Dell Latitude 7480 - crackling sound from the speakers

I'm considering returning it back to Dell :-\

If you want to return it, don't wait too long. After the brief return period, which starts from the invoice date, you won't be allowed to return it.

Try the Windows native audio driver -- as a test.

1. Open the Device Manager.

2. Expand the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" section.
3. Right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio" and select to uninstall.
4. Put a check mark in the option to delete the driver software, and then ok.
5. Restart the laptop and go back to the Device Manager and check again for a Realtek driver. Keep uninstalling & restarting until Realtek no longer appears under Sound...Controllers and "High Definition Audio Device" appears in its place. "High Definition Audio Device" is the name of the native driver.

[The reason you might have to go through the process more than once is because the driver files for more than one Realtek driver could be on the hard drive. When a Realtek driver is removed, the next one gets installed if Windows can locate the files. Windows installs its generic driver only after all Realtek files have been removed.]

To re-install the Realtek driver, it's better to download it from your Dell support page rather than letting Windows Update find one.

Thank you Jim.

I uninstalled the audio driver (by Realtek) as you suggested, but no Windows driver was installed instead, even after two reboots (the device appeared as unknown in the device manager under Sound, video & Game controllers). However, afterwards I installed the Realtek audio driver which I downloaded from Dell's website - but it didn't solve the issue.

Any suggestions ? How can I install manually the Windows generic driver?

Thank you again!

Any suggestions ? How can I install manually the Windows generic driver?

I don't know how, if Windows won't do it.

The crackling is in the speakers, but the audio through headphones or external speakers is clear?

We get a lot of posts about crackling. The most popular solution is to use the native driver. You could try checking "Disable all enhancements" in the Enhancements tab of the Speak properties.

If you want to test badly enough, you could run Linux Live from a cd or dvd. That would be a test of Windows because it would rule out Windows and the Realtek driver.  I can supply exact instructions and a link if you want, but the catch is that you would need an external optical drive to make the disk and to run it, if your laptop does not have an internal one. Alternately, there is a way to run a small Linux OS from within Windows, but I am not familiar with the details of doing that.

Thank you Jim.

I tried listening to music with headphones and no audio issues were detected.

I ran Linux (Ubuntu) as a test and I also didn't notice any audio issues while music was playing.

I wanted to turn off the enhancements, as you suggested, but I didn't find such tab.

Eventually, I managed to install a native Windows driver ("High Definition Audio Device") - what, apparently, solved the issue :-)

p/s. Now I have the enhancements tab (and the enhancements are unchecked). 

Currently the "MaxxAudioPro" is unavailable, but I guess I prefer staying without the enhancements as long the sound is clear.

I just hope that Dell will release a new audio driver soon.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Thank you for the detailed feedback! If you get a chance, could you explain how you installed the native driver, so that I can pass it along?

Thanks. The reason I asked is that some owners of recent models had reported difficulty getting a native driver to install. They were reporting that the way you used didn't work, so I staarted recommending the "delete " method. It's confusing.

The static\crackling sound can be heard from the speakers even when the headphones are connected (the sound from the headphones is clear, but although no music is played from the speakers, the static\crackling sound still can be heard from the speakers).

My guess from that is that it's hardware.

I found out that there is a connection between the crackling\static sound and CPU usage.

Each time I open a new tab in the browser (which results in higher CPU consumption), I hear the crackling\static sound (Microsoft Edge is much better in this respect, because Chrome consumes more CPU).

I really don't know what to think anymore. I'm just very disappointed with the quality of Dell's laptops (a year ago I had to return to Dell the XPS 9550 because Dell failed to repair the hardware issues it had).

Our company just purchased 35 of the 7480 models, and the first 3 I worked on had an annoying 'crackling' sound when the volume was over 50%. This fourth 7480 I'm working on actually vibrates something inside the case when its over 50%... to me it sounds like a physical issue ... either some piece of plastic vibrating, or something on the speakers themselves.  Very disappointed with this. Will be calling Dell about it tomorrow.