i have plugged my headphones.. but the sound comes from the speakers only.. my lap is Dell Inspirion 15 7000 series

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luscious_1

Commendable
Jan 25, 2017
1
0
1,510
I own a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series laptop. Im not able to listen through my headphones, when i plug in my headphones the sound comes only through the laptop speaker, and im not sure how to rectify it..At first i thought it was the problem with my headphones, but it turned out otherwise. please do help me find a solution.
 
Solution
If your external speakers/headphones aren't working, try the following...

1. Go to "Control Panel".
2. Click on "Sound".
3. Make sure you are on the "Playback" tab.
4. Click on the device you are trying to fix.
5. Now click the "Configure" button and follow the prompts. (Be sure you also click the "Test" button.)
6. Once that is complete, click the "Properties" button.
7. When you are done with your changes, in "Properties", click "Apply" and then "OK".
8. Then click "OK", again, on the main "Sound window".
If your external speakers/headphones aren't working, try the following...

1. Go to "Control Panel".
2. Click on "Sound".
3. Make sure you are on the "Playback" tab.
4. Click on the device you are trying to fix.
5. Now click the "Configure" button and follow the prompts. (Be sure you also click the "Test" button.)
6. Once that is complete, click the "Properties" button.
7. When you are done with your changes, in "Properties", click "Apply" and then "OK".
8. Then click "OK", again, on the main "Sound window".
 
Solution

Ideris_StarWolf

Prominent
Mar 25, 2017
2
0
510


I am having the same problem with a brand new Inspiron 15 7000 7567. However, I can offer a few more details. For starters, this is a somewhat intermittent problem and seems to have something to do with rebooting the machine. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's not clear to me yet if waking from sleep is any different. I've seen some forums that suggested turning off the "Hybrid Shutdown" function in power options, and I tried that. But all that did was make boot up times longer and didn't help the problem at all.

Secondly, when you go to select a device to test or configure, these laptops say "Speakers/headphones" -- that is, you can't isolate the built-in speakers from any device plugged into the audio jack for testing purposes. This, unfortunately, renders your suggestion useless, I'm afraid, even though it would normally be an excellent first step.

Third, when the problem occurs, it seems to be that the laptop straight up ignores or doesn't even see the fact that something has been plugged into the audio jack at all. I've tried this with multiple different headsets, all have the same problem. You know that friendly (though somewhat annoying) message you get on Windows systems notifying you that you've just plugged/unplugged a device from the audio jack? You never get that message here. Again, the behavior suggests the laptop simply doesn't see the jack activity, ignores it, or at the very least isn't checking for it before deciding where to route sound.

Another forum I saw suggested switching out the Realtek Driver for the Microsoft Compatibility Driver. That worked for a while. But this morning, after a reboot, I once again have sound only through the built-in speakers, even though I'm sitting here with my headphones on and plugged in. I wasn't really happy with that solution anyway, though-- it worked, but it created this intermittent hiss-pop, as if someone was pulling the headphones partially out of the jack and then pushing them back in again. It was annoying and LOUD.

I have a couple of other tricks I can try. One is going to be to see if my Bluetooth headphones work. Another thing I can do is disable the Realtek Audio driver and try out the NVIDIA audio driver instead (this laptop has a discrete NVIDIA video card in it). I'll post my results here after I've played around a little bit. The thing that burns me a little bit is that this is part of what I paid extra for when I bought the extended warranty, but a few minutes of skimming through forums has indicated that Dell tech support is next to worthless on this issue. I'm really disappointed in Dell. This is an EXPENSIVE laptop and this kind of issue is inexcusable.

If you or anyone else has more ideas or information, I am all ears. Please keep the conversation going.

UPDATE 1: Okay well, this is truly weird. I disabled the Realtek Driver to test the NVIDIA sound driver, but I hadn't realized initially that the NVIDIA one was stirictly virtual. So when I disabled the Realtek driver I had no sound at all. Okay, no big deal, re-enable the Realtek driver and start testing other things, right? Well when I reenabled the driver, with my headphones plugged in all of a sudden I'm getting perfect, crystal clear sound through my headphones when I test them. However, as soon as I unplug them, my sound goes back to the built-in speakers and when I plug my headphones in again... they are once again completely ignored as before. Sound still plays through those built-in speakers just fine, but the computer ignores the headphones. So we're still pretty far from a solution but this seems like another valuable peice of information.

And, I guess this process of disabling/reenabling the Realtek driver with the headphones plugged in is a "work around," although it is an absolute pain in the butt. Still, better to have SOMETHING that works, rather than an inexplicable intermittent problem that can't be helped.
 

RJ5929

Prominent
Apr 18, 2017
1
0
510
any update on this, I still have the exact problem as "Ideris_StarWolf" described, only temp fixes until jack is plugged out or systems is restarted.
 

Ideris_StarWolf

Prominent
Mar 25, 2017
2
0
510


Nope, sorry... And I have tried EVERYTHING. BIOS update, multiple driver updates from, Dell, Microsoft, and Realtek themselves, with fresh installs every single time (i.e. uninstalled former driver before installing a new one). Nothing fixes it-- except disabling and re-enabling the driver, or restarting with headphones plugged in. I think we can safely call this an engineering fault on Dell's part.
 

GabeL

Prominent
Jun 11, 2017
2
0
510


Thank you very much for your detailed "trial and error" solutions. I have the same feeling with you: Dell's Tech Support is the most useless organism in this universe. I also searched my country's forum about this hitch, but no solution at all. Maybe this is a bug that Dell is always ignoring and still selling this kind of laptop to the customers. I also use 7000 Series (7576), an expensive but somewhat 'rubbish' due to this hitch and the tech support Dell provided. Anyway, thanks again for your solution first. I will see if I can find a better solution in the future.
 

Arsene_1

Prominent
Jun 21, 2017
1
0
510


BUT! when you change the device, internal SUBWOOFER DOES NOT play! Dear Dell, this is fail of the year!
 
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