Vostro ????, audio annoyance!

Turtle Beach Micro II.

Disable onboard audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdHY4XOLBcA

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Advantage-Micro-Sound-Card/dp/B0002ICGDY/

Hmmm...interesting!  A Dell tech representative seems to think the whole motherboard needs replaced.  I'm no electronics guru, but, uh, really?!?!  If the problem is indeed the line-out port, can't that one piece be replaced or would that require soldering and such?  This whole situation is so annoying!  I've had great history with Dell and this is the only real problem in years, but it's a biggie.  Your solution would be better in my eyes that having to gut this "new" Vostro.  I say "new" because I bought it this past November and only now, finally fired it up.  Don't ask.  The audio is fine when I plug speakers into the front, headphone port, but, call it cosmetic, I'd really rather not do that.

why not test those speakers on PC #2 then blame true cause. next.

even replaced old 3.5mm cables is possible,  old bad, new better,

they even sell double shield cables, for super low noise pickup (RFI/EMI and the like)

even having silly LED desk lamps that are known for BLASTING making chopper noise can inductively couple in to your. those cheap non class B certified FCC lamps are PAIN.  turn off everything in the room not needed for PC (got noise now>?)

line out cables , 

ARE your dell sound drivers up to date? off your dell   vosto support page.

THE 60Hz hum smacks of

1: bad cable.

2: bad power supply in the powered speakers most have wall wart, power pack others have 120vac (if USA)

AC line cord, if the PSU of anykind inside or  outside goes bad (caps bad) there will be hum.

if flex the 3.5mm cable does sound change, bad cable. (or bad jack green on mobo)

I did go ahead and buy a cheap external soundcard.  The ones you suggested have been discontinued.  Anyway, turns out, it fixes the static, hiss coming from my speakers!  So the problem lies in the line-out port at the back of the computer (the front-out never had a problem).  To really fix it requires sending in the computer to have a new motherboard put in. Question is, even though the warranty is active, since the problem is "fixed" and I'm not exactly using this computer for its sound capabilities, do I care?

Yep, I did test the speakers on another computer. They’re just fine. So that discounts bad speakers or wires. Tried, as you said, turning off everything else in the room. Nope. Still static-y sound. Have been using two computers in this same setup for years. Never had this problem. The drivers are up to date or, at least, they were. I ran the gambit of downloading new drivers to falling back to old to even using a default Windows/MS driver. Notta. Updated the OS and everything else on the computer. Even tried to uninstall a few things and/or disable/delete/re-enable things. Watched myriad tutorials on what the problem may be and a supposed fix. Nothing worked. Took the nuclear option and did a factory image reset. Still nothing. The only thing I can say is that the “universal” audio port in the front gives clean sound but the green one in the back, not so much. So the problem has to be that green back port which, supposedly, needs a motherboard change-out to fix – and I ain’t no electronics tech fixer. Bah!