I plugged my laptop into the aux on the head unit via the headphone jack on the laptop and the sound comes though but it crackles and pops. I've tried adjusting the voulume on the laptop to a lower level but that doesn't seem to help.

Come to think of it... it pulled the same thing in my wifes s10 when hooked up though a fm modulator, But I can hook my laptop to my home stereo and it's perfectly clear.

I may elaborate on this a little more later.. i got like 2 minutes of lunchtime left.

 

some systems do not like the noise that a computer puts out.
so you get all the junk sounds pops static things like that.

a line hum eliminator would take care of that.

 

not sure how much help this is but i use my mp3 player with that joker and it works fine.

 

I plug my mp3 equiped cell phone in it and plays fine and also now it's a hands free set-up.

 

I'm trying to remember if i used the same cord on both the s10 and Hhr. that may be my problem. I haven't tried hooking anything else to the aux input either... I may try that with a mp3 player tonight to see if it does it also.

 

Well, I figured out it's my power inverter causing the noise I can turn it off and the buzzing and crackleing goes away. would a noise filter get rid of the noise somehow? Is there a solution short of getting a different inverter?

 

Try muting your mic on your laptop. Sometimes it causes feedback under certain conditions even though you mic is not actively being used by any program.

 

I did a little internet research and came up with what might be a solution. A ferrite filter that clips on the cord. I've seen them on things like PS2 controller cords and usb cables before,but never really knew what the purpose was.
I remembered I had one on a OLD early 90s laptop power supply so I took it off and clipped it on various places between the aux input on the HHR and the laptop and also tried it on the Power inverter cords on both the 12v side and 110v side,but didn't really notice any difference.

Forgot about trying to mute the mic. I'll try that this evening.

 

it could be a faulty power inverter or a bad ground in the inverter circut. you might try a different inverter if you have one available to test it.

 

The inverter is a targus and it's not very old. I bet i could try another inverter though and it would eliminate the noise.