Five second low fequency hum when I plug in headset or external speakers

[RD_The_DJ]

I get a five second hum at the beginning of any sound source (e.g., email notification, playing a music file, etc.) whenever a headphone or external speaker is plugged into the headphone jack.

I have tested this on multiple sets of headphones and speakers.  HP Support has checked the drivers (and even reinstalled them six times), but the problem is not fixed.

HP Support has failed to fix the problem. Their only suggested way to a solution is to do a total system restore, which would wipe out expensive software (e.g. Windows Office) that I have purchased.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Dvortex]

Welcome to HP Support Forum. I hope you're well @RD_The_DJ

I read about your notebook audio issue and wanted to stop in to share my suggestions with you 🙂

Going through your post, I understand that you are getting a distorted audio at the beginning of any audio while using your HP notebook. Greatly appreciate your efforts in troubleshooting! 

As you have already contacted the HP support and tried all possible driver installs, let's try some additional steps which I found in some Windows forum threads:

Solution 1:

• Right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar and select 'Playback Devices'.
• Left click the default device once to highlight it ( it's usually 'speakers & headphones' ) then click the Properties button.
• Click the Enhancements tab and put a tick in the box next to 'Loudness Equalization'.
• Click Apply to save the change and then click OK in all remaining windows and see if this has helped at all.

Solution 2:

• Right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar and select 'Playback Devices'.
• Select the Communications tab up the top.
• By default ‘when windows detects communications activity’ is set to ‘Reduce the volume of other sounds by 80%’.
• Change this to ‘Do nothing’.
• Press OK.

Let me know if these steps helps!

Good luck 🙂

Please click "Accepted Solution" on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the "Thumbs Up Icon" below!

[RD_The_DJ]

The offered suggestins did not work.

I could not follow "suggestion 1" because when I followed the directions provided, there was no "loudness equalization box" that appeared per the third bullet point in "suggestion 1."

I followed "suggestion 2" precisely.  It did not solve the problem.

I remain very frustrated.

[RD_The_DJ]

The offered suggestins did not work.

I could not follow "suggestion 1" because when I followed the directions provided, there was no "loudness equalization box" that appeared per the third bullet point in "suggestion 1."

I followed "suggestion 2" precisely.  It did not solve the problem.

Just to reiterate:  This problem only occurs when I connect headphones or external speakers through headphone jack. I have tried this with multiple different speakers and headphones.  Same problem every time.

I remain very frustrated.

[Dvortex]

Hello, @RD_The_DJ

Thanks for the update & appreciate your efforts 🙂

Let's try creating a new local user account on your computer. Once done, try playing the audio from the new account.

Go to http://hp.care/2dWJKgW and follow the steps mentioned below.

Let me know if it works fine from the new user account!

Cheers 🙂

Please click "Accepted as Solution" on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the "Thumbs Up Icon" below!

[RD_The_DJ]

I appreciate your two follow ups, but now I am even more bewildered.  The link you sent me to takes me to:

HP PCs - Managing User Accounts and Logins (Windows 7)

This document pertains to HP and Compaq computers with Windows 7.

I have a Windows 10 PC.  I do not see how changing my user accounts will help anything.

What am I missing here?

[Dvortex]

Hello, @RD_The_DJ

I believe there is an issue on the link that I provided. My bad 😞

Check this link to create a new local user account on your Windows 10 PC: http://hp.care/2dWJKgW 

Or, if the above link still gives the Windows 7 results, use this Microsoft link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/instantanswers/5de907f1-f8ba-4fd9-a89d-efd23fee918c/create-a-loc...

Thanks, I'll watch for your reply!

Have a great day 🙂

Please click "Accepted as Solution" on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the "Thumbs Up Icon" below!

[RD_The_DJ]

Your latest link took me to a "blank page." 

So, in light of the preceding string of either suggestions that did not work or unusable links (I still do not understand why setting up a new user account would be of any value), I am dubious about any further advice from you.  Sorry.

In the meantime, I seem to have fixed this on my own by inadvertently discovering some other options for "speaker selection" when I was pairing a new bluetooth speaker (as a workaround).  At least for now, I no longer have the five second low fequency hum when I plug in my headset or external speakers.  And the blue tooth speaker works fine, too.

Needless to say I am relieved that this did not require the draconian system recovery that HP Tech Support insisted on during my multiple calls to them. HP Tech Support should have known about alternative solution I inadvertently discovered. 

Aside from assistance with installing out of date drivers and/or HP updates that do not seem to load, I question the value HP Tech Support can provide. Those staffers also kept driving me to HP's fee-based Tech Support services.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@RD_The_DJ

It looks like you were interacting with @Dvortex, but he's out for the day 

And I'll be glad to help you out.
 

Thank you for the update,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

I went through those links and the second link seemed to have worked for me, not sure why it didn't for you, nevertheless, creating a new user account establishes a fresh account setting as it starts from scratch while you have the options of transferring your personal data such as files, music and videos into the new account once it's confirmed to be working, although, I'm glad you found the solution you were looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to let the community know about the solution

I hope both you and your product works great and remain healthy for a long time 😉

To help others find the solution you did accept this thread or your post as the solution,

Take care now and do have a fabulous week ahead. 🙂

[RD_The_DJ]

To Riddle_Decipherer....

Thank you for your diligence in following up. Turns out my probem returned after I rebooted my PC last night.

But I have new data. I ran the "troubleshooter," and it reported back that the "problem detected" was a "generic driver."

How does that get fixed without having to create a new user account, undertake a system recovery, or a system restore. It should be noted from the moment that I received this PC and started it up, I received prompts about a "bad driver." So, going back to "Day 1" is of no value. Also to reiterate -- the sound problem only comes when a headset or external speaker device is plugged into the headphone jack. There is no problem with blue tooth speakers, and I am guessing that is my only option at this point -- buy a blue tooth "hub" and connect my headphones and external speakers to that.

Any other guidance you can provide?