Unsolved
20 Posts
0
1989
15 R3, Microphone weirdness
I was trying to access the camera and mic on my 15 R3 this morning for an online web chat, and the page refused to load, claiming it couldn't access my camera and mic. I eventually fixed the problem by plugging in an external USB mic, at which point it all started working. Looking through device manager with the USB mic unplugged, I could not find a mic anywhere on my system. Does the 15 R3 have a builtin mic? If so, then mine isn't working properly, and I'd like to try and get this fixed.
Alienware-Eimy
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.4K Posts
0
May 20th, 2019 10:00
Hi @DavidPG,
If you open Device Manager, the camera should be under Imaging Devices.
You can also try installing the Dell Webcam Central. A CD is shipped with your computer, which contains the Dell Webcam Central software. If you do not have the software, you can download it by registering through My Account on the Dell website.
DavidPG
20 Posts
0
May 20th, 2019 22:00
Alienware-Eimy
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.4K Posts
0
May 21st, 2019 09:00
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Try running an ePSA/Diagnostic test on the system, click here to view a Dell article that explains how to run this test. Let us know if you receive any errors.
Also reinstall the Audio driver:
https://dell.to/30wzwdT
And the Chipset driver:
https://dell.to/30rTGpo
DavidPG
20 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 15:00
Alienware-Eimy
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.4K Posts
0
May 28th, 2019 07:00
Open Device Manager and look for show hidden devices, if the mic is not there then this looks like a hardware issue. If the system is still under warranty, you can send me a private message with the Service Tag and I will assist you further.
DavidPG
20 Posts
0
June 12th, 2019 23:00
Show Hidden Devices made the microphone visible, but checking its properties shows the following error message:
> Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)
> To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer.
No clue what's going on here, if it really is disconnected, then I'm out of luck, since this system's warranty expired almost a year ago.
It is worth noting that I did a complete "reformat and reinstall" of Windows a month or two ago, using the Windows 10 installer for USB for this system that I downloaded from Dell's Web page. I suspect the Microphone issue is another victim of that USB installer, since it also left the Killer Network WiFi in a rather bad state: in particular the Killer Network Control Center was completely missing after the installation.
What is of interest is that the Microphone shows as (High Definition Audio Device) in device manager, while the speakers show as (Realtek Audio). That suggests that it may be controlled by something other than the Realtek audio drivers I downloaded and installed recently. Any thoughts on where to find drivers for the (High Definition Audio Device) - that's certainly worth a try.