XPS 15 9500 Delayed sound and sound issues

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Sounds like we have the similar problem yet my XPS 13 Windows 10 worked great since I got it in September

• Takes a full ten seconds for speakers to work with any application
• Windows speaker icon (lower left) volume control bar FREEZES for 10 seconds when adjusted - but is working otherwise
• I uninstalled and reinstalled Dell recommended RealTek drivers, no joy. 
• Windows audio troubleshooter no help/did not solve.
• Completed Dell Update / sys is up to date
• I uninstalled/reinstalled Dell-recommended RealTek HD Audio Drivers (Aug 2021)
• I've opened a ticket with Dell support a few hours ago, but no joy there either.

Hi All

Had this issue starting late November early December. Had my mobo replaced which hasn't fixed the issue. After doing some troubleshooting I have worked out what the issue is and how to resolve - temporarily, however Dell needs to step in and resolve this.

The issue is actually the latest driver causing the issue. If you do the full uninstall and then allow a reinstall it works - briefly. The problem is that windows update then downloads the newer driver which knocks the sound out again - however, it only happens after a reboot . I have tried this using the older Realtek driver and the windows installed driver and it happens with either one. So no matter what driver you install, windows update will download the latest one which will muck it up again.

I find that the only way to get it working is to switch off windows updates - however this lasts for 7 days and means you don't get updates - you then end up after 7 days installing the updates and then uninstalling the sound drivers again and then installing the older driver and then disabling windows updates again - bit of a performance but at least it gets it working. 

Even though I use an external ASIO device for DJing from this laptop, this issue even affects that with jitter/latency lag across the entire system.

hi all,

I am facing exactly the same problems as you have described above. This is such an irritating problem and even though I had two contacts with service desk, only thing we do is uninstall and install the drivers.

Dell really needs to step in to solve this, because its so unbelieveable for the brand's best laptop in market is having this problem...

Exactly the same problem for my 15 9500. Need to make Dell aware of this serious problem

I have the same problem and this is extremly frustrating. Even when I watch a YouTube video, the video will start with no sound for 5 seconds, then pause for 5 seconds, only then the sound comes on and the video continues. It does that for every video I watch, delayed sound causing the video to automatically pause. My speaker bar at the bottom right freezes when I change volume. Actually my brightness display freezes when I change the brightness of my screen. So many bugs and delays everywhere, I regret not buying a true premium product, like the MacBook Pro. Would not have had these issues, or would have had them fixed in no time. Last time I buy a Dell product, been deceive one too many times and Dell does not fix the issues...

This is just bizarre, I have had 2 new Mobo's in my XPS 9500! This laptop costs a lot of money and I have premium support. but now, after one year of issues I can cry becouse the problem still persists. It Costs Dell a lot of money and it didn't fix anything. The only way to get the sounds work again properly is reinstalling windows from BIOS with the "old" drivers. Then it will be fine for a couple of months. I noticed that upgrading to windows 11 has the same issues. First the sound issues don't exist and after a while it starts, and now again, you need to reinstall windows to get it working again. 

I have had 2 new motherboards! and a lot of wasted time! really really bad!

only juan,

Following up to see  if  disabling the driver automatic updates resolved the issue. Also,  did you use SupportAssist to update the drivers manually and uncheck the Realtek Driver every time, until the next Realtek Driver update?

Uninstall the wavemaxx drivers and reinstall them too. Let us know if this resolved the issue.

I have done all that you mentioned and so far, without updating the Realtek Driver, the sound issue has been resolved. As for the WaveMaxx driver, not sure how to specifically uninstall it's drivers, but I completely Factory Reseted my computer and WaveMaxx has been working since. So is it the newest Realtek Driver messing with WaveMaxx? Who knows, but for now there is no delay and I can deal with skipping Realtek Driver updates. Although, for security and stability reasons, I sincerely hope the next driver update will be a good one - and soon enough.

Thanks for your reply!

Jesse, I'm having exactly the same issue on a brand new 9520. The audio turned to complete cack a few days ago so I updated a load of drivers. I assume that's what's now causing the large audio delays, faulty volume bar and intermitent windows sounds.

Every time I uninstall Realtek, I restart and Windows has installed the latest driver. You mentioned disabling auto driver updates to Juan. How would I go about doing this?

Cheers,

Tom

I have the same issue on my new 9520 consistently over the first 8 weeks of use.  If I access the volume mixer or make a zoom call the audio is broken from then on (no sounds at all, and anything accessing the audio causes a hang), only a reboot fixes it (which takes 5-10 minutes to complete).  Reinstalling the driver temporarily fixes the issues.  I've just had my motherboard replaced which didn't fix to the issue.  Scheduled to return for a repair, but if this is a driver issue then i'm dubious its worth it.  Laptop is unusable for video conference due to the issue, which is a big problem.  Any fixes would be greatly appreciated.

I ended up reinstalling windows from the BIOS which I already did several times. But I can say thw sound issues in Windows 11 are now over and it did not occurred any longer. So for some reason it did reoccurring in the past after reinstallation. I guess there was something wrong in the first versions of windows 11 what permentally created an issue in windows 11 even when updating. It looks it is fixed now if you reinstall windows 11 completely from BIOS

I did that a few days ago, but the audio problems remained.  The same audio problems exist after the motherboard replacement today.  How many times did you reinstall windows, and was there anything different the last time you did it?!

I have 9520 and same issues, never got the sound working anywhere near satisfactory with i dont know how many driver changes.