XPS 17 L702x, Windows 10, and audio

Never mind, I'll re-post if this recurs. What I seem to have is another loose jack, the speaker jack (to go with the loose power connector) on the laptop. If I wiggle the plug around it seems that I can get it to work consistently. Kind of...until the laptop gets bumped or moved. So it goes.

This is using the Window 7/8 Realtek HD Audio driver from Dell. I also used the Windows 7/8 chipset driver, touchpad, and some other drivers from Dell for Windows 7/8. The network and storage drivers from Windows 10, though, seem to be working fine.

I still have one "unknown device" in the Device manager, which bothers me a little, but since it seems that everything I use is working, I'm not thinking about it much. Since I have no idea how to identify an "unknown device", other than finding something that doesn't work, no point in worrying about it, I guess.

I have no idea why Dell is not providing Windows 10 drivers for this expensive laptop that's clearly compatible with Windows 10 and is only about 3.5 years old. What's up with that? I did buy a Lenovo desktop because of the hardware problems I've had with Dell computers in the last few years, and now a failure to support a major Windows release on an expensive laptop. Most likely no more Dell computers for me.

Does your webcam work? That's the only thing that's broken for me now in Windows 10. I did have lousy audio from the laptop speakers until I switched to the MS High Definition Audio driver instead of the Realtek one.

I agree that it's very bad form that Dell isn't on board with Windows  10 drivers right out of the gate with this unit. I paid a lot of money for this loaded laptop less than 4 years ago. They should support any device that was originally shipped with an OS that Microsoft is upgrading for free.

Just one note on the webcam...I see that there's a Window 7/8 driver for the webcam in the Dell drivers for this laptop. It's in the Mouse, Keyboard, and Input Devices section of driver downloads.

Have you tried that driver?

Yes I tried installing the Win7 and the Win8 driver and I can't seem to get either on working in Skype or the Camera app. I had Windows 8 installed previously and the webcam worked fine. Bummer. I guess I'll just wait for better drivers.

Actually, I just noticed that my audio is not that much better after all with the "High Definition Audio Device" driver. There's a lot of distortion through the integrated speakers with most sounds. Curiously, the one thing that actually sounds good through the speakers is the MaxxAudio3 demo in the Dell Audio app...

Update: This is weird. Some things sound good, some OK, others terrible. Speaker Test in the standard audio property dialog is terrible. The slider that controls the volume is terrible. MaxxAudio3 test is good. Groove Music app is actually OK, but sounds a bit washed out to me. Maybe if I play with the equalizer I can live with it, but it's bugging me that some sources just sound horrible.

LGuys, I can read that you are complaining about Dell not supporting Windows 10 right off the bat. I feel you, I really do because since I upgraded my L702X from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1, I had this annoying problem of the sound driver not working as it should have been, completely oblivious of hibernations and sleeps. It's only a few months ago that I could download a working driver directly from the Dell website.

However, let's not forget that the touchpad driver is still wobbly on Windows. Have you tried Fn+F3 to deactivate the touchpad? At the moment I'm writing this, the touchpad is supposed to be deactivated, the amber light is on but it's actually working. And it's a driver problem. Last I checked, about two months ago, there was still no updated driver for the L702X.

They could not support Windows 8.1 years ago, when the laptop model was only months old. Is it surprising that they don't support Windows 10?

Thanks for the reports about how Windows 10 is working. It's currently downloading on my system.

No more Dell machines is also the conclusion to which I've come. But let's speak the truth, the L702X was a fantastic machine on Windows 7. For me, things started to turn sour with Windows 8.1.

I have upgraded to Windows 10 and wrote a report of that earlier today on this very forum. I have just noted the audio problem that @wbradney reported. And no, that breaks the deal for me on Windows 10. I will (probably in two days) revert to Windows 8.1 as there are several hardware problems (both internal and external speakers being on at the same time, external monitor ignored when resuming from hibernation, etc. – read my report).

In my case, the webcam works fine though. I tested it in Skype.

@Doh_123: Where did you download the driver for the accelerometer? Is it on the Dell support website for L702X models? I had an Unknown Device too under Windows 8.1 and it might be the same device.

Thanks.

I've found that most of my Windows 10 problems have been solved by installing Windows 7/8 drivers on Windows 10. That includes the chipset driver, which makes the lid work properly, and the accelerometer driver, too. The accelerometer driver is this one:

ST Microelectronics DE351DL Motion Sensor Driver

under "System Utilities".

The audio problem does recur, since Windows 10 has shown a very strong desire to update the Dell driver with a generic Realtek HD-Audio driver that I can't get to work correctly with external speakers. So I tried hiding the generic driver in Windows Update. That worked for a while, but stopped working, and the OS installed the Windows Update driver version again. So I re-installed the Dell OEM audio driver on top of that without removing the Windows Update driver, and am hoping that will stop it from trying to update the Dell OEM driver. The Windows Update driver shows up as installed on the list of Windows Updates on my system, since I didn't remove it. Time will tell, I might be good until the next generic audio driver update gets to Windows Update, who knows. I have the Dell OEM drivers on a CD-ROM, so I can re-install them whenever I need to. What a pain, though. Might go back to Windows 8.1 just based on peace of mind issues.

Again, I'm really unhappy with Dell for not supporting this laptop on Windows 10...and re-iterate "NO MORE DELL LAPTOPS OR DESKTOPS FOR ME"!!!

No more Dell machines is also the conclusion to which I've come. But let's speak the truth, the L702X was a fantastic machine on Windows 7. For me, things started to turn sour with Windows 8.1. I have upgraded to Windows 10 and wrote a report of that earlier today on this very forum. I have just noted the audio problem that @wbradney reported. And no, that breaks the deal for me on Windows 10. I will (probably in two days) revert to Windows 8.1 as there are several hardware problems (both internal and external speakers being on at the same time, external monitor ignored when resuming from hibernation, etc. – read my report). In my case, the webcam works fine though. I tested it in Skype. @Doh_123: Where did you download the driver for the accelerometer? Is it on the Dell support website for L702X models? I had an Unknown Device too under Windows 8.1 and it might be the same device. Thanks.

Thank you for your reply. I had in the meantime found the accelerometer exactly where you said, and installed it. That was indeed the unknown device in the Device Manager.

For me, as to audio drivers, I am using the default Windows drivers which the Device Manager says were made by Microsoft: with any other driver, be it Realtek ones or the official Dell driver for L702X on Windows 8, I meet issues with the detection of a jack being plugged in. What I mean is that, for instance, when at work I'm using the laptop speakers, then I suspend, go back home, plug in external speakers and bring the laptop out of suspend, sound will still be output to the internal speakers.

It seems like when resuming from suspension or hibernation, the driver doesn't try to know whether a jack is plugged in. This doesn't happen with the Microsoft driver.

I've also had that problem when I've reinstalled Windows 8.1 from scratch so it's not a Windows 10 problem as I initially thought.