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audio stopped working on D3100 docking station
I have a nearly new Dell Inspiron 15 7000-series laptop. I also have a D3100 USB3 docking station. The dock has a monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, and disk drive attached. All was working fine for weeks. Just a few days ago, the speakers stopped working. Sound is now coming out of the laptop speakers even when the laptop is docked. In the Device Manager, when it is docked, there is a USB Audio device that has an exclamation mark on it. (E.g. isn't working.) I've tried updated the audio driver through the Dell support site. No improvement. I then found the latest driver on dell.com for the D3100 dock. I tried installing it, but it was refused, saying that the existing driver was up to date.
The speakers work fine when plugged directly into the laptop audio jack. E.g. there is no problem with the speaker hardware.
Any ideas how I can get the dock audio working again
DELL-Terry B
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June 29th, 2016 10:00
When docked ‘what if any” playback devices are listed under Sound, just right click on the speaker icon and choose playback devices? You will likely see a device listed as Speakers Realtek High Definition Audio device, but are they any other listed devices? Which device is listed as the default device?
Test each listed device by selecting each device and then clicking the advanced tab and then clicking the test button. Are you able to get sound from the speakers while connected to the dock on one of these devices? If so select it and make that device the default device when the notebook is docked.
If you do have a listed audio device that you are sure is the docking station, and have made it the default device and are still not getting sound make sure that the device has “24bit 4800 HZ” selected test.
Under Exclusive mode on the advanced tab uncheck both boxes for "allow applications to take exclusive control" and "give Exclusive mode applications priority". Now click the test button and do you get sound now.
While still in docking station audio device properties click the Levels tab and make sure that the speaker icon doesn't show that it is muted, if so click the button to turn off mute.
While still in docking station audio device properties click the Enhancements tab and uncheck any enhancements and see if that helps.
This is pretty basic stuff and you may have seen me suggest similar suggestions in other posts, but these are steps that are missed too often and may help. Please let me know what you find out and if any of these steps helped.
DT7
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July 2nd, 2016 12:00
When docked, right clicking on the speaker gives the following sound device: "Speakers/Headpohnes - Realtek High Definition Audio - Default Driver". This appears to me to be the audio device built into the laptop. E.g. the laptop speakers.
When testing this device, sound comes out of the laptop speakers.
I appreciate the help, but unfortunately this doesn't address my problem. The audio device for the dock isn't loading properly. As I said in my initial message, when docked, the Device Manager shows "Dell USB Audio" and "Unknown Device" under "Other devices", both with exclamation marks. It seems like the doc audio drivers got messed up, and reinstalling them hasn't helped.
DT7
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July 9th, 2016 12:00
I've got a nearly new Dell laptop and a brand new Dell docking station, and they don't work. Could you please provide some additional suppport?
Jim Coates
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July 9th, 2016 12:00
Hello. In addition to using the community forum, you can directly contact tech support if you think you might have an issue that is covered by the warranty..
DT7
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July 10th, 2016 22:00
Yeah, I was going to try that on Monday if Terry didn't get back to me here.
opeardon
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July 15th, 2016 10:00
I have the same problem!!! But no answers either. Help! Anyone??