Dell Inspiron Audio issue

Hello. Test the audio driver by switching between the Realtek driver and the Windows native audio driver.

1. Open the Device Manager (find it in the Control Panel, or type devmgmt.msc into the search box).
2. Expand the "Sound, video & game controllers" and right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio".
3. Select to "Update Driver Software".
4. Click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
5. Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer".
6. Put a check in the box "Show compatible hardware" if not already checked.
7. In the list of devices, click "High Definition Audio" (the native driver).
8. Click "Next".
9. On the Update Driver Warning box, click "Yes" (install the driver).
10. Restart the laptop if prompted. If not prompted, sometimes you have to restart, sometimes not.
[To get back to the Realtek driver, do it again but reverse the names in steps 2 and 7.]

If you only have the symptoms with one of the drivers, then the other is at fault. If you have the same symptoms with both audio drivers, then it is very probably not a driver issue.

I have found it better to manually download the driver and not use the update process. I also did a cold boot as rebooting didn't work. I guess the driver didn't install and register that way. It has happened to me twice but now I know.

I have found it better to manually download the driver and not use the update process.

The instructions are not about updating the driver. It's about switching to the Windows native driver, as a test, to see if the Realtek driver is causing the issue. Another way to do it, that does not use the update process, is this:

1. Open the Device Manager (find it in the Control Panel, or type devmgmt.msc into the search box).
2. Expand the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" section.
3. Right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio".
4. Click "uninstall."
5. Put a check mark in the option to delete the driver software, and then ok.
6. Restart the laptop. Because you removed the Realtek driver files, Windows will install its native audio driver, named "High Definition Audio Device".
7. Go back to the Device Manager and look for "High Definition Audio Device". If you see "Realtek High Definition Audio" again, that means that there was another version of the Realtek driver on your hard drive, and Windows found and installed it. So  keep uninstalling & restarting until Realtek no longer appears under Sound...Controllers and "High Definition Audio Device" appears in its place.

Hello Jimco,

I rectified the issue by unchecking Turn ON fast start-up in power management....Thank you

Hello Jimco,

Please find the attachment.

Thanks so much. that's a big help because I have Win 7 which does not have that setting, so I can't make a picture from my screen.