Hi all,
I’ve just got the Sprout and I’ve noticed that when I have it connected to my laptop via USB, the second monitor flickers .
Has anyone here encountered the same problem?
Welcome, Dinu
Second monitor as in an additional monitor connected to your laptop? If so, this is a completely new observation and one I doubt few will experience.
I doubt this has anything to do with the Sprout. On a PC I would look for an interrupt conflict. I have no idea where to start on an Apple.
Hi Elk,
Well it’s not an Apple but an Asus running Win 7 . But still it’s quite odd because I connect a lot of stuff via USB like ext HDDs ,phones and sometimes my PWD (which I normally use via LAN) without any problems . I tried connecting Sprout also in a powered USB hub and still the same. .
Interesting. You can stream exactly the same files to the PWD via USB without issue, but these files create a problem when streaming to the Sprout via the same pathway?
Well…yes… But so far there is no other problem except the flickering in the external monitor.
Color me intrigued. Does the external monitor flicker as soon as the Sprout is connected or does it have to be streaming? Does the “flickering” represent a pattern (snow, horizontal lines, vertical lines etc…) or just a rapid dimming and brightening of the display? Does it, by chance, keep “beat” to the music or is it consistent regardless of what is streaming? Finally if you would indulge me, could you try two things:
- Unplug or turn off via the power switch the Sprout. Still flickering?
- Disconnect the USB cable from Sprout but leave it plugged into the computer or hub. Still flicker?
/Andy
The flickering consists of horizontal lines. It appears only if the Sprout is connected and powered on. It doesn’t matter if there is music playing or not .
I will test this on a desktop and on another laptop later today.
Does the external monitor flicker as soon as the Sprout is connected or does it have to be streaming?
As soon as Sprout it’s connected.
Does the “flickering” represent a pattern (snow, horizontal lines, vertical lines etc…) or just a rapid dimming and brightening of the display?
Horizontal lines of some sort but which are not moving.
Does it, by chance, keep “beat” to the music or is it consistent regardless of what is streaming?
Nope ,has nothing to do with the streaming.
Unplug or turn off via the power switch the Sprout. Still flickering?
Yes. The flicker stops only after I remove it completely from the power outlet so turning it off from the switch doesn’t help.
Disconnect the USB cable from Sprout but leave it plugged into the computer or hub. Still flicker?
No.
And this symptoms are the same on a different laptop.
Problem solved!!!
After contacting Psaudio support they told me that it might be a “ground loop” problem (whatever that is) and suggested some more test I should do. So when I put the Sprout and the Laptop/monitor in the same power outlet the problem went away;well that wasn’t exactly their suggestion but kind of a consequence because in order to use a different USB cable I had to bring the Sprout right on my desk.
Anyway all’s well when ends well !!
Still I feel a bit silly that although I have great confidence in Psaudio’s products , I caved pretty easily at the first sign of trouble. So thanks guys for a great product and have A Happy New Year!
Thanks for letting us know and thanks for the support!!