Another no sound question...

I don't think you are missing anything. I would say the problem is either in the headphone jack or the speakers. If you run the audio test in Dell Diagnostics and you do hear the audio through the speakers during the test, then the speakers are fine and the problem is in the headphone jack. If you don't  hear the audio through the speakers during the test, then the problem is in the speakers.

Here is how the problem can be a bad headphone jack:

---

The Dell laptops like yours with a Sigmatel 92xx audio chip utilize IDT's Universal Jacks technology, which is somewhat complicated. In addition to the usual mechanical parts, the jack also uses current & impedance-sensing techniques to trigger software configuration and switching (to send the audio signal to the speakers). So there are three areas of potential failure: mechanical, electronic, and software. Sometimes, a little very gentle wiggle of a plug in the jack will get it to resume normal functioning, at least temporarily. There is a sensing pin in the jack that is used to detect the presence of plugs and I think that it can be the cause of failure to trigger the software switching.

Normally the audio test in Dell Diagnostics would confirm that there is a hardware problem, but the Universal Jacks can cause a false positive result in Diagnostics. That is because Diagnostics operates in DOS, outside of Windows, so a Windows software misconfiguration is irrelevant to the test even though in this case it is caused by hardware.  So the audio test can pass in Diagnostics, correctly signaling that software configuration is the immediate cause of the problem, but missing that a hardware problem, the bad jack or sensing pin, is the root cause. In these instances the only reliable diagnostic procedure might be to try a new motherboard. In other words, it can be tough to diagnose.


Jim

Well, I just had the EXACT SAME problem on my Inspiron 5100, and I made a post just in case anyone else was having the same problem.. The jack is sensing that you still have something plugged into the jack, even though you dont, restricting the sound output only to that jack.. i plugged and unplugged my headphones a bunch of times and wiggled the plug around, and now everything is back to normal, the internal speakers are working just fine =] so try that and get back to us....

 

Richard

Richard,

Thanks for posting your solution.  The 5100's jack is not one of these Universal Jacks, but a mechanical jack, so the only way you have the exact problem is if Ride-er-die's problem is mechanical, which we don't know. My best guess is that it is electronic, the sensor pin.


Jim

Thank you Thank you Thank You!

 

You have saved me endless hours with support.

 

My 1721 has that exact problem. Two hours on the phone with support where they futzed around, re-doing all the stuff I first tried. The hardware diagnostic had sound coming out of the speakers so the tech assumed that it had to be a software problem. Even went to far as to restoring to factory shipping condition with no change.

 

I tried your solution, put in the headphone jack, slowly pulled it out and ever so gently and wiggled it after pulling it about half way out. Somehow this trips a sensor and voila! Sound out of the speakers!

 

I can reproduce this problem at will. Plug in headphones and pull them out, no sound from speakers. Put back in, and do the wiggle and sound returns. This is therefore a verifiable hardware problem that has the needed reproducable aspect.  This needs to be added to the Dell Support Technician troubleshooting procedues.

 

 

You're welcome. The jack might eventually go completely bad where the wiggling trick will no longer work.

 

 Jim