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E5420 - Windows 10 does not detect microphone - is there a solution?
Hi,
After the constant reminders to update my Latitude E5420 from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I decided to go ahead and do it. The Microsoft update tools said my system is compatible. The update worked fine, but after a few hours of using Windows 10, I discovered the built-in microphone wasn't working. In Control Panel > Sound > Recording, it showed that no microphone was present. The two application I use that use the mic--Gchat and Skype--also show no mic available.
Looking at my system on dell.com, it shows that the E5420 was not tested with Windows 10 and that all functions might not work. My system confirms that! No microphone. (All BIOS and drivers are the latest, and I updated W10 after installing it.)
Is there any workaround available that will make the E5420's built-in microphone work under Windows 10? Perhaps there is some non-Dell approved driver that would work?
Note: I reverted back to Windows 7 and that worked fine. I can stay with W7, but I'd prefer to use W10 if there is a solution to the mic problem.
Thank you for any help.
John
Jim Coates
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November 20th, 2015 16:00
Hello John. This has come up a couple of times before with the e5420. Here is the same advice I have given others but I can't remember if I got an answer saying whether or not it worked. If you have not yet done so, install an IDT driver in compatibility mode. You can find all of the IDT drivers on the Latitude E5420 html page. There are only 2 of them for Windows --try the oldest one first.
1. Download and save the audio driver to your desktop.
2. Double click on the new icon on the desktop to extract (unzip) the driver files.
3. The extractor wizard will create a new folder for the driver files. It will be at "c:\dell\drivers\xxxxxx". Write down the exact location that the wizard creates.
4. If the driver begins to install automatically, halt (cancel) the installation.
5. Browse to the driver files on the hard drive (the location you wrote down).
6. Find the "setup.exe" file.
7. Right click on setup.exe to open the context menu.
8. Select the Properties.
9. Select the Compatibility tab.
10. Check the box "run this program in compatibility mode for"... Win7.
If that one doesn't help, try the newer one. If neither helps then I would suggest reverting the laptop back to Win7 unless you find the features of 10 to be superior to those of 7.
johnblaustein
61 Posts
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November 27th, 2015 13:00
Hi Jim,
SUCCESS!
I went ahead and updated Win7 to Win10 for the second time. After doing so, I installed the IDT driver per your suggestion and instructions. Because of that other user's comment about success with the newer driver, I used that one.
DRVR_WIN_R297613.exe
I installed using compatibility mode set to Windows 7 and it worked. Device Manager in Win10 shows no problems and the microphone now works as it should. I have tested it with Gchat and Skype. I did have one problem at first--the speakers would not work in Skype. I had to go into Control Panel > Sounds and set the default playback device to the IDT speakers/headphones. Now all is well.
Thank you again for your help. While it was not essential to update to Win10, I figure the update is inevitable, so this was a good opportunity to learn Win10 on my "extra" PC. So far, so good.
Best,
John
johnblaustein
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November 20th, 2015 16:00
Hi Jim,
Thanks so much for your quick reply.
Your instructions are very clear, and I appreciate that. I have not tried the IDT driver yet. However, I saw one of your previous posts and the reply you got said this:
"Hello Jimco, thank you for your advice..
"I have already installed "DRVR_WIN_R297613.EXE" for E5420, and looks that everting is OK..
Thanks a lot:-)"
That file--R297613--is the newer of the two available Windows drivers. Since this user said it worked, I may try that one first.
At this point, I'm a bit exhausted! I installed W10, got it all set up, found the mic problem, talked to MS and got zero help, looked for a driver on Dell and found nothing, reverted back to W7 and it's working just fine. I'm now asking myself if I need W10 at all and the answer seems to be 'no.' It's the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The E5420 is four years old and works fine for my purposes, so as long as MS provides W7 updates, maybe it's best to stick with that.
Having said all of that, I do like the look and feel of W10, so I may just run the W7>W10 update again and then install the IDT driver per your instructions. If I do that, I will post back with the results.
Again.... thank you!
John
PamW1001
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September 25th, 2016 09:00
Hi Jim,
Thank you very much, I'd spent hours looking for an answer to this before I found your post.
I upgraded to my E5520 to Windows 10 at the end of July because this was required by my company. I don't often use the internal mic when I'm working in the office so found out the hard way when I needed to join a conf call .
I have my microphone back at last.
Jim Coates
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September 26th, 2016 08:00
Thank you Pam and John, for confirming the suggested solution.
alohaland123
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February 28th, 2017 14:00
Aloha johnblaustesin. I have been searching as to why my internal microphone does not work after upgrading to Windows 10. Your answer seems to fit but I don't know how or where to install it. Am I correct? Clark
johnblaustein
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February 28th, 2017 20:00
Hi Clark,
You can download the driver here:
www.dell.com/.../DriversDetails
You want: DRVR_WIN_R297613.EXE Download the file to your desktop then double-click it. When given the option, select extract without installing. You should then see a folder with all of the install files. Find IDTSetup.exe, right-click it, select Properties, then select Compatibility, then select to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode.
Then, as I said above.....
I installed using compatibility mode set to Windows 7 and it worked. Device Manager in Win10 shows no problems and the microphone now works as it should. I have tested it with Gchat and Skype. I did have one problem at first--the speakers would not work in Skype. I had to go into Control Panel > Sounds and set the default playback device to the IDT speakers/headphones. Now all is well.
Hope this helps.
John
basilis7s
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July 3rd, 2017 12:00
You are the best bro.,,.,.thank very much.,., so many times i rebboot my pc and always i download this application,.,.,. really thank u.,,.!
grechine
1 Message
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July 28th, 2017 14:00
This worked perfectly for me after spending hours updating Windows and installing various drivers. Thank you for simple and clear answers!