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XPS12 headphone jack tapping sound
Hi,
I bought a Dell XPS12 for a few months now, and only recently I started using the headphone jack.
When I plugged in the earphone, the sound coming from earphone was choppy initially for a few seconds, and then it turned into "tap...tap....tap....tap...". I tried turning the volume up/down and the "tapping" got slightly louder. Now, whenever I plug the earphone in, the sound coming out from the earphone is always "tap..tap...tap...tap..." (and not the normal audio, not even any default sound from Windows). It doesn't matter whether I selected "Speaker out" or "Headphone /headset" on the popup window. I tried the earphone on my phone and the earphone is functioning properly. Anyone knows why XPS12 headphone jack does this? Could this be a hardware issue ?
Fyi, the Realtek Audio driver version is the most recent one from Dell Support website (version 6.0.1.6704). My BIOS version is A05, model is XPS12 9Q23. I run the Diagnostic Test (F12 key, Build 4447), but it only has a speaker test (and not a headphone test). The speaker is working fine, but the headphone jack is not. I tried various options in the Dell Audio software but none has helped.. :-(
Any help/suggestion greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Fred
Jim Coates
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July 27th, 2013 04:00
Fred, if you re-install the Realtek driver and the issue persists then it is a hardware problem. When you re-install the driver it resets to the default configuration settings, so you eliminate configuration as the cause of the problem, and the cause is not the driver itself or else it would be more wide-spread.
Alternatively, you could remove the Realtek driver entirely (by using in the Control Panel "Remove a program" or "Programs and Features"). By removing the Realtek driver you force Windows to install its native driver upon rebooting. If the issue remains with the native driver that also confirms it is a hardware problem.
fchee
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July 27th, 2013 05:00
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your suggestion. I tried uninstalling the Realtek driver, and the problem persisted. :-(
I'll contact Dell to report this problem..
Thank you very much for your help~! :-)
Fred
Jim Coates
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July 27th, 2013 06:00
Thanks for the feedback.
Thinking about this some more, after eliminating the driver and configuration, the only possible causes left other than hardware are Windows and BIOS. If either of those were the source it should be a known problem but it isn't.
A possible reason that the F12 test was no help is that Dell is no longer including the full Dell 32 bit Diagnostics utility in the newer models, so the only tests on the diagnostic partition now are the PSA tests or ePSA, and the audio in those tests consist of system tones. System tones bypass the headphone jack and go directly to speaker.
fchee
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July 28th, 2013 01:00
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your explanation, and thanks for thinking about the issue further. No wonder when I booted into the Diagnostic Test, I didn't find the Custom Test option. It is a pity that the full Dell 32 bit Diagnostic utility is not in XPS12...
I thought about the possibility of booting a Linux Live CD to see whether it is Windows's problem or not, but I don't have an external USB CDROM drive. I guess I better not mess with the system too much at this stage.
Thanks again for your help :-)
Fred
conradyu
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August 27th, 2013 18:00
Hi fchee and Jim,
I was wondering if you ever got a solution for this problem. I have recently bought an XPS 12, and whenever I plug in headphones, it makes (I assume) the same kind of tapping sound you described. The actual audio also stutters and becomes completely unusable. Any ideas?
fchee
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August 28th, 2013 06:00
Hi conradyu,
For the problem I experienced (i.e. headphone jack tapping sound but internal speaker okay, and uninstalling driver didn't help), I contacted Dell and was first asked to try the latest BIOS A07. The BIOS update didn't help. So Dell were quick to send a technician out to replace the audio logic board on-site. After the audio board was replaced, the headphone jack worked again. So in my case, it was a hardware fault.
If you tried the same tests/steps above and still have the same problem, then yours is likely to be a hardware issue as well (in my opinion).
Fred