Dell Inspiron 15-5547 i7- Audio gets louder

Hi Rocketman16,

I would suggest you to update the BIOS and audio driver on the system for issue resolution. Please enter your service tag # on the link below, select the OS, then download the BIOS from BIOS section and audio driver from audio section onto the system and install it.

http://dell.to/18r60nI

Please let me know if this helps.

Thank you for your response.

I have tried this on all 3 laptops (The original was Reset and now has the issue again).

I am almost positive this is caused by the MAXX Audio Software.

However, I can't uninstall it.  It doesn't show up in Programs and Features.

Please help me uninstall it, so that I can see if that resolves the issue.

Thanks!

It is definitely MAXX Audio Software problem.

I experimented on different Realtek drivers and realised that everything is OK when I disable Maxx Audio "goodizers".

But my problem is that the sound get lower for a second, especially on YouTube. Seems like MAXX Audio stops working for a second for no reason.

Some unofficial Realtek driver builds (with MAXX Audio) can be installed and from build to build the problem appears more or less but still there is no cure for it now.

Dell Inspiron 15-5547 is the biggest disappointment. Drivers and body quality don't worth the price.

is true Dell will not support a system running the VLC player?

Hello Saltgrass. I detailed the issue in the VLC Media Player Warning FAQ, 3 years ago. About a year later a Dell moderator got me the word that Dell stopped enforcing this undisclosed warranty exclusion, so I made the FAQ a "legacy" faq, meaning that the information in it was no longer applicable.

However, this year we have started getting some sporatic reports of the exclusion being enforced again. I referred the reports to Terry B, who is no longer with the Forum, and to Pobert P, the chief moderator. My current advice is to play it safe and to heed the warning in the FAQ. Before contacting tech support, remove all players except Windows Media Player, and keep mum about ever having any other players installed.

I'm not sure that the exclusion is being widely enforced again. It could be that a few agents or service locations are incorrectly applying the exclusion. But I have no way of knowing, or finding out, so better be safe than sorry.

I just got a new Inspiron 17-7779 2-in-1 with the MAXX audio.  I am not seeing what you are regarding sound volume and quality.  My system did need a bios update and many of the drivers have recently been released.

I would first like to ask if it is true Dell will not support a system running the VLC player?  Have you tried checking the operation of your audio prior to loading that utility?

How do you normally change volume on your system, with the switch on the side, the speaker icon or the utility your are listening to the sound with?  I am thinking, if the volume jumps it may be going to some default level.

I read you have uninstalled or tried to uninstall the MAXX audio.  What is its exact configuration now and if it is working, are you using default settings?

The MAXX audio seems to pop up the box which asks what you have plugged in if you want to use headphones.  Are you seeing such a popup and does it work correctly.  

If there is anything you can suggest so I could duplicate your problem, please advise.

Thanks for the info, but the point of the comment was meant to bring up, that the utility could be causing a problem.  Possibly it is taking control of some devices or installing codecs which are not compatible or whatever.  However, explanation does mention a reason for audio volume changes.. the hard clipping section..which could very well be involved.

We don't know if testing has been done with both onboard speakers and a headset so maybe the speakers are acting up.  I rarely listen with laptop speakers but prefer a headset.

There are options to allow applications to take exclusive control of the device and Give exclusive mode applications priority..  Maybe the VLC is inserting itself in such a manner.

I would do a clean install on the system and see how the sound behaves with a clean or even non-OEM install version for testing.  If you are very unhappy with the system, I would do whatever it took to solve those problems.

the point of the comment was meant to bring up

Okay. You threw me off by asking if "Dell" supports it.

I should have noticed the date of the original post, my fault...

I am surprised that you guys suddenly replied xD But it's good, since the moderator (Ravi) decided to give up very quickly when his troubleshooting steps didn't work.

I'm going to clarify a few things:

This happened on 3 laptops.  2 of them are Dell Inspiron 5547s and one is a Dell Inspiron 5447.  As tuobraun said, the 5547 (and the 5447) are very buggy laptops and were not made with any care at all.  It has numerous problems, such as the 2 finger scrolling, the keyboard stopping, the overheating, the speakers, the fact that Dell replaced mine with a faulty motherboard that doesn't turn off correctly, etc.

Also, I don't have VLC and these are all on clean installed copies of Windows 10 (one of them is on Windows 8.1).  I think I somehow fixed it on the original 5547, but once I did a Reset the problem came back.  I have no idea how I previously fixed it.

The Dell Inspiron 5559, which is a new laptop I got later on, has none of these issues (except that for some reason Dell left out a power indicator and would not change it even if I paid them to do so).

My point is that it is for sure the MAXX Audio Software conflicting with badly made audio drivers.  MAXX works on the 15-5559 just fine, but not the 15-5547s.  Why?  Because Dell/Realtek failed to make a driver that does not have this issue.  Similarly, Synaptics failed to make a Touchpad driver for the 15-5547 that has a consistently working 2-finger scroll function.

If someone has a fix for this rather old but still applicable issue, please let me know.  I can't resume music or a YouTube video without being embarrassed about how loud it got.  So far, I see no solution.

It's sad to see how low manufacturers went, including Apple (They expect their MacBook batteries to explode after 5 years of use).  My Dell Inspiron 600m from around 2004 lasted me until 2015 and had no issues in its lifetime whatsoever.  My 15-5547s had issues within a month.  All 3 of them.  Maybe it's time for some new manufacturer to arise and make reliable products, since no one else seems to.

I have no experience to disagree with anything you say.  The Dell way of keeping model numbers going through several versions of the actual system configuration, confuses me and makes it hard to even understand how old a system is.

On top of that, in Win 10, Microsoft is changing the rules with almost every update.  Such as when they wiped out quite a few webcams because they wanted to change some standard.

But logically, maybe we can trouble shoot...

First, does the sound reproduce in a headset?.

Does the problem not come back until you have installed the Waves Audio?  The basic drivers on the system are Realtek, at least mine are.

Sound crackling might be caused by several things.  One would be the codecs, which you can check in msinfo32.exe.  We can compare what you show against what I show.

The type of files you are playing .. also involving codecs but may be something else about its content.

The processor may have problems decoding the sound or be otherwise occupied doing something else..

The Sound Device itself may be inadequate.

If any of the above were the cause, the problem would not exhibit a grace period where it worked at first and then stopped.

If it were to be the speakers, using a headset should illustrate the situation.  Since the speakers are on the bottom of my 2-in-one, what the unit sits on makes a difference.

When you say "Clean" install do you mean you installed using the downloaded media from Microsoft?

Waves has a service in the Services section of Task Manager (WavesSysSvc).  When the sound is acting up, you might try selecting it by right clicking and stopping the service.  Give it a minute or so to see if anything improves.  If the sound improves then that pretty well confirms you suspicion.

Otherwise, the "it did work but now it doesn't" scenario would point to some type of update, whether Windows or a device.

I just got a whole string of internet warnings from McAfee... let us know if you discover anything..