Audio Problem on new dell XPS 13 (2015)

What really scares me is the possibility that this problem may be hardware related

Hello. If you have not yet invested a lot of time installing software and data, you should perform a system recovery and return the laptop to the exact state it was in when you took it out the box. Then test the audio immediately before you allow any updates (turn off Microsoft automatic updates before you go online).

If the audio does not work at that point, consider returning the laptop, because the problem is caused either by faulty hardware or a problem created at the factory.

If the audio does work okay at that point but fails again after you do allow updates, then you will know that the updates caused the problem.

there's a way to reach the original driver (I mean the one installed on the pc when it's sold)?

There are 4 models that Dell calls XPS 13. In the future you should supply your full model name. If you have the most recent version it is the XPS 13 9343. You can go to the XPS 13 9343 support page, select your operating system by using the little blue "Change OS" menu (Win 7 or 8.1).

Next, expand the audio category. There will be a Realtek audio driver there. It is the initial release -- there have been no updates -- so it should be the one that was pre-installed at the factory.

There are 4 models that Dell calls XPS 13

Yeah, I'm sorry, i forgot to specify the correct one. It's the new XPS 13 9343 anyway.

Luckily I've solved. I don't know how but I re-installed the driver, thank rebooted -> still wasn't working, so I rebooted into bios and had a system check trough the bios setting. Rebooted and now everything seems to work. made a backup just in case.

Thanks for the support! :D

Oh no, that's not good news! Did that solve the problems? Really frustrating, I only received the laptop on Friday and am going to have to send it off, and my guess is that they'll do a factory restore :( Thanks for the advice anyway

Well I don't know if it's possible in your country, but they sent me the technical support directly on site. They changed the motherboard in about 10 minutes and it was all finished. :)

Yes that solved the problem. Have u tried to to enter the bios and then reboot?

I'm having the same issue unfortunately, and a driver reinstall / reboot hasn't made any difference :( Is your XPS 13 sound card still functioning correctly? Really don't want to do a system restore, I've just got this thing nicely set up!

Yeah,  I've contacted Dell assistance and they changed my motherboard :) just in case it was hw related :D better contact them and ask for a support

Oh no, that's not good news! Did that solve the problems?

Really frustrating, I only received the laptop on Friday and am going to have to send it off, and my guess is that they'll do a factory restore :(

Thanks for the advice anyway

I'm having the same issue unfortunately, and a driver reinstall / reboot hasn't made any difference :(

Is your XPS 13 sound card still functioning correctly?

Really don't want to do a system restore, I've just got this thing nicely set up!

Ok this is odd, I rebooted and went into the BIOS - disabled audio, booted into Windows, back into BIOS and re-enabled audio, and now it seems to work.

Not sure if it's going to continue to do so though...

Sorry to spam - an update: rebooted one more time, audio is broken again.

If anyone from Dell is reading this, please help!

I have had the exact same issue.

Going into BIOS, I ran diagnostics that proved audio hardware is fine. Then, I rebooted Windows, and audio driver worked again... for a couple of days.

Now, audio is out again.

My impression is that it ain't hardware but rather driver related.

I've finally solved this problem - believe it or not it does seem to be hardware related.

Essentially I discovered that when sound isn't working, a guaranteed fix it to put the machine into standby and then resume.

With Dell's help I performed a factory restore, and then after that didn't work a clean install of Windows 8.1. Still no joy.

In the end Dell sent me out a new unit, and at present (touch wood) audio is working much more reliably.

I have this same issue.  It seems to be tied to dual boot.  When I just boot windows 8 it is fine.  When I boot ubuntu then boot to windows 8 the audio device wont work.  If I reboot to windows 8 again.........it works just fine.  

Sure seems like faulty drivers.  

Also I turned fast boot off hoping that would fix it...........nope.  

Could this really be a hardware issue?  Will Dell send me a new machine?  I really don't want some tech ripping up my laptop...........

I've had this same problem. Here's what I know so far:

1) It seems to happen most often when resuming from sleep; no system/software changes at all, I'll close the lid and put it to sleep, then when I open the lid, my audio will be broken. I'm convinced it's a driver issue, not a hardware issue. It started happening a few days after I received my laptop, so it feels like a core driver/OS conflict, not something related to third party software.

2) Putting it to sleep, rebooting, resuming, etc. solves nothing in my experience.

3) A few times I fixed it by going into Device Manager and disabling the device, then re-enabling it. That didn't work for me the last time.

4) Disabling the audio card in the BIOS, booting into Windows, rebooting, going back into the BIOS, re-enabling the audio card, then booting back into Windows did not fix it.

5) When it broke again today (this is probably the 10th time since I've owned this laptop), I removed the device from Device Manager, downloaded and installed the audio drivers, rebooted, and then it worked (and has remained working today)

We ALL need to call and email Dell support, including hitting them up on Twitter (@DellCares) so they pay attention to this issue.

I'm ticked that such an obvious problem escaped Dell QA!

I asked @DellCares on Twitter about this, and they said that updating the BIOS to A04 (which I did yesterday) and reinstalling the audio driver should fix this. It's only been one day for me, so I can't say for sure if this is fixed. Has anyone else been running A04 for longer? Does this fix the issue?

Where did you get firmware A04? I am having the same issue which is very annoying.

I don't find the update using the Dell update application in Windows...