External speakers make a popping sound

Hi,

I just bought a Dell Inspriron 15 7000 series laptop. I want to use a pair of Altec Lansing desktop speakers with it to listen to music. They are probably about 5 years old and work fine with my ipad and with my older HP laptop that I just replaced. However, when I plug them into the Dell, they make a popping sound and then continue to pop somewhat randomly while I'm playing music. The internal laptop audio works fine on the Dell itself, for videos, PC sounds, etc.

Any idea how to fix this so I can use the speakers? Maybe a different driver? I don't want to screw up the internal sound.

Thanks,

Karen