Disable Track Pad / Right Speaker Sound Distortion / Weird Sound Problem Between Apps

[RobMeade]

Hi all,

I'm not sure whether anyone will be able to shed any light on or help me with these items but I thought I'd asky anyway.

I purchased the following a little while ago;

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland


I had some initial issues with the audio, in that the volume didn't respond to the windows volume control/slider at all. It was either complete off or complete on, e.g. 0% or 100%. I managed to resolve that by reinstalling the sound driver.

Other issues I've experienced to date include;

Disabling Trackpad
I find that my upper left thumb often makes contact with the track pad, either whilst working, or perhaps playing a game, this invariably leads to a "click" which whilst using apps in frustrating and whilst being stealthy in a FPS is hugely annoying. There are no options under Windows to "disable" it, and despite there being a function button on the keyboard which indicates the track pad has been disabled/enabled - it actually makes no difference at all - presumably this would just call whatever the tickbox under the windows options would do - but as that functionality appears to be missing, it does nothing.

Right Speak Distortion
I noticed this very early on but wasn't sure whether that was just "normal" or not, its now at a point where its quite frustrating, but I'm in the middle of studying at the moment and the thought of sending the laptop back to have it looked at/repaired would mean a significant interuption to me being able to use it for my studies. Basically, if the volume is turned up (and it doesn't have to be turned up very much) it seems to distort with anything bassy, kinda crackle/hiss kinda noises. If I plug in some headphones, or use my wireless ones the audio is perfect. This also only seems to occur on the speak on the right side of the laptop.

Only tested by placing my ear next to each speaker but its noticeably different. I don't know whether I have two speakers in the laptop which are the same, or whether one is responsible more for the bass, if that makes any sense... just doesn't seem right. Spoils watching things on Netflix for example.

Weird Sound Problem Between Apps
This one is also incredibly frustrating and again relates to audio. I have noticed that periodically the audio seems to be very "muffled", its much deeper in bass and just doesnt sound right at all. The only resolution I have found for this so far is by rebooting the laptop, at which point it typically seems to reset and be ok.

I think it may be related to the apps that I use, in particularl Unreal Engine for games development, although initially I thought it may have been related to my use of my wireless headphones - its quite hard to track down. Audio within Unreal Engine will be fine, but then when I close that, and perhaps launch a game or want to watch something on Netflix, the audio is noticeably muffled. The weird thing is, if I change the volume control and make pings go "ping" etc, that sounds fine... but the rest of the audio seems b0rked.

None of these issues feel particularly "big" but combined they are spoiling my enjoyment of the product and the trackpad issue especially often screws up what I'm trying to type in a document - as has been the case twice whilst writing this.

If anyone can offer any suggestions/thoughts I would be most grateful. Sorry if some of these sound a bit vague, if any more specifics are required I will try to answer to the best of my ability.

Kind regards,

Rob

 

[Charlas]

Trackpad, you should be able to tell windows to disable it on mouse detection and change the palm rejection settings. I'm not sure which pad is in use on that chassis

Got into the Windows Touchpad Settings

Click the Additional Settings under Related Settings on the Right there,

Should give you something similar to that? There are usually advanced options in there, but depends on the manufacturer, and type, but dig around there you should find the disable option (the double-tap tick box is the one that enables the double tap top left to disable pad and needs to be checked to allow it to work)

'Muddy' Sound is usually down to drivers as well, might be worth removing all the sound drivers in windows

(Note I've got a whole bunch you wont have! and don't actually even use the onnboard, but remove all the drivers here) then reboot the machine, and let Windows re-detect them, should be an AC97 driver that gets installed, try it without any 'extended feature overlays' (LikeTHX or whatnot) and see if it works OK, if it does try re-install the driver (or latest version of the driver) that PCS give you on your drivers page and make sure it's all good then.

Speaker... Either it's become damaged so vibrating, or somehow it's become slightly unmounted or some piece of debris has fallen into the speaker area, only way to check is to pop the bottom off and see if there's anything loose looking, or turn it all off and listen while you give it a little shake, see if there's any rattle from the speaker that's not right, I've seen little bits of junk/dust get into the speaker area and become trapped against the cone causing vibration and distortion before.

 

[RobMeade]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to reply and providing some detailed steps...

Just approaching them one at a time, here's what I have for trackpad settings under Windows... as you can see, there is not a lot to play with!

 

[RobMeade]

..and from the Related Settings... not I have no tabs for the touchpad...

 

[Charlas]

Hmmm, click hardware, let's see what driver is loaded please?

Doesn't look like you have any touchpad drivers loaded from that.

 

[RobMeade]

Hi, sorry for the delayed response, here's the Hardware tab;

 

[Charlas]

I'll be honest not sure what the octane chassis is, check the drivers download section to make sure the mouse driver is installed, I'd hazard a guess that it's the synaptic touch pad but not sure.

Could try install (for synaptic)

https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/n1mgx14w.zip

Or if its (unlikely) an Elan touchpad

Download ELAN Input Device for WDF Driver 16.11.3.2 for Windows 10 64 bit

Download ELAN Input Device for WDF Driver 16.11.3.2 for Windows 10 64-bit (Other Drivers & Tools)

drivers.softpedia.com

Unpack them, goto device manage, find the mouse/touchpad and update the driver, and load the unpacked driver, you should get the Microsoft precision driver then and all should work.

But check your download area first, as there should be a driver there.

 

[Charlas]

Hi, sorry for the delayed response, here's the Hardware tab;

View attachment 16612

Yeah synaptic one,

Try the top link from above.

 

[Charlas]

How to Enable Microsoft's Precision Touchpad Drivers on Your Laptop

Microsoft has been trying to improve the touchpad experience on Windows 10 laptops.

www.google.com

Decent write up on how to do the install if you need it.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[RobMeade]

Thanks for this, I will give it a go... just conscious of screwing anything up at the moment as relying on the laptop heavily for my course... will give the touchpad drivers a try and see what happens - thanks

 

[Charlas]

Do a snapshot so you can come back to it, think they get you to do it in the write up so should be good.

At the moment your just running the very basic Microsoft 'if all else fails' driver is why your struggling.

 

[RobMeade]

Thank you so much for this, I now have those drivers installed, Windows still felt what was installed was best, but following those steps seemingly ignored that and now I have a wealth of options AND the function button for turning the touchpad on/off now works!

Really appreciate your help with that Ashleigh

 

[Charlas]

Any Time

 

[RobMeade]

I'd like to try to resolve the audio issue too, but I think that it would be good to try to ascertain exactly under what circumstances it occurs... I'm about 90% confident it occurs after having Unreal Engine open and then closing that and launching say, Fortnite, or Netflix, but would feel happier getting it to a reproduction steps kinda place before changing anything. I'm also reliant on the audio at the moment for remote lectures so might not be the best to time to fiddle and break things

 

[Charlas]

I'd like to try to resolve the audio issue too, but I think that it would be good to try to ascertain exactly under what circumstances it occurs... I'm about 90% confident it occurs after having Unreal Engine open and then closing that and launching say, Fortnite, or Netflix, but would feel happier getting it to a reproduction steps kinda place before changing anything. I'm also reliant on the audio at the moment for remote lectures so might not be the best to time to fiddle and break things

Could always try pull the audio driver off (in add remove programs) and just use the windows default one, it's not feature-rich, but might show if it's a driver issue or hardware

 

[RobMeade]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion.

This is what I have under Device Manager...

The LE_WH_CH700N items are for my wireless headphones, the NVidia ones I'm assuming came with the graphics card, and the Realtek I'm assuming is the built in sound card.

(note, I'm loving being able to type and not have the touchpad constantly place the mouse cursor elsewhere!! Thanks again!)

These are the only two Realtek items in the Add/Remove Programs section;

If I double-click the sound icon on the taskbar to get to the audio settings, I note I have this second "digital" option also;

It hasn't ever seemingly done anything/worked. If I select it, I get no audio output through the laptop at all, which is odd, only the top one seems to do anything.

If you have any insight on that second option I'd be interested to know what its for, perhaps its for if I have something else plugged into the laptop?

If I follow your suggestion of removing these items through the Add/Remove programs, I'm guessing it would be worth removing both the Audio Console and the Audio Driver etc. The laptop may prompt for a reboot, and if it does, is this where the standard Microsoft driver will just install, or is there a chance it may find a most suitable Realtek driver again?

Your suggestion is a good one though, remove the driver, see if I still get the odd behaviour. I wish I could pin point the activities/app usuage that seems to cause it, its so frustrating, as always seems to occur when I've finished working and then want to chill out with a movie or something, which is what makes me think its possibly related to Unreal Engine, as I'd have had that open for some time on most occasions when working.

Thanks again for the support, appreciated