new laptop (grounding issues? )

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:38 pm

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

That is the best ground loop isolator made.

I have tried them all. Even ones that cost $200. This one works best, hands down. Cheap, too.

zsazsa · Post by **zsazsa** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:24 am

I have a lot of noise too with my laptop when plugged in, also with headphones plugged straight into the laptop.
So I doubt whether a DI-box would solve your problems since in that case there isn't any ground difference.
I also noticed that it doesn't sound like a mains power problem since i hear 'laptop activity' as the spinning harddisk. This only happens when the machine is plugged in.
The thing here in the netherlands is that most powersockets don't have ground. In my house the problem dissapeared when I do plug it into a grounded socket.

I don't really have a solution but would like to hear some

muscleandhate · Post by **muscleandhate** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:29 am

What are the setups being used here? I'm currently on this:-

MacBook > Audiophile USB > Cambridge Audio Amp > Speakers.

I don't experience feedback. When I did, I was using this setup:-

Dell Inspiron 5100 > Audiophile USB > Xone 32 > Cambridge Audio > Speakers.

I think it's when you connect your laptop through a mixer that causes the feedback issue. Not sure why though?

glu · Post by **glu** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:33 am

subterFUSE wrote:http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

That is the best ground loop isolator made.

I have tried them all. Even ones that cost $200. This one works best, hands down. Cheap, too.

i remember reading on here around a year ago about this topic. It's been awhile, but I remember the only critical comment about the RCA thingy was that it became a part of the audio path. Why they thought that was bad I don't recall. But SF, your testimony would have convinced me if i needed something so it must work fine.

glu · Post by **glu** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:36 am

muscleandhate wrote:What are the setups being used here? I'm currently on this:-

MacBook > Audiophile USB > Cambridge Audio Amp > Speakers.

I don't experience feedback. When I did, I was using this setup:-

Dell Inspiron 5100 > Audiophile USB > Xone 32 > Cambridge Audio > Speakers.

I think it's when you connect your laptop through a mixer that causes the feedback issue. Not sure why though?

It was something about the USB power and/or AC power. When I was running on battery, I didn't have any problems; it was only when the lappy was plugged in that it was all noisy.

btw running emachines m6811 notebook with mbox. Hopefully that will change soon!

nerveagent · Post by **nerveagent** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 5:12 pm

I would not remove the ground from your equipment - its unsafe. You should remove the ground from the signal path, not the electrical path.

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:29 pm

glu wrote:
subterFUSE wrote:http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

That is the best ground loop isolator made.

I have tried them all. Even ones that cost $200. This one works best, hands down. Cheap, too.
i remember reading on here around a year ago about this topic. It's been awhile, but I remember the only critical comment about the RCA thingy was that it became a part of the audio path. Why they thought that was bad I don't recall. But SF, your testimony would have convinced me if i needed something so it must work fine.

It does not affect sound quality adversely. I mean.... come on.... it cures the ground loop noise, so even if it does degrade the audio somewhat... it is still better than the noise.

Anyway.... I have based my recommendation of the Radio Shack isolator on the following:

I have a Pentium 4 laptop. It is basically a desktop CPU in a laptop case. It has a huge power box that comes with it. When I got this laptop, the ground loop noise was insane. Very loud.

I began by purchasing one of these: http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTDTI

This unit did not solve the ground loop noise on my big laptop. I had a smaller laptop with a Pentium M chip, and this ART unit did solve ground noise on it.... but on my big laptop with that desktop power supply, the noise was still there.

Annoyed, I decided to step up to this: http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTT8

Got it.... hooked it up.... and still had the damned ground loop noise.
At this point I was fucking pissed.

So... desperate, I just got one of those Radio Shack isolators for $15. I never expected it to work... but sure enough, it did. Like a charm. To this day, I have yet to find a single ground loop isolator which works on my big Pentium 4 laptop.

Not even this worked: http://www.ebtechaudio.com/humxdes.html

I have tried them all. Nobody beats Radio Shack, I'm sorry to say.

glu · Post by **glu** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 8:37 pm

subterFUSE wrote: Not even this worked: http://www.ebtechaudio.com/humxdes.html

I have tried them all. Nobody beats Radio Shack, I'm sorry to say.

I wonder why it works perfectly for mine and not for yours. If i were the original poster, I would go with SubterFUSE's recommendation first, since it's the cheapest solution and it's the only thing that worked for his Dell. Strange how somethings work on some notebooks and not others...

I know mine didn't work any other way unless I plugged the notebook straight into the EBtech plug and that directly into the wall...

zstowasser · Post by **zstowasser** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:56 pm

glu - so the EBTech didn't work if you plugged it between the power strip and the wall and/or in between the laptop and the powerstrip ?

Maybe another option is to buy an extra power adapter and remove the ground from that one for use in special situations where there is noise?

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 1:01 am

pete1 wrote:hi all

I bought a new laptop yesterday, toshiba eqiuium core 2 duo

installed my M Audio Audiophile Firewire, once thedrivers were installed and the card switched on, i got an distorted scrathchy noise coming through the speakers

The laptop came with XP Media Centre Edition on and thought, it would be a problem with the M Audio driver, they state on their website they have no supported driver for MCE

Anyway I am going to put XP Pro on my computer as the general concensious is that MCE is a no no for firewire soundcards and Ableton

However i noted that when i removed the power cable from the laptop and run the laptop off the battery, the distortion stopped

could this be a grounding issue and not MCE ???

my laptop was plugged into a 4 way apapter, when i plugged it direct into the socket on the wall, the distortion stoppped again temporarily but came back

anyone got any tips on best way to ground the power supply or could this still be a MCE problem with the soundcard ?? (i guess installing XP Pro will answer that one)

by the way the sound is fine at all times if i use the internal audio card

May I ask why in God's name you are using XPMedia edition?
Anybody who configures ProEnd PC based daws will tell you it's a dogs breakfast and should be avoided like the plague for pro-end audio work.

jbuonacc · Post by **jbuonacc** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:28 am

^^ i don't think you know what you're talking about. MCE has had no adverse effect on countless systems. have you had a problem yourself?

anyway, i had this same problem. i just ended up using one of those small 3-prong to 2-prong adapters that plugs onto the end of the cable. works great.

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:46 am

glu wrote:
subterFUSE wrote: Not even this worked: http://www.ebtechaudio.com/humxdes.html

I have tried them all. Nobody beats Radio Shack, I'm sorry to say.
I wonder why it works perfectly for mine and not for yours. If i were the original poster, I would go with SubterFUSE's recommendation first, since it's the cheapest solution and it's the only thing that worked for his Dell. Strange how somethings work on some notebooks and not others...

I know mine didn't work any other way unless I plugged the notebook straight into the EBtech plug and that directly into the wall...

The reason is that the high current power supply for my Pentium 4 laptop draws a shitload more current than your laptop, and therefore creates a stronger ground loop which is harder to cure. I was a physics major in college, and that's the best explaination I can come up with.

I'm sure there must be some good explaination, but I just don't know it. All I know is I tried every isolator I could find and none worked except for the Radio Shack.

SUPERBANANBOMB · Post by **SUPERBANANBOMB** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:44 pm

I think I have the same problem. Maybe?

I tried hooking up my monitor speakers (KRK Rockit 8's) to my laptop and I get this horrible scratchy, noisy sound. I tried everything I could think of to make it go away, even using an external soundcard. Nothing worked.

I finally traced the problem to the charger/power supply. If I have my laptop unplugged, I am hook up my monitors with no noise. If I have it plugged in, using my monitors aren't an option. It's kind of a pain in the as considering I pretty much NEED my charger plugged in because I'm having this weird problem... I hope someone can help me out.

I have a Gateway laptop with an AMD Athlon 64 3700+ processor. It runs at 2.41 gHz and it shows that in the BIOS. However, when I try running my laptop off of the internal battery, it clocks down to like 793 mHz... which is bullshit because if I want to lay in bed and work on music I have to sacrifice a lot of CPU power to do so...

Does anyone know why it might be doing this? I have tried everything I can think of. I just want to be able to utilize my full processor power without being plugged into the wall. I don't think that's too much to ask! lol

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:50 pm

SUPERBANANBOMB wrote:I think I have the same problem. Maybe?

I tried hooking up my monitor speakers (KRK Rockit 8's) to my laptop and I get this horrible scratchy, noisy sound. I tried everything I could think of to make it go away, even using an external soundcard. Nothing worked.

I finally traced the problem to the charger/power supply. If I have my laptop unplugged, I am hook up my monitors with no noise. If I have it plugged in, using my monitors aren't an option. It's kind of a pain in the as considering I pretty much NEED my charger plugged in because I'm having this weird problem... I hope someone can help me out.

I have a Gateway laptop with an AMD Athlon 64 3700+ processor. It runs at 2.41 gHz and it shows that in the BIOS. However, when I try running my laptop off of the internal battery, it clocks down to like 793 mHz... which is bullshit because if I want to lay in bed and work on music I have to sacrifice a lot of CPU power to do so...

Does anyone know why it might be doing this? I have tried everything I can think of. I just want to be able to utilize my full processor power without being plugged into the wall. I don't think that's too much to ask! lol

You have a ground loop.

This is proven by the fact you can disconnect mains power from the laptop and noise goes away.

Get an isolator.

jbuonacc · Post by **jbuonacc** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:53 pm

this is what i used. seems to work fine, haven't noticed any problems.

new laptop (grounding issues? )

frustrating!

Re: new laptop (grounding issues? )