XPS-13 9360 Headphone Issue

Headphones only recognized if plugged in on boot.

That was an issue on the XPS 9350 and 9550 models. Many owners reported it was fixed by having the audio port circuit board replaced. (Your model might or might not have that part). Your post is the first one I have seen about the problem on an XPS 9360.

Latest issue

That Realtek driver 6.0.1.8105 just came out May 3rd, so if the problem exists from that date I would say try "roll back" driver and see if the previous driver works okay. 

Turn off Windows Update, then

1. Open the Device Manager.
2. Expand the "Sound, video & game controllers"
3. Right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio" to open the context menu.
4. Click Properties.
5. Click the Driver tab at the top.
6. Click Rollback Driver.

If Win10 Home does not allow for turning off Update, then disconnect from internet, but if Update is on it might re-install the newer driver when connected again.

rjbhayes Headphones only recognized if plugged in on boot. That was an issue on the XPS 9350 and 9550 models. Many owners reported it was fixed by having the audio port circuit board replaced. (Your model might or might not have that part). Your post is the first one I have seen about the problem on an XPS 9360.

The headphone issue was what I saw during my testing if the Waves service/s were disabled or not allowed to start in Task Manager. 

Driver reinstalls, as suggested will usually help by resetting the configuration.  If you were to be showing only Speakers as an output device instead of Speakers/headphones, would also confirm a driver reinstall.

I verified all the processes are running and rolled the audio driver back to 6.0.1.7989.

The problem is still there.

Any other suggestions or can I provide additional information to help identify the root cause?

Thanks...

The headphone issue was what I saw during my testing if the Waves service/s were disabled or not allowed to start in Task Manager.

II know that on a few models the Realtek/Waves software has to be running. I didn't mention it because assumed it would have been on by default after the driver update. Dumb assumption. Anyway, knew you would be following me with a post that would cover it.

You have previously mentioned that you use Linux Live for testing. Does the headphone jack function normally when running Linux?

can I provide additional information

Saltgrass had mentioned that it is significant whether "Speakers as an output device instead of Speakers/headphones" is listed. (On the Playback tab of the Windows Sound control.)  I wonder what you found out in that regard.

Any other suggestions

Other than the hardware issue that multiple XPS 9x50 had, here are the software solutions that were reported, but were unconfirmed

From an XPS 9343 owner:

Start the Task Manager. Go to the Startup tab. Make sure all audio related tasks are enabled (especially Realtek Audio Manager). Restart. After that, open the Dell Audio control panel again. Reset defaults. Popup should appear again when plugging in headset.

From an XPS 9550 owner:

1. Update to latest audio driver.  2. Update BIOS to latest (XPS_9550_1.1.19.exe) 3. Restart. 4. Open the Task Manager, navigate to startup tab. 5. Disable "HD Audio Background Process" and "Waves MAXXaudio Service Application". 6. Enable "Realtek HD Audio Manager" if not already enabled. 7. Restart.

I realize those models might have little in common with yours. You might not have the Dell Audio control. But those are the only other models where the problem has been reported, to the best of my knowledge. The only instances I am aware of, where it wasn't an XPS, is where the owner did not fully insert the headphone plug into the jack.

The root cause is either something up with the Realtek/Waves software, or a hardware failure. If you were ever to perform a system recovery and the jack still didn't work, then it would be due to hardware failure. .You said you have had other issues with the headphones before this. Dicey hardware is a possibility.  I don't want to overstate the possibility, but it has to be considered given that it was the culprit on other XPS models with the same symptoms. If the problem is Realtek/Waves, which has an inordinate influence over the working of the jack, Saltgrass is good at working through issues with that software.

You have previously mentioned that you use Linux Live for testing. Does the headphone jack function normally when running Linux?

For me, trying to test Ubuntu was a bust.  The live version does not seem to have audio drivers for either of my systems.  I may have been able to download and compile a driver but I did not think it was worth doing that for a live session.

Otherwise, since Ubuntu only showed a Dummy output for sound, plugging in a headset had no effect.

Rjbhayes, since it appears both your speakers and headphone work, I would go through the uninstall all the way back to the Windows driver.  If you uninstall and check the box to remove the drivers it should remove the .inf file being used for that install.  If you have more than one of those on your system, you may have to uninstall multiple times.  Being disconnected from your network will keep Windows from installing a driver it downloads.

Once you have the Basic Windows sound driver in control, have the latest driver downloaded and ready to go. 

I know you have done all this before, but if something is stuck in the registry it might be messing with your install.  Third party software may also mess with an install.  The fact problems have occurred for such a long time might mean there is some component situation.  If a component is not the cause, then the problem is the Waves utility is not popping up so you can select the headphones.  I am assuming the Waves icon is showing in the hidden icons and can be started from there or started from the app in the Start Menu.

If you get frustrated and want to reinstall, there is a process for reinstalling Windows over your current install by running setup from within Windows.  We could discuss that if you decide to go that way.

I went thru the process again and installed driver Realtek-ALC3266-Audio-Driver_44M2C_WIN_6.0.1.8105_A06 from the Dell website. Still only get "Internal Speakers" option.

I only see "Internal Speakers" as an option.

Install Shield says it's the Dell version 4.57.

I only see "Internal Speakers" as an option.

If you don't see the speakers/headphones then the wrong configuration of the driver is installed.  If you have downloaded the one from Dell, install it again.

The time that happened to me was I had uninstalled all the drivers but Windows installed the driver it wanted.  The version number was correct but the configuration was not..  Thus the reason we suggest doing all offline, so that won't happen.  If you have a microphone on the headphones, it may not function either.

I will try as suggested. I'm travelling so I may not get to it right away.

Thanks...

Correct, no pop up. I used to get one similar to the one you posted above.

The only way to use the headphones is to boot with them plugged in. Once unplugged they are not recognized again until another boot with them plugged in.

I suppose the thread has gone full circle.  You need the Waves services to get the popup.  You have done everything normally required to repair your system.  If it still isn't working, there must be something else at work.  

If you had ever tried to stop the popup, maybe a registry change was made.  If something on your system is corrupt it take finding out what that was.  Or, someone posted the incorrect audio on the Dell site.  I don't know if it would work, but you might try downloading and installing the driver from the 9365 page.  Maybe Jim would know if that driver could work normally.

I cannot think of anything else, except doing the in-place upgrade, to correct whatever it might be.