Gremlins Emerge with Switch to Windows 7

CW, what makes you conclude that Windows 7 has anything to do with the problem? Not saying that it doesn't, but for meaningful suggestions to be offered I think that question has to be addressed.

You indicated that the new laptop is "much faster." Depending on the jitter rejection capabilities of your DAC, if any, it seems to me that high on the list of possible causes would be increased jitter caused by increased levels of digital noise generated by the new laptop. Faster digital circuits can be expected to cause increased amounts of digital noise, everything else being equal. Other conceivable possibilities are rfi effects or ground noise effects that may bypass the usb interface altogether.

One thing I'd try, if you haven't already, would be to see if running the computer on its battery, with the ac adapter disconnected, helps at all.

Also, what differences exist between the new configuration and the old one, aside from the laptops being different. Are you playing back the same files from the same external drive, for example? Are you using the same software program for playback?

Also, can you tell us the make and model of both laptops?

Finally, can you characterize the "horrible" sound more specifically?

Best regards,
-- Al

CW -- Ok, that does sound like something that is settings related.

I recall seeing a number of reports of similar symptoms with USB audio under Windows 7, which, depending on the specific computer, were resolved by disabling certain power saving features. Modern processors and motherboards have features which dynamically vary both cpu speed and cpu voltage depending on how busy the cpu is. Apparently that switching can sometimes introduce glitches into audio that is being sent out via usb, depending on the specific computer's hardware design.

Try going to Start/Control Panel/Hardware & Sound/Power Options, and selecting "High Performance."

Also, next to where it says "High Performance," go to "Change Plan Settings" and then "Change Advanced Power Settings." Expand the + sign next to "Processor Power Management," and under that expand the + signs next to "Minimum Processor State" and "Maximum Processor State." Set them both to 100% if they are not presently set that way.

If that doesn't help, you can restore the original default settings on the page that appeared after you clicked "Change Plan Settings."

There are probably also some power saving features that can be enabled or disabled in the computer's bios. As you may realize, the bios is entered at startup, before Windows starts to load, by pressing some keyboard key that is probably specified in the computer's manual.

Hope that helps,
-- Al

Can anyone please tell me how to restore the audio?

Try doing a Windows "System Restore," under Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore (or else enter "System Restore" into the "Search Programs and Files" box under the Start button).

Choose the most recent restore date which is offered that is prior to when the "no audio devices installed" problem arose.

Doing that will not affect your music files, data files, emails, etc., but will undo any Windows updates, and possibly program updates or installations, that have been performed subsequent to the restore date. Those updates would therefore have to be repeated.

If the System Restore doesn't fix the problem it can be reversed to the present date, which would eliminate the need to repeat the Windows or program updates that may have occurred between the two dates.

Best regards,
-- Al

Great! Thanks for letting us know.

Best regards,
-- Al

CW, thanks for the nice words, and for finding and providing the link.

According to this hardware maintenance manual, bios setup on the X201 is entered by pressing the F1 key when the ThinkPad logo appears following turn-on.

Many of the suggestions in the Sweetwater document look good, but I'm not so sure about some of them. Such as disabling ALL startup items and ALL non-Microsoft services in msconfig, and adjusting processor resource allocations for best performance of background processes instead of programs.

In any event, if you have problems as a result of any of these changes you should be able to get back to where you were via System Restore, which in the unlikely event that a change renders the computer unbootable can be run by booting into Safe Mode. Safe Mode is run by pressing F8 before the Windows logo appears at startup.

Best regards,
-- Al

CW -- re the USB issue, try this.

Not sure what to suggest on the DVD issue.

Best regards,
-- Al