Very low speak volume - Dell Inspiron

Hi Ldoff,

Welcome to the Dell Community Forum.

Please click on speaker icon on lower right hand corner to increase the volume & check if it makes a difference.

May I know from when you are facing this issue? Please connect earphones & check if audio works fine with earphone. Also check the sound quality by connecting external speakers.

Please reply with your findings to proceed further.

Hello Sujatha K.,

Thanks for addressing my question.

The Speaker volume indicator reads 100%, but the speaker volume is muted.

Headsets work fine at the same setting, 100%.  Of course, the headset rests right at my ear.

This problems exists with both of the two Dell Inspiron laptops I purchased in January.

The problem has existed since right out of the box.

Sincerely,

Larry Doff

Hi Larry,

Thank you for the update.

Go to Device Manager, uninstall the audio driver, restart the system and update the driver from our support website.

Also refer to the link given below for help:

http://dell.to/1NIeUkD

Let me know if it helps.

Thanks.  I uninstalled the existing driver.  Re-booted.  The new driver installed upon re-boot.  Rebooted again.  No change in volume.  I'll follow up on the link you provided and try to find a solution there.  Thanks a lot.  Larry

Hi Ldoff,

Thank you for trying the suggested steps. Let me know you findings after trying the steps given in the link.

Review:  My headphone jack and headphones work fine.  My speakers WORK, but they are muted (ie, VERY low volume), even at 100 percent.

I removed and reinstalled the drivers with no improvement.

I went to this link, http://dell.to/1NIeUkD, with its three suggestions.

Note that my symptoms, LOW VOLUME, EVEN AT 100%, are different from the issue addressed in the link, NO volume.

I did not do a factory reset, since I AM getting sound from both the headphones and the speakers, just low speaker volume, even at 100%.

The audio tests pass during Dell Diagnostics.  As I have written I AM getting sound, just not enough of it...on both laptops.

After all of this, I have concluded that the two laptops do not have DEFECTIVE speakers, they just have poor speakers.

At this point, I do not have any more time to put into this. I'll just live with it unhappily.  I think it is a design/manufacturing problem but I just can't divert any more time or effort from my main activities.

I sincerely appreciate the suggestions.

Larry

At this point, I do not have any more time to put into this.

Larry, if you get a couple of spare minutes you could try this test, to switch over to the Windows native audio driver.

1. Open the Device Manager (type devmgmt.msc in the Windows 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 Device" (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 the volume is still exceptionally low with the native driver then most probably a hardware or design defect as you say. Some of the Dell laptops do have very low volume. If the volume is closer to normal with the native driver, that means the Realtek driver is choking it.

Here is another thread about the Inspiron 15 3542 having very low volume.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/t/19623701

Unfortunately the original poster did not say whether or not the volume was better with the native driver. Today another person joined that thread and reported that the native driver helps -- at least I think that is what he or she is saying, but unfortunately does not give the model name of the his/her laptop.

If the volume is better with the native driver then one could try a different Realtek driver. There have been 2 released for this model. It is possible that one of them is okay and the other bad.

Hi Ldoff,

I request you to perform one last step that is to set the system to the factory setting. This helps us in isolating the issue to hardware or software. Back up data and follow the steps given in the following link:

http://dell.to/H8i1HD

Let me know if this helps.

I have the same problem, and have had since the day it was delivered several years ago.  It's frustrating that it takes the Dell people so long to simply read the problem and get what's wrong, let alone not be able to supply a resolution.  This is supposed to be a multimedia specialized computer yet my cell phone has louder speakers.

Thank you so much!!! Raising the equalizer bars did the trick. I've been living with low sound for over a year and have tried so many other things. You nailed it! :-)

didn;t work for me as there were no settings to adjust in Euqaliser