Headphones not working - Inspiron 13 5378 2in1

Cheers Saltgrass, that was indeed the problem: I enabled Waves MaxxAudio Service, rebooted and it seems to work.

Can I ask you another question then? Is it possible to disable the pop-up for choosing the device connected, always presuming I plugged in normal headphones? I never use external microphones so it's just annoying really.

There may be some sort of work around someone else may know about, but with the Combined Audio port, you may not want to go that way.

Roger. Thanks for your help!

So this worked for two weeks... Then exactly 5 minutes ago, I was listening to a voice message on Telegram through the speakers, plugged in my earphones (with the usual MaxxAudio pop-up asking me which device I just connected) but the sound was still coming from the speakers. Tried to unplug and replug, it's the same all over again: sound comes out of the speakers. The laptop recongnises the eraphones, MaxxAudio asks me to choose the device and the volume bar goes up, but they don't work.

Kinda annoying!

Edit: I was thinking about what possibly can cause the problem, and I realised that this morning I hibernated the laptop instead of shutting it down. When I powered it on again, the earphone/speakers switch didn't work, and I wasn't able to make it work no matter what option I choose. I'm sure that, if I reboot the laptop now, it's going to work just fine...

Again, tad annoying!

It may be related to your player or software.

If I start iTunes and try changing to a headphone, the speakers will continue to play.  iTunes has an option to pick an output device but you need another operational device to switch to so you can switch back to the computer default device.  

Try restarting the utility after you change to the headphones or see if there is some output option..

Every sound comes out of the speakers (YouTube videos on Chrome, VLC, PotPlayer, even the little ding Windows makes when you adjust the volume) so I don't know.

Not sure what you mean when you say "try restarting the utility" tho

ITunes is the only one that does not automatically switch  with headphone insertion.

The Waves popup allows you to set preferences for each device.  You might try deleting any you have set previously.  I wish they would make the OK button more prominent so it would be more touch compatible.

I am not running the latest audio from Dell, at least not the Realtek part.  I do have the latest Waves version.

How the buttons work may depend on what utility is running.  Try holding them down to see if the volume changes...  If it isn't an Apple product it might behave differently.

I tried that, doesn't work, neither do the other options (double-press for next, triple for previous)..which is fine, I wasn't expecting them to.

It was just unexpected, since the earphones are Apple and the laptop is a Dell with Windows. Normally, when the remote thingy work with other devices, it's only the volume buttons and not the central one, that's why I was asking :)

I think I mentioned, some utilities will not allow you to switch outputs once they start.  If the Telegram program is starting the problem, shut it down, then insert the headphones and restart.  It may even be doing something to take control of your system and is not compatible with a combined audio port.

There is only one device showing output with this system.  Whether it is a wired headset or the speakers.  If you had a Bluetooth headset, it would show as its own device.

Make sure the headset is plugged all the way in.  If you see more that about 1/32 nd of an inch of metal, it may not be fully seated.

Guys, after a month I'm still having the annoying problem I explained a few posts back (The laptop recongnises the eraphones, MaxxAudio asks me to choose the device and the volume bar goes up, but they don't work, audio keeps coming out of the speakers but at a lower volume).

Can you please point me, if not to a permanent solution, at least to a workaround? Like a process to kill and restart in the task manager, I don't know.

At this point I need to reboot my laptop 3/4 times a day for this issue, and it's getting super annoying.

I tried closing all the programs I had opened, didn't work.

My headset is plugged all the way in (it's been recognized, since the MaxxAudio pop-up appears), but sound still comes out of the speakers.

When it works, it works whichever program I open. I can plug it in and out many times, still working fine.

The problem only occurs after I put the laptop in stand by or hybernation, but not all the time I do. Pretty random.

I have to believe, if something on your system is changing in such a way to cause this problem that it would leave a fingerprint.  Maybe something in the Event Viewer which might be just an informational entry or something more important.

If Dell update is set to automatic updates, turn that off for a while.

There may be something wrong with your system but the time between instances seems to be a little long for that.

You can get a Bluetooth headset for not too much money, maybe it would end your aggravation.