No audio at internal speakers on Latitude E6520

There is a possibility that you have the failed sense pin issue as described in the Headphone Jack FAQ. en.community.dell.com/.../19748041.aspx

Try running the Running the "Playing Audio Troubleshooter" from Action Centre. Under Sound Video Games controllers in Device manager what are the drivers mentioned there.

Also run the Dell Diagnostics on Audio thru custom test option.

Hi. Have the same issue and wanted to go along the "Failed Sense Pin" how-to. But:

The diagnostics that come with the E6520 do not have the Custom option. The GUI lists all kinds of devices, but thre is no audio among them. I think that cound mean that

A)  there is no potion in the version I have to do the test neede

B) the test is not offered due to audio-chip malfunction (the Idea comes from http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/p/19351382/19768710.aspx)

Can another utility be used (an older meant for the E6510 etc.)?

Thank you.

RgB 

The diagnostics that come with the E6520 do not have the Custom option. The GUI lists all kinds of devices, but thre is no audio among them.

It doesn't look like this then:

If it doesn't have Custom maybe it is not the Dell (32 bit) Diagnostics. Even if your audio chip has failed it should still show the Custom option even if Audio is missing; however there might be some variation that I don't know about. In any case all of the different Dell diagnostic utilities that I have seen test audio to one extent or another, so if your has no audio test at all then as you say it could be a symptom of a failed chip. However if you can hear audio through headphones you don't have a failed chip, and if you can't hear audio through headphones then it isn't the sense pin issue.

Can another utility be used (an older meant for the E6510 etc.)?

Click on my link above then click Previous Versions to get the older ones of Dell (32 bit) Diagnostics.

The other Dell diagnostics (like Dell PC Checkup) use the IDT audio driver in their audio tests, so if you use one of those utilities and you do have the sense pin issue, you would get the same results during the tests as you get now, so you wouldn't learn anything new. BTW if the chip were dead you couldn't install the IDT audio driver.

So the other ways to test for this issue are to replace the hardware, to test the audio while running a non-Windows operating system which is what Dell 32 bit Diagnostics does -- you can use Linux, or to restore the laptop to the original factory configuration. If doing that last one failed to fix the problem then its in the hardware.

Check if you can see a radio button at the bottom right side of the diagnostics page. Test Audio / Test speakers above the box for thorough test.

While booting I press F12, I get to the menu in the picture:

After a few seconds I have the GUI. There is no radio-button at the bottom-right as veejdeej asked.

After running all tests on thorrough settings the only error I get is a LCD cable related and I doubt that has anyting to do with the speaker problem.

There is no Custom option and there is no audio test. However the chip works, because it plays through headphones. It doesn't however play through the docking station as well. That indicates (but does not proof) thet it is not a speaker related error, but more of something sense-pin related.

I'd try the older diagnostics, but a Dell technician will arrive here in 20 minutes and I think I wouldn't finish until then.

The machine is under NBD waranty as well as Complete Care. Lucky me.

I'll post his diagnose later. Thanks for the help so far. 

You are right, that's PSA. And it played some synth. I was not sure whether there is not another piezo speaker on-board due to the simple sine-beep. No other audio test was available.

The technician brought the audio circuit board and the speakers for sure (which we both doubted were any good).

I'm not sure there were any differences for the 14" version (i did not compare them). The trouble with the parts was that I had the magnesium body replaced because of a "minor fracture" I had there (my fault, I was not careful enough once). These were definitely different among 15" and 14" versions.

"minor fracture detected - morphine administed" ... haven't played HL for quite a time :-)

Hehe, funny thing. The technician arrived, but was given wrong parts from the warehouse. After disassembling the whole notebook he found out the spare pars were for the 14" version, even though I have a 15" E6520 and supplied my S/T :-)

Better luck tomorrow.

Were the parts for the cable or the audio. I wonder what he was planning on replacing? It would be great if he brings an audio circuit board to test for sense pin failure, and speakers to test those. However testing by replacing parts would be a very time consuming method so they probably avaoid doing that.

From looking at your screen shots as far as I can tell you were running the PSA (pre-boot assessment tests) which normally have a limited audio test that plays a series of system tones through the speakers. It is not a test of the audio system and I would think it would be an available test regardless of the condition of the audio chip.

I know what you mean about a piezo speaker, like the system speaker that built into the motherboard of desktop computers. I haven't seen one on a laptop MB but some models might have one. It seems to me that the system tones are played through the regular speakers however they don't play through the headphone jack.

If the 14" version of the E6520 is the E6420, that one uses a different audio ports board. You would think they would be the same because the cases are very similar, but the 2 models have different ports on the back left corner.

I was watching Pitch Perfect on vlc two weeks ago and suddenly the audio stopped, whenever i connect it to a headset or external speakers it works, but without, the audio doesn't work, I've scanned my laptop, updated the drivers, trouble shoot for problems, still nothing, i even tried disabling the communication headphones, it didn't work so i enabled it back, I've done everything but it keeps saying the audio is fine, even though its not, whats happening??

My laptop is a dell latitude e6420

If you could try a docking station you could tell if it was a problem with the speakers or the "failed sense-pin". Tha'ts what I did and a technician, that came to do a warranty repair also confirmed.

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem, it's occured after i connected headphones - after disconnecting speakers doesn't work.

What i've done: just put a stick from lolipop inside the headphone 3'5 jack and moved it a little in different directions, during some audio file was working, and then speakers start working ok, until i used headphones one more time :) but then stick helps also. So something with jack input is not ok.

put a stick from lolipop inside the headphone 3'5 jack and moved it a little in different directions, during some audio file was working, and then speakers start working ok, until i used headphones one more time :) but then stick helps also. So something with jack input is not ok.

That is correct, Mr. Axe. The sense pin circuitry in the jack has failed. See the 1st section of the Headphone Jack FAQ for details of the issue.

It is covered if you are still under warranty. If not, on some models the audio jacks are on a separate circuit board that is replaceable.

Worked for me too, had the same issue. Thanks mate!