Speaker/headphone problem Dell Inspiron 15R, please help!

Hi Ryank94,

Welcome to the Community. Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling your audio drivers? To uninstall, click on start, right click on computer, click on properties, click on device manager, click on the symbol next to sound video and game controllers, right click on IDT High Definition Audio Code and click on uninstall, and confirm it, once it removed use the below link to install it. Let us know if this helped.

Thank you

Royan

It didn't work :s

Hi, Royan. I also have an Inspiron 15R and the same problem. I followed your instructions and did another round after rebooting but it also didn't work for me.

Now this little piece of info might be totally irrelevant but it's when I noticed that my laptop has been behaving weirdly. I installed this old game, Microsoft's  "Age of Mythology"  then did a system restore for some other reasons I couldn't recall. When my system's back on, that's when the problem all started.

On a side note, it could've also been caused by something else before that but didn't come to my attention right away coz I rarely restart my laptop. I leave it on for at least a week.

Please let us know if you have a new fix for this. Thanks.

Cheers,

Edel

I know what Independent RTC headphones are and I know how to find speaker and system volume controls and enable/disable each and everyone of them, and I also happen to know how the IDT Control Panel works. But since all those failed, I came up here for help from someone wiser who don't barge into decent forum and insult people.

And yes, I have tried everything I can and I could also Google. And it's not my fault that this has been a common shortcoming of the 15r model as reported by a lot of dissatisfied customers (look it up). And I am definitely not an idiot like you. Nobody in here is. So don't go telling people what to do unless you are tech support.

Try to check the volume(on the right bottom icon) when plugin the speaker or headphone.

Hope that helps. If so your an idiot(like me XD) check everything first before posting it here.

I'm having the same problem, and it seems to be produced by running games or skype. I was running Skype at the same time I booted up Starcraft - and that's when it began. It's irreversible now. When I plug in my headphones, the speakers remain playing the sound, but it changes and sounds kind of canny. Now, in order to send sound to my headphones, I have to manually switch to them using the audio controls, instead of the auto-change I'd expect.

PLEASE, fix this Dell.

Hi Channo,

Wow, I can't believe my last post had been almost a year ago! I even totally forgot about this, till a notification popped up in my email.

Quite frankly, I just abandoned all hope of fixing this problem. I didn't wanna bother looking it up anymore, and just been waiting for some luck to strike and for my laptop to just fix itself. Quite frankly, everytime I wanna switch to earphone mode whenever I'm in public, I'd rather just mute the sound altogether. Sad, isn't it? But so far, I haven't had much need of playing sounds while outside, hence the reason why I didn't even bother anymore.

But, oh well, since this topic just got opened up again, I could try looking for a fix (yet Again). Please let me know too if you got lucky with yours.

Cheers!

I tried following this advice, but the link you posted no longer shows up so I am soundless. What do I do?

I fixed it, but darn, that was a while back, and I forgot how. It had something to do with disabled audio. I hi-lighted the things that will most likely fix your problem immediately.

First, check skype, if that was where you noticed the problem. Sometimes skype has some sound settings you can set (Look for anything that overrides your microphone/headphones and puts it all towards skype).

If that didn't do squat, try this:
Control Panel >  Hardware and Sound > Sound (a separate window should pop up)

(Or, just right button click your "audio icon" on your bottom bar and click "Playback devices".)
 
Test out the following and see if anything happens:
Playback Tab:
Right-button click, then check BOTH Show Disabled Devices & Show Disconnected Devices

Enable any disabled devices. 

Do this for each device:
Right button click > Properties > Advanced > Make sure "Allow applications to take exclusive control..." IS NOT CHECKED!!!!

Let me know if that helped at all.
 

hello, urm i had the same problem with my laptop, mainly when i was on skype i couldnt get my sounds to work also when i plug my laptop into speakers it again doesnt work. it comes up with a headphone sign and just wont work. I done what you said above, but the link you have supplied has timed out so i now have no sound.. what can i type in to dell support to download my sound once again?

thankyou

rach

TRY THIS, I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM THOUGH,

WINDOWS>CONTROL PANEL>HARD WARE AND SOUND>SOUND>under the playback tab (RIGHT CLICK) Independent RTC Speaker then DISABLE

I HOPE THIS ONE WORKS.

try to DISABLE INDEPENDENT RTC SPEAKER

try to DISABLE INDEPENDENT RTC SPEAKER

Did that fix it on yours? It seems like it ought to.

The symptoms described seem like what happens when headphones are selected to be the default "communication" device. That setting makes communications like chat between gamers or Skypers come through the headphones while all other audio comes through the speakers. Or you can have regular audio coming through the headphones but when you get a call or whatever the regular audio automatically switches over to the speakers. The purpose of that is to separate the 2 types of audio to make voice communication easier. The laptop models that have this feature have a "Communications" tab at the top (right side) of the Sound properties.

As far as as can tell, and I am by no means sure, I think that on models with 2 headphone jacks the Independent (R.T.C.) Headphones option does the same thing as setting the default communication device on the other models.

I've had exactly the same problem with my 15r with Win8. I tried a few obvious things without success but then went to Control Panel> sound >Read (?)(sorry not sure as I have Windows in French - it's the first tab ie the one on the left). I then disactivated the Dell / Intel sound module so there was only the Loudspeakers/Headfone option (IDT HIgh Definition Audio CODEC) left selected and the problem was solved. Very annoying it was until I found it - then joy!