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XPS 13 Audio jack problems with headphones
Whenever I plug in my headphones, the audio from my computer still plays on speakers. I can still get the headphones to play audio though if I sleep my computer then wake it and log in. But even then, if the headphone accidentally disconnects from the jack then I have to repeat the process.
Jim Coates
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August 13th, 2016 06:00
Hello.Test the audio driver by switching between the Realtek driver and the Windows native audio driver.
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, sometimes you have to restart, sometimes not.
[To get back to the Realtek driver, do it again but reverse the names in steps 2 and 7.]
If you only have the symptoms with one of the drivers, then the other is at fault. If you have the same symptoms with both audio drivers, then it is very probably not a driver issue.
It could be a hardware problem with the headphone jack. The best test for determining if an issue is with the hardware or software is to perform a system recovery (revert back to original factory configuration) and test for the issue immediately afterward. If the issue is still there then it is in the hardware. If gone, it was the software.
pwilson7
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August 13th, 2016 08:00
Thanks for the detailed advice.
It appears that my driver is called Realtek HW Audio Codec, and not Realtek High Definition Audio. Does this matter?
Furthermore, I got to step 7, but at this point, after clicking "show compatible hardware" I only see two options for "Realtek HW Audio Codec," and no option for "High Definition Audio."
Jim Coates
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August 15th, 2016 06:00
That is an odd one among Dell laptops. I don't know if this will work, but you could try installing the Windows native driver this way. I would create a system restore point first, so as to be able to easily undo these changes.
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" section.
3. Right click on your Realtek audio driver..
4. Click "uninstall."
5. Put a check mark in the option to delete the driver software, and then ok.
6. Restart the laptop. Because you removed the Realtek driver files, Windows will install its native audio driver, named "High Definition Audio Device".
Go back to the Device Manager and look for "High Definition Audio Device". If you see "Realtek" again, that means that there was another version of the Realtek driver on your hard drive, and Windows found and installed it. So keep uninstalling & restarting until Realtek no longer appears under Sound...Controllers and "High Definition Audio Device" appears in its place.
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See this long thread for a discussion of attempted solutions with the XPS 13 9343 model. Not exactly the same problem you are having, but the thread has various things you can try.
If you need more help please supply the full model name of the laptop (there are 5 different XPs 13's) and its operating system.