XPS 13 9360 DE (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

I have a similar, but more complicated version of this bug:

The bug first proposed itself blocking the volume level, that is I could change the volume (via keyboard, tray icon or system settings), but I could hear that the actual volume did not change; the only exception being that I could mute it.

I then proceeded to reboot, hoping that it would solve the issue; result: no audio device found, in system settings I had "dummy output" instead of the real device. Obviously no sound.

After a few unsuccessful tries (uninstalling and reinstalling modules, alsa, libasound, pavucontrol, pulseaudio etc, rebooting various times) finally I got some results accessing the BIOS.

In system configuration I could see "audio device: none", but in the audio subsection I could disable and re-enable audio. This got me to finally see an audio device at next reboot; or better, 4 audio devices!

I can now see: "HDMI/Display Port 3",  "HDMI/Display Port 2",  "HDMI/Display Port", and "Speakers" listed as audio devices, sometimes a "Headphones" entry appears, especially after a suspension, even if no headphones are plugged in.

 The (not so much) fun part is that the volume is still fixed as before, and a suspension completely stops the audio from working.

From then on it seems that I lose the audio completely (dummy output) with a hot reboot or a suspension, but I can get it back (with no volume adjustments) disabling and re-enabling audio in the BIOS, if I have audio a cold reboot seems to leave it on. The volume level seems to depend to the level it was before rebooting (when it works).

I tried Dell's support but I only got a link to windows' versions of BIOS and driver (obviously useless) and they told me that they do not give support for linux (!!). [note: automated hardware checks from BIOS gave no error whatsoever].

Are linux versions of BIOS update and driver available anywhere? I lost mine when my laptop froze (http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19994691) without a recovery image.

I found here (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/OSISO/linux) the recovery image, but I wondered if there are just the drivers available, since would prefer not to reinstall the OS.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

I'm having the same exact problem, a fix would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure if it's related, but I just upgraded from kernel 4.4.0-47 to 4.4.0-53 (in order to fix the touchscreen issue) and now my sound is dead. Been trying various fixes, but stuck with only "Dummy Output". Any suggestions? 

I suggest you to access the bios pressing F2 at startup and if in 'System Configuration' (not sure of the exact name of the tab, the first one with a similar name) the audio device is listed as , go in the other tab 'System Settings' (again, not sure of the name, the second one), go to the audio tab and un-check and re-check the 'enable audio', then save and exit, this usually gives me back the audio (limited functionalities sometimes, such as fixed volume or only left or right speaker) in a few tries.
Also a cold reboot usually works better, so shutdown and boot again after a while.

DISCLAIMER: all of this is purely empirical, I have no idea of what's really going on, but have found something that kind of works against this terribly annoying issue. I really hope that it gets fixed soon.

Yeah, it was enabled in bios, but after a few reboots, sound was magically back. But now it's all messed up. Volume is either full blast or muted. Doesn't recognize headphones being plugged in, etc. This is a huge pain, as it was working perfectly up until now. Didn't have any sound issues. Now it's totally borked after the latest upgrade. :(

And after another reboot, back to no sound. But it can see my sound card now. Bizarre. Not happy.

Welcome to my ***! :/ I'm in the same situation, juggling with reboots, bios and cold boots you will be able to get sound back (eventually I got even volume control!), but beware suspensions and headphones, so yeah, it's a freakin' hot mess. :(

I really hope some developer will finally notice our pain and help, this is not what you expect from a top-end laptop...

i would not count on any help from dell. beside the good work they did with project sputnik it seem they leave us alone now with it. the last usefull post here from dell stuff was back in july :( the are not even able to give advice about the kernel update stuff asked many times in here. so my guess they gave up sputnik at all.

OK, I broke down and reinstalled everything. I was running off vanilla Ubuntu 16.04. So I got the official 16.04 restore image from Dell and redid it all from scratch. Then did apt upgrade and sound is back and working perfectly. Even through multiple reboots. I'm going to assume I was missing a driver or something. At any rate, all is good now. I was seriously considering returning this device. But at least for now, I'm back to a good place with it.

I have the same problem. Since the last upgrade of the kernel (4.4.0-47 to 4.4.0-53) sound is not working properly.

The audio dive was missing in the settings. So I checked the bios settings and after a reboot everything was back and the sound was working as expected. After the next suspend, sound isn't working again. The sound card (speakers, built in audio) is listed and selected. A reboot does not help now.

@Dell how do I fix this issue?

@BIT101 I have installed 16.04 LTE from the ubuntu web page and I have configured dell.archive.canonical.com for software updates.

My bad, I did on the initial install of 16.04 an upgrade to 16.10. But there was always a strange sound and wifi was not working. Because I have no restore image, I did an install of 16.04 of my own with a guide from dell.

With the restore image, have you done again an upgrade of the kernel?

Just curious, are you using the initial install of 16.04 that came on the laptop, the restore image version, or another version or OS? I could not solve it until I installed from the restore image. since then, perfection.

I cannot get a recovery image from Dell because I installed Ubuntu on my XPS 13 myself (it shipped with Windows). Could you provide me with the recovery image somehow? 

I was having the same issues with a vanilla Ubuntu 16.04 installation. Just upgraded the kernel from 4.4.0-51 to 4.4.0-53 and sounds seems to be working(ish) now. I can get sound, but volume controls don't seem to do anything, it's either on or off.