17" Defiance - Some issues

[Fuzzball]

Got a new 17" Defiance a week ago and have been struggling to set it up due to my anxieties in dealing with new, unfamiliar things. I'm slowly getting there and will hopefully be alright in the end.

What's bothering me most at the moment is screen wobbling. The Defiance is much thinner than my previous PCS laptop (a 17" Octane I got in 2016) and so the screen half is especially thin. Therefore its lightness means it can wobble back and forth if the laptop itself is slughtly moving. So the screen wobbles briefly when I open up the laptop quickly without holding the screen steady (which is fine), but my main problem is that my desk is wobbly.

My floor is carpeted and I have an IKEA desk which is simply a >2m long board like this:

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With six of these legs attached:

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Therefore it sags a little in the middle and when I'm resting my hands on the laptop and typing, the desk inevitably wobbles, and this slight surface movement causes the laptop screen to wobble back and forth.

So I'm wondering what I can do about this to ease my worries, and wondering what other people's experiences are. Obviously I should try and find a way to fix the desk to the wall, but that's not easy in my room layout. Anyone had any experiences with computers on wobbly desks and what they did?

And how do I judge whether the laptop screen is wobbling too much? Have other people with a Defiance laptop found its screen to be more wobbly than other designs? Anything I can do with the laptop itself to make the screen wobble less? If I leave this problem for too long without making things steady, will the repeated screen wobbling affect the laptop's integrity?

(Bit of an odd problem that is somewhat affected by personal tolerances, but I wanted to try and hear experiences and advice to help my worries.)

 

[barlew]

I have got to say there is a first for everything and this is certainly a first.
All I can recommend really is just ensure you are using the laptop on a stable surface. I your desk wobble is causing issues operating your new laptop maybe its time to invest in a new desk.

To the question of whether its potentially wobbling your screen too much and causing damage my initial reaction is I doubt it. Its possible It is causing extra movement on internal components such as the screen ribbon cable which could cause extra wear and tear I guess.

 

[Fuzzball]

Well, an update. I found a way to fix my desk to the wall, and this seems to have stopped my screen wobble. I haven't used my laptop a huge amount yet, but from the typing I'm now doing, it seems the screen is staying still. I guess my desk really was very unsteady to cause such a noticeable movement of the screen.

Apologies for my silly forum topic, but it was something that was really bothering me.

 

[barlew]

Well, an update. I found a way to fix my desk to the wall, and this seems to have stopped my screen wobble. I haven't used my laptop a huge amount yet, but from the typing I'm now doing, it seems the screen is staying still. I guess my desk really was very unsteady to cause such a noticeable movement of the screen.

Apologies for my silly forum topic, but it was something that was really bothering me.

Glad you got it sorted mate.

 

[Fuzzball]

Got a new 17" Defiance laptop. Tried using my headphones with it for the first time today. They are over-ear, can headphones. I've noticed when I'm sitting there wearing them, but not listening to any music or anything, every once in a while there will be a small audio "pop". Just a tiny little sound, like someone has tapped the speaker or something. This isn't noticeable when audio is playing, so I don't know if the little pops don't actually occur during audio playback, or if they're just masked by the noise. This pop still occurred with another pair of headphones.

I came across this reddit thread of a similar issue where the answers suggested it was the laptop's audio card shutting down to save power. (However, my problem isn't exactly the same as this, as I haven't noticed the pop when I start a piece of audio. Just intermittently when no audio is playing.) Could this be what's happening to me? Any way to stop this? I find this little pop noticeable and annoying.

Side Note: My laptop came with the Sound Blaster Atlas program installed. I've tried to turn off its "enhancements" and also switched off its "Background apps" in Windows Settings (whatever that means), so this program probably shouldn't be interfering with my audio; although I haven't actually uninstalled it.

 

[DarkPaladin]

Got a new 17" Defiance laptop. Tried using my headphones with it for the first time today. They are over-ear, can headphones. I've noticed when I'm sitting there wearing them, but not listening to any music or anything, every once in a while there will be a small audio "pop". Just a tiny little sound, like someone has tapped the speaker or something. This isn't noticeable when audio is playing, so I don't know if the little pops don't actually occur during audio playback, or if they're just masked by the noise. This pop still occurred with another pair of headphones.

I came across this reddit thread of a similar issue where the answers suggested it was the laptop's audio card shutting down to save power. (However, my problem isn't exactly the same as this, as I haven't noticed the pop when I start a piece of audio. Just intermittently when no audio is playing.) Could this be what's happening to me? Any way to stop this? I find this little pop noticeable and annoying.

Side Note: My laptop came with the Sound Blaster Atlas program installed. I've tried to turn off its "enhancements" and also switched off its "Background apps" in Windows Settings (whatever that means), so this program probably shouldn't be interfering with my audio; although I haven't actually uninstalled it.

I've had this popping issue before and it was the Realtek Drivers causing problems. Every time sound would begin playing, it would make a pop noise regardless of whether they earphones were plugged/unplugged. I'd personally suggest either:

• Enter the Realtek Audio Console > Power Management > Enable/Disbable Power Management
• Uninstall the Realtek Drivers and allow Windows to reinstall them
• Uninstall the Realtek Drivers and download them manually from Realtek's website
• Right click the speaker icon > Open volume mixer > Left click the speakers icon > Click Advanced > Change the frequency (mine is currently at 24 bit, 48000 HZ studio quality)

 

[Fuzzball]

I've had this popping issue before and it was the Realtek Drivers causing problems. Every time sound would begin playing, it would make a pop noise regardless of whether they earphones were plugged/unplugged. I'd personally suggest either:

• Enter the Realtek Audio Console > Power Management > Enable/Disbable Power Management
• Uninstall the Realtek Drivers and allow Windows to reinstall them
• Uninstall the Realtek Drivers and download them manually from Realtek's website
• Right click the speaker icon > Open volume mixer > Left click the speakers icon > Click Advanced > Change the frequency (mine is currently at 24 bit, 48000 HZ studio quality)

Thanks for the advice. Did these steps work for you? I tried changing the frequency, but that didn't seem to do anything.

In the end, I've actually sent the laptop back to PCS for an RMA. I contacted their tech support about an odd screen display issue (as well as this audio problem), and after being unable to fix things over the phone, I've sent it in for them to be able to take a proper look at it. Hopefully they're able to fix my problems.