Problem with crackling sound after windows 11 update

Question

Hello guys, I have an XPS 13 9305. It was eligible for the windows 11 update. Shortly after I updated, I started having issues with crackling sound from the laptop speakers. This problem does not occur on any external speakers, wired headphones nor Bluetooth headphones. It exclusively happens on the laptop speakers. I looked around for help on some old threads and asked the Dell support team for help (from their Support Assist application). They guided me on how to uninstall the Realtek sound driver from device manager and reinstall it. Unfortunately, the problem did not disappear after doing so. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Realtek sound driver numerous times to try and fix the issue but it has been persistent.  The Realtek Audio Driver info: Version: 6.0.9084.1, A00  File Name: Realtek Audio Driver_GY3C8_WIN_6.0.9084.1_A00. EXE File size 697.62 MB I also tried to change the format between 24 and 16 bits and 48000 and 44100 Hz but I had no luck. Does anyone else have this issue? Should I switch back to Windows 10? If anyone found a permanent fix I’d appreciate if you could help me out!

DELL-Jesse L · Answer

adnan98, To reinstall Windows 10 follow the information below. Please visit here for detailed instructions on downloading and using the Dell OS recovery tool.

JOcean · Answer

If any other device is fine then it may be a hardware issue. Run diagnostics (tapping F12 immediately at boot) and watch for any sound problems. There have been issues reported with Realtek drivers and Windows 11 as this web page shows. If diagnostics shows no problems then one way to know for sure is to go back to Windows 10 and see if the problem persists.

adnan98 · Answer

Thank you for your reply.

I have ran the diagnostics using f12 at startup and it showed no problems in hardware. I will try reverting to windows 10 and see if the issue continues. I will update the thread later with the results.

Grzesku · Answer

I had the same problem with crackling sound in bluetooth headphones after update from windows 10 to windows 11.Updating Quallcom Bluetooth driver to version 10.0.0.1118 solved the problem.

XPS

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