Headphones do not work on Inspiron 13 7347

Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't even know what Linux is.

I've blown into the jack to see if it was dust, but no go there.  I do have Dell Audio set to tell me if there's something plugged into the jack, but it shows nothing.

That's a tough one. On mine I get a popup asking what did I just plug in, I have to select headphones, and until then even though the jack is fully in, sound still comes out from the speakers. So at least on the inspirons (I have 11 and 13) and latitude (e6440) the headphone sound is controlled by the driver. Yes, I did read that you've already tried different drivers, but bear with me, this will at most take 15 minutes:

- Blow into the jack to make sure there is no dust

- And as a last ditch effort, can you boot the system from Linux? There are many ways to easily boot into linux (as opposed to windows) but I'd rather let you pick the easiest way, just google for "ubuntu live usb" (or cd if you have optical media reader, then just burn an "iso" file and press F12 after restart). 

Linux is an operating system much like Windows but more diagnostic-friendly and with a large community of helpful people. It's just to be absolutely sure it's not an issue with windows. Because the microphone jack works and headphones share the same circuit, it should theoretically work, right? On the other hand, it's not like you bought the computer without a system and loaded windows on it, you should expect it to just work (n.b. i've never had a dell without major issues).

Try this if you have some time: [View:www.linuxliveusb.com/:550:0] or just return it for replacement. Sorry, this forum appears to be replacing links, just go to the main .com site without the bits after the slash.

I've uninstalled the drivers and gone with the windows defaults

Hello. I'm assuming that statement means that you have tried the Windows native audio driver [in Device Manager it has the name "High Definition Audio Device" under Sound....Controllers].

As mpl99 said, the headphones are controlled by the audio drivers. Sometimes a Realtek driver will be buggy and fail to detect when headphones are plugged in. The test for that is to switch over to the native Windows driver. If it works with the native driver then the Realtek driver is at fault. However when it does not work with either the naive or Realtek driver, then hardware failure is usually the cause.

I agree with mpl99 that running Linux Live can be useful in figuring out audio issues, but maybe not so much when a jack is involved. If the jack works okay in Linux but not in Windows, then it is natural to assume that the hardware is okay and it is a software issue. But with jacks there is impedance sensing circuitry that Windows uses for detection but Linux does not, so when that mechanism fails to work properly it is easy to end up with a false diagnosis regarding the hardware.

If you have done the native driver test then my advice would be to contact tech support<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>and pass the problem on to them if you want to keep the laptop, or to send it back as defective if you are still within the brief return period.

Yes, I've gone back to the native windows drivers and I still get nothing.  I just get the headphones slot that says headphones not plugged in.  Even though they are definitely plugged in.

I'm probably just going to bring this sucker back.  No reason something straight out of the box shouldn't work.

I'm probably just going to bring this sucker back.

If you got it direct from Dell be mindful of the return period -- just 21 days from the date on the invoice. After that you can't return it even if defective.

Every country has different laws - please do check ASAP. And thanks for educating me about the separate impedance sensing circuitry! Did not know that, 

An update guys, I had the same issue but I have just disabled and enabled the realtek driver in Device Manager under sound controllers. It worked fine for me.