Dell XPS 13 9360, reinstalled Windows needs drivers

This is a public user to user forum--not Dell support. Service tags and other personal info are not allowed. Edit your post to remove it. Click on the 3 dots on the right upper corner of your post to edit it.

All drivers must come from Dell and not from other manufacturers. Get all your drivers at Dell Downloads. Dell customizes all manufacturers' drivers to work on the Dell motherboard. Install the original drivers --those rarely almost never get updated. If they ever do get updated, the updates must come from Dell.

The reason I gave my service tag is I keep getting PMs asking for it so I thought I won't get an answer from tech support w/o it.

Anyway I downloaded the recommended Realtek driver for my XPS 13 9360 from the Dell website and installed that. However there is no Waves MaxxAudio driver listed so I tried the 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017 drivers based on their post date. The 2020 driver tells me the audio codec is not supported whereas all the other older drivers tell me my audio drivers are not up to date. I can open the MaxxAudio program but the buttons are all locked and inactivated. Where do I get a MaxxAudio Pro driver that will work with my 9360 XPS 13? I purchased this laptop in Dec. 2017.

The Realtek driver I installed is 'Realtek-High-Definition-Audio-Driver_MM88C_WIN_6.0.8895.1_A16.exe'. Again it's the driver recommended for my 9360.

I found out what the problem was: The Wave MaxxAudio software is already included in the Dell Realtek drivers. What I was doing is install the Realtek drivers and immediately install the MaxxAudio drivers which screws everything up. I did not check after I installed the Realtek drivers if MaxxAudio was enabled.

What is confusing is Dell offers the MaxxAudio drivers separately so it seems like these need to be installed separately. In addition, on the Dell driver site for the XPS 13 9360, there is no mention of the MaxxAudio drivers. Dell should specifically state the Realtek Drivers include the MaxxAudio software. They should list the Realtek drivers as 'RealTek Audio + Wave MaxxAudio Drivers'  to prevent this confusion in the future.

I figured this out by Googling the web about this issue. I ended up installing a slightly older version of the xxx.8895xxx drivers but MaxxAudio is enabled and functioning so I am leaving things as is for awhile.

Well found out another problem: Yes, MaxxAudio Pro is working, but the equalizer doesn't work to change settings. I can manipulate the BASS and DETAIL knobs but when I change equalizer settings, no effect on the music. Is there a way to lock in the equalizer settings with a button? Don't think so; the change is supposed to be instant when you change equalizer presets I think.

The latest .8995 Realtek drivers for the XPS 13 9360 are installed. I tried to download the latest MaxxAudio drivers to overwrite that, but it adds more knob options, but now none of the knobs work at all, much less the equalizer settings. Interestingly enough, I uninstalled the drivers using the Windows Uninstall app feature and now I am back to where I began: two knobs working with the MaxxAudio feature installed by the .8995 drivers, but equalizer presets still don't.

This appears to be a known issue with the Dells going back to 2019. Somebody said to install an old Realtek driver where Maxxaudio was responsive and working, but they said Windows update keeps installing newer Realtek drivers. Dell needs to fix this internally.

For me Equalizers have always been Finicky 

Can you test on Headphones (3.5 mm jack) once