Buzzing noise

[Yugl]

When I plug in my earphones, I get a buzzing/static noise that is very loud. If I place my hands on my laptop, the buzzing reduces the sound. Placing other items on the laptop have not resulted in the same effect. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the earphones, but the bit about my hands making the buzzing noise go away makes me curious as to why it's happening.

[SnickySnacks]

http://www.aqdi.com/groundloop.htm

Pretty common to get this in speakers when wiring up a complex audio system. Often means something is wired wrong or plugged in backwards.

[Yugl]

Well it's just earphones (And the problem occurred overnight when nothing was changed), so I don't know what I would change or rewire. Should I use a grounder for my laptop when it's plugged in?

Edit: WOAH. You're right. I just unplugged my laptop's power cord and the buzzing went away. I plugged it back in and the noise is back. Interesting...

[Atreides]

not to hijack, but I have a pretty old set of bose speakers that have been plugged in for a while, now suddenly there's a constant buzzing/static whenever they're turned on. Jiggling a cable seems to make it go away for a sec, but it always comes back.

I can also unplug the whole system and leave it alone for a few days, and I'll get a few seconds of clear audio before the static starts again. Is it probably a wire problem, or is the system starting to go? I thought it might have been a problem with either the wire or the base unit/receiver thing, but I really don't know much about audio.

[SubzeroDiabolos]

not to hijack, but I have a pretty old set of bose speakers that have been plugged in for a while, now suddenly there's a constant buzzing/static whenever they're turned on. Jiggling a cable seems to make it go away for a sec, but it always comes back.

I can also unplug the whole system and leave it alone for a few days, and I'll get a few seconds of clear audio before the static starts again. Is it probably a wire problem, or is the system starting to go? I thought it might have been a problem with either the wire or the base unit/receiver thing, but I really don't know much about audio.

Probably something loose in there. There probably is a way to fix it by finding a position where the wires are ok and there are no noises, and just tape it to something so it doesn't move.

[SnickySnacks]

As for OP, see if unplugging something else that's non-grounded affects it, or try plugging the laptop in somewhere else.
If you have something plugged in upside-down that can often cause a problem, but usually this sort of thing occurs when two different devices are connected. Usually step 1 is to see if you can get the buzzing to go away while the device is plugged in anywhere else. If so, that means it's another piece of electronics that's interfering and you can go through what's plugged in to figure it out.

Of course it may be a problem with the power supply causing interference or a bad transformer or something in which case it may not be solvable, but it's really just trial and error to figure it out. The fact that it goes away when you unplug the laptop means that it's not an issue with the headphones or audio itself, at least.

[Krandor]

If it's on a laptop, it's EMI from your CPU/graphics card, which means whoever built your laptop should have been smarter and put the headphone jack on the opposite side from those components.

[Yugl]

It's an XPS1500, so Dell is the culprit?! I tried plugging it into the wall (It was plugged into a powersurge before), but that only reduced the noise a little bit. I'm about to plug out the PS3/TV since those are the only cables I have not tried.

[Caiyuo]

It's an XPS1500, so Dell is the culprit?! I tried plugging it into the wall (It was plugged into a powersurge before), but that only reduced the noise a little bit. I'm about to plug out the PS3/TV since those are the only cables I have not tried.

well, lol I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 and I have the exact same symptoms, though unplugging the A/C adapter doesn't reduce it in the least. Strangely it seems like it's only in the right earphone, but I guess that specifically could be due to the earphones.

If Krandor's on the money here it's possible the A/C adapter being synonymous with the buzz is related to power-plan settings that differ for the graphics card between battery and plugged-in modes so I'm going to toy with it and see what happens.

[Yugl]

I've plugged out everything except the PS3 (Playing FFXI atm) and nothing has removed the static except plugging out the laptop itself. I'm assuming it has something to do with the PS3 for the moment.

Edit: Laptop charger just died; may or may not see responses to this...

[Krandor]

My Dell laptop had horrendous buzz when I put in headphones because the jack was right next to the graphics card. My newer alienware has the jack on the opposite side of the laptop from the CPU/GPU, and has no buzz.

It's a well known "issue" with computers across the board, all the high power components in modern computers put out a ton of EMI, and if the headphone jack is anywhere near those you're going to get some buzz.

[Yugl]

I'm using the PS3's internet at the moment. The laptop in question has been working fine for over two years now, so I don't see why that would an issue now. On the other hand, my charger broke sometime in late April/Early May. The old charger lasted two years. The new charger lasted roughly a month or less ($30 for it). When I had the earphone issue, there unplugging the charger seemed to make it go away. However, shortly after realizing that, the charger died (Hence, why I'm on PS3 internet now). I'm curious as to why that charger was so problematic since it seems related to this issue.

[Kerberoz]

Get a USB soundcard, nothing you can do about shitty laptop design, they just assume everyone who uses the product is deaf.