Freezing and Buzzing

[AprylBaker]

My laptop has started to freeze and make a horrible buzzing sound whenever I try to play video. It performs perfectly if I am not trying to watch a video. It has only recently started doing this. It freezes so badly, I have to completely reboot the system.

All the drivers are up to date. That is the very first thing I checked. i went to the manufacturer's home page as well and made sure the newest drivers were installed.

I have mobile Intel (r) 4 series express chipset family.

Can anyone tell me how to fix this please? I am not a noob when it comes to computers, but I have tried everything I can think of. It has gotten to the point of ridiculous. I can't even watch a full minute of a video without the freezing and buzzing.

THanks!

 

[Irene]

Hello AprylBaker, welcome to the forum.

Try the Windows troubleshooter for audio playback:
Troubleshooting in Windows

 

[karlsnooks]

My laptop has started to freeze and make a horrible buzzing sound whenever I try to play video. It performs perfectly if I am not trying to watch a video. It has only recently started doing this. It freezes so badly, I have to completely reboot the system.

All the drivers are up to date. That is the very first thing I checked. i went to the manufacturer's home page as well and made sure the newest drivers were installed.

I have mobile Intel (r) 4 series express chipset family.

Can anyone tell me how to fix this please? I am not a noob when it comes to computers, but I have tried everything I can think of. It has gotten to the point of ridiculous. I can't even watch a full minute of a video without the freezing and buzzing.

THanks!

April,
If the troubleshooter doesn't solve your problem, then when you say the laptop freezes, what exactly happens?

This problem is due to a piece of software you installed.

try to recall what you have installed recently and using Control Panel | Programs and Features | right-click on the recent pgm and choose Uninstall.

Daemon can cause problems. Your anti-virus/firewall software can cause problems. Those great and fantastice Codecs can cause problems. Any program which has to do with videos and dvds is suspect.

 

[AprylBaker]

Troubleshooting was the first thing I tried. It found nothing wrong with the system. The only thing I have downloaded is winamp, but i did that ages ago and the problem has only started recently.

The system locks up when I play a video. It completely freezes, you can't hit esc, I've tried ctrl+alt+delete to unlock it, but nothing works. It also makes a loud buzzing, the audio sometimes slurs instead of buzzing.

I am at a loss as to what is wrong.

 

[Irene]

What are you using to play the videos? May also be something to do with codecs.

Maybe try a different media player to see if it still happens -
VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework! ?

 

[AprylBaker]

I was using the latest version of winamp. I uninstalled and installed VLAN and it is doing the same thing. The laptop is less than a year old and I am ready to throw it out the window.

 

[Irene]

I was using the latest version of winamp. I uninstalled and installed VLAN and it is doing the same thing. The laptop is less than a year old and I am ready to throw it out the window.

If the computer is less than a year old, could you not consult the vendor?

 

[karlsnooks]

First remove all non-microsoft video-related software and that includes VLAN which I've also tested to see if I should recommend to people. I don't although VLAN has many good features.

After that use System Restore to restore your computer to a point before all of this started occurring.

rb: | type System Restore | ENTER |
Select the Choose a different restore point button |
NEXT |
checkmark Show more restore points |
Highlight the desired restore point |
click on Scan for affected programs button |
that will give you an idea of programs and updates which you may need to reinstall
NEXt| FINISH

You will probably now need to:
Control Panel | Windows Update | and update your computer since some MS updates probably were removed.

 

[AprylBaker]

tried that too, im thinking my video card is fried. I reinstalled windows and its doing the same thing. Laptop is not old and I dont leave it on constantly. Not sure what happened to it.

 

[Irene]

The laptop is less than a year old

In that case, would the warranty not cover this? I would be inclined to speak to the vendor.

 

[AprylBaker]

Thanks to everyone for trying to help me figure it out, I am shipping it back to the manufacturer to see if they can fix it.

 

[Irene]

Thanks to everyone for trying to help me figure it out, I am shipping it back to the manufacturer to see if they can fix it.

All the best, Apryl. I think you are doing the right thing.

We would be interested to hear what they consider is the cause.

 

[piracy]

Hello.

I'm new here and know i shouldnt post on things that are 3 months old, but i have this exact same setup and exact same problem with my laptop, but mine is no longer under warranty and i would rather throw it out the window than pay someone to fix it.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem is/how to solve it?

ive reinstalled the drivers as well as reinstalled windows, and this problem did not start until less than a week ago. i have had the laptop for around a year and a half.

Thanks

 

[Irene]

Hello piracy, welcome to the forum.

Try troubleshooting here:
Troubleshoot monitor and video card problems

and here: Correct monitor flicker (refresh rate)

Please let us know how it goes.

 

[piracy]

Ran both of those, no luck. My laptop works fine in general, it even plays Starcraft 2 with no problems, but ANY time I try to watch a video, the entire screen will freeze and a loud buzzing sound will persist for a few seconds (30 seconds at most) before it corrects itself. This is a very recent development, and i have checked and double checked that all of my drivers are up to date.

Thanks

 

[Irene]

Is there anything here which might apply:
Why does my video flicker?

 

[piracy]

unfortunately there is not.

the strange thing about this is that my graphics and sound work flawlessly when watching DVDs or when playing memory-heavy online games, but any time i try to watch streaming video online VIA sites like netflix, youtube, or hbogo, i encounter this issue of video stopping and sound becoming incredibly distorted.

Does anyone have any other ideas what this might be?

P.S. I do appreciate the suggestions you've made so far, I'm just getting frustrated because I can't figure out what caused this or how to fix it

 

[Irene]

I do appreciate the suggestions you've made so far, I'm just getting frustrated because I can't figure out what caused this or how to fix it

I do hope that someone else has some useful suggestions.

 

[northhowl]

I had a similar issue on an emachines e525 notebook. I resolved it by pulling and reseating the video card.

 

[DAHstra]

Toshiba A205-S7464

I've had this problem with my (out of warranty) Toshiba for over a year now. It's a freaky noise, and the OS just locks up.

It burps sometimes with audio conversions, but has only locked up when I watch YouTube.