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Speaker cutting out on Inspiron 3551
Hi folks,
I recently bought an Inspiron 3551. Since unboxing, there has been a problem with the audio frequently cutting out in one of the speakers for roughly 5 seconds when watching videos / listening to music.
I'm unsure whether this might be a software or hardware issue. I ran the Dell Diagnostics tool and it said there was no hardware issues detected. On the software side, I'm running Windows 10, I upgraded immediately after the initial setup so I can't say whether the issue was there with Windows 8. The playback device for audio is Realtek FYI.
Any help/guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Shane.
Jim Coates
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August 18th, 2015 18:00
if you can hear audio through both channels in headphones when one of the speakers cuts out then I would think it has to be hardware. It is not a known software glitch.
ShaneBarry
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August 20th, 2015 09:00
Thanks Jimco.
The same issue occurs with headphones unfortunately.
I figured it was most likely a HW issue but was wondering if it could perhaps be a sound setting, such as equalizer etc messing with the laptop
Jim Coates
13.6K Posts
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August 20th, 2015 19:00
A common test is to switch from the Realtek audio driver to the Windows native audio driver. I don't know if these instructions work in Win10 but you could try them.
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" and right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio".
3. Select to "Update Driver Software".
4. Click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
5. Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer".
6. Put a check in the box "Show compatible hardware" if not already checked.
7. In the list of devices, click "High Definition Audio" (the native driver).
8. Click "Next".
9. On the Update Driver Warning box, click "Yes" (install the driver).
10. Restart the laptop if prompted. If not prompted, then no need to restart.
[To get back to the Realtek driver, do it again but reverse the names in steps 2 and 7.]
If you have the same symptoms with both drivers then it is caused by hardware or Windows. If the symptom is only with the Realtek driver then it is the cause.