Constant noise in speakers and headphones

Question

On my laptop, Samsung 300V5A-S19 I have the constant noise from the speakers. If I wear headphones, the sound becomes more pronounced (at half volume it mutes the music). The noise level is independent of the volume control. The noise disappears only when volume is completely muted. For the record, the sound is reminiscent of the noise of the waves or something like that.

System information: Ubuntu 12.10, kernel 3.5.0-18

Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)

All packages in the system updated.

PS: Following the advice from this message (click) yielded no result.

Do you hear a difference when your laptop pluged in/connected to the ground and when it is not? — Presbitero, Nov 21 '12 at 16:19
No. When I was using Ubuntu 12.04 with kernel 3.2, there was a difference between plugged in laptop and laptop working on battery. When the laptop was running on battery, there were quiet clicking sounds every 2 seconds. After the Ubuntu upgrade clicks are gone, but now there is noise, regardless of whether the laptop is connected or not. — user103978, Nov 21 '12 at 19:24
I saw the board, offering to remove PulseAudio, but there was written that should do it only as a last resort. So I hope to solve the problem some other way. — user103978, Nov 21 '12 at 19:27
Do you have alsa setup so that when a mic is plugged in the audio is played through the speakers. — David, Dec 09 '12 at 22:47
What is the connection between the microphone and playback audio through headphones? I have a microphone built into the notebook — user103978, Dec 15 '12 at 12:27
I just had the same problem, and in my case it turned out to be Skype that was the culprit. I've unchecked "Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels", and will see how that goes. If successful I'll add it as an answer (it may not be the answer to this user, but I doubt I'm the only person in the world with the exact same solution to a variant of this). — Jon Hanna, Apr 27 '14 at 17:42
My skype problem was due to my setting up a startup file that didn't use env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 as per the desktop file. I don't think it's related to your issue. — Jon Hanna, Apr 28 '14 at 18:54

score 12 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 16 '12 at 01:47

12

The most probable cause of constant noise coming in from the speakers is usually mic boost. In order to disable this:

Open a terminal.
Type alsamixer and press Enter.
Reduce the Mic Boost and Internal Mic Boost to zero. Refer to screenshot.

Screenshot

edited Dec 16 '12 at 01:47

Mochan

1,688

answered Dec 14 '12 at 06:53

Kavya Gokul

131

1

I tried that. It is not the case. – titusjaka Dec 15 '12 at 12:25
1

yes, it's not the case – user103978 Dec 15 '12 at 12:28
It's possible that your microphone input is looped into your speakers. I had this problem when pulseaudio first came out. – Kavya Gokul Dec 16 '12 at 13:00
You were almost right, but instead Mic boost I completely turned off Mic in alsamixer. After that noise has stopped. But the only way to turn it on/off is launching alsamixer, it's not comfortable. Maybe, there is any other way? – titusjaka Dec 19 '12 at 16:52
Does the noise still come out when mic volume is green and not all the way up to red? Also, have you tried setting mic volume to zero in the sound properties? – Kavya Gokul Dec 20 '12 at 06:39
Yes, when mic volume is green, I still can hear noise. It becomes less loud, but disappears only when microphone is turned out or volume is set to 0. – titusjaka Dec 20 '12 at 15:56
@titusjaka Did you solve your problem? I have the same problem and it drives me crazy. – user1652575 Nov 19 '14 at 19:49
Late to the party, but the problem exists on my Intel HDA soundcard under 16.04. Fixed by disabling Loopback in AlsaMixer. aggravation == gone – Jerbot Jun 13 '16 at 15:43
1

Somehow for me changing the Headphone Mic Boost from 0 dB to 10 dB totally killed the noise. (16.04) – DenverCoder9 Jan 09 '17 at 23:32

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 22 '16 at 18:16

5

The problem goes away after disabling the Auto-Mute mode. Run alsamixer in the terminal, scroll to the right and press up/down to enable or disable Auto-Mute mode

edited Oct 22 '16 at 18:16

hellocatfood

3,379

answered Aug 04 '14 at 22:56

wyliechee

51

2

Could you please clarify your answer? E.g. how to disable "auto mute mode"? – kraxor Aug 05 '14 at 01:23
1

You can use the arrow keys (up or down), then press ESC to quit the alsamixer – duykhoa Aug 21 '18 at 07:17
1

Thanks. This fix it. – Feras Odeh Oct 09 '19 at 08:19
Helped me to solve my problem. Thank you, sir! – zugzug May 17 '20 at 14:27
This answer did the trick for me, i think i accidentally enabled it. – Antoni Aug 17 '21 at 10:10

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 27 '17 at 08:48

3

I had this problem and solved it by disabling "loopback" in alsamixer. (open alsamixer, and disable the rightmost control)

answered Jan 27 '17 at 08:48

BartBog

151

This improved but not fully muted. Thanks! – Alfonso Nishikawa Mar 27 '18 at 10:46

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 16 '19 at 15:11

0

That's an open bug. Disabling automute in alsamixer keeps the hiss so it's easier to ignore.

answered Oct 16 '19 at 15:11

Cees Timmerman

624

Constant noise in speakers and headphones

4 Answers4

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