external speakers (nor the headphone outputs) worked AT ALL when HDMI was hooked up to my 46″ LCD, so thanks to you guys, I have AWESOME sound now without the @*&%#? moronic IDT crap drivers! Upopn reboot after deleting IDT, Vista installed HD Audio before I even got to the desktop!

i have dell 1537.my audio sound level is good.but i doesn`t have quality.how can i improve it

Hi seshu anil ,
Why don’t you try the method i have explained above.
Do post the results here .

I have bought Dell xps 16(1640) recently, with windows 7 installed .I have a problem with sound like windows media player .when u pause the song and then stop it and then when u play it again it produces one sound from previous song and starts playing , and moreover the sound gets a very little like a gap while playing the songs

Thank you so much for this! I got my laptop a few months ago and loved it except for the volume problem. I always had to use external speakers to watch a movie. This completely fixed the problem, and like you said, I actually had to lower the volume!

Thank you again!!

WOW thank you SO much!!!
it really works ♥

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 that i downgraded to windows XP sp 3, i have just realised the sound is veeery poor because my phone plays better on my home theatre compared to my laptop and initially it was loud and had very good bass. The above steps can they sort me out or it only has to be for windows XP? and where can i download the High Definition Audio Device”.

Thank you so much I have had my Dell Studio 15 Series since last summer. I love the laptop but so upset about the sound. I am ever so grateful for you posting this information. It worked instantanously. Thank you.