Latitude E5420, Microphone Doesn't Work, Win 10

Latitude E5420

Hello. Dell does not support Windows 8, 8.1, or 10 on the Latitude E5420 model and cautions that you might lose some functionality if you do run Win10.

can't find the drivers on dell's website

There are two places to find the drivers:

1. On the E5420 support page. The page opens on "Diagnostics", so you have to click "Drivers and Downloads", then click on "look for it myself" if presented with that option, instead of using service tag or system analysis. Next, click the blue "Change OS"  button (see pic) to see the operating system options (XP, Vista, 7, 8, Unbuntu, Free DOS).

2. A simpler way is to go to Dell's ftp server. Follow the links to the E5420 htm page. On that page you can see all of the drivers that Dell makes available for the E5420 -- all versions for all operating systems.

not sure if it's a Realtek internal speaker or what

The E5420 has IDT audio hardware on the motherboard. The IDT company went out of the consumer audio business before Windows 10 came out, so there will never be a Win10 IDT audio driver for the E5420.

we've tried a few drivers on their site as well.  Any ideas would be great!

I don't know if the issue is with the internal mic or the external mic jack. If the mic jack, it won't work with just the Windows native driver, so you do have to have an IDT driver. An IDT driver might or might not get the internal mic to work. It should be working with the native driver, so it could be hardware malfunction, or it could be that Win10 just won't play nice with the E5420. Here is how I would try to install an IDT driver.

First you want to remove all of the other audio driver files that might be on the hard drive.

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"  if it is there, 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.

6. Repeat the steps, and remove any "IDT High Definition Audio Codec" that you find. Remove any other audio drivers that you might have installed. Do not remove "High Definition Audio Device" or "Intel Display Audio" (the HDMI audio driver).

[Note that if in step 2 you only find "High Definition Audio Device", skip the rest of it and go on to the section below.

Now try to install the IDT Win7 audio driver in Win10, by installing it with Compatibility mode.

1. Download and save the audio driver to your desktop or any convenient location on the hard drive.  [There are two "formats" on the driver's page. Scroll down to the 2nd one, named "Hard Drive" format, and download that one, not the 1st one named "Windows Update Package".]
2. Double click on the new folder 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 the driver installs, test the mic.

Btw, I have an E5420, but am sticking with 7.

Wooo!  

Thank you Jim for making me look like a superstar in front of the partner of our firm.  I told him some internet guru was nice enough to tell us what was wrong.

But yes we got the driver, then ran it under compatibility mode for windows 7 and worked great, even without a computer restart even.

Thanks again!

look like a superstar in front of the partner of our firm

You took the initiative to find a solution, so I'd say it is well deserved.

Thanks for the feedback.