Buzzing/Whining sound from speakers when connected to laptop

[MrNathan]

Hi, when i plug my speakers into my laptop, i can hear a slight whining sound from one of the speakers. i assumed it was the speakers, however i plugged some brand new headphones in, and the same problem occurred. this leaves me to believe it is a problem with the laptop. does anyone know why it is happening or how i can fix it?

thanks

 

[cronxeh]

I get a similar sound when I connect a radio modem next to the audio jack in the USB port. I think its the grounding cable that picks up the hum. You can either use audio hum eliminator, or try adding a choke, or a band-pass filter to eliminate the 60 Hz powerline hum. I would also recommend a thicker audio cable that is shielded from wifi and other radio frequencies, but obviously the easiest solution is to disconnect the usb cables and turn off wifi on your laptop to see if it fixes the problem. Also any other sources of RF interference around the speakers. Like cellphones, home wireless telephones, TV, etc.

Also a cheap man's solution is wrapping the aluminum foil around the audio cable and then wrapping that with electrical tape.

 

[pallidin]

A laptop not plugged-in to an ac source does not have a proper ground.
But, that should not be a problem here, as laptops are designed to work very well with external speakers with the laptop running on it's own battery power.

Likely, this is the problem:
There are 2 competing general audio adjustments. One is from Windows itself, the second is from the speakers.

If the physical speaker audio adjustment is set too high, you will get a "hum"
Reduce that, and increase the Windows audio.

 

[MrNathan]

windows audio is at max.

and after checking carefully, i cans till hear the hum from the integrated speakers on the laptop. so its not an external problem. its just because the external speakers are louder.