Vista - HELP! Popping sound when playing Audio with Windows Vista

Just got a new Laptop and having problem with sound. I hear popping and
clicking sounds (like when CD is scrached). First i thought the problem is
with the DVD drive. But then I reailized that it happens even when I play
audio files from the hard drive. The same sound i hear when player changed
from one sound track to the next one. I have Dell XPS M1330. I was talking to
their tech support and Dell said this porblem is caused by Windows Vista.
Does any one know what causes this problem? Is Miscrosoft working on it? It
is very important as I work with sound a lot.

Thanks in advance!

The one sure-fire test to determine whether it's Vista or not is to copy one of the media file you're having this problem with to another Vista computer and play it there.

I do, however, seriously doubt that you'll get the same results (i.e. You won't get the popping noises, unless the file itself is damaged). This clicking/popping sound you get is probably caused by magnetic and/or electrical interference from the read/write heads of the hard disk. This would be the correct assesment especially if the clicking/popping happens even when you're not playing media files.

If you can, try and check the HDD activity led. If the interference coincides with HDD activity, then it's the HDD, and you'll have to contact Dell again.

How helpfull they'll be, is another matter entirely. Dell (at least, here in South Africa), have an annoying habit of denying that their hardware is at fault, and will always try to pin the blame on a third party, with Microsoft being the usual suspect.