Sound played fine via HDMI. Driver installed and works properly per Windows. Sound file played without any error.
When you say the file played without error, are you still talking about HDMI? I'm a bit confused on this point.
Dell diagnostic test, no beeping sound when select No during the color bar display test.
When I tell folks to fail the PSA test to generate beeps, it is usually because they have reported that they get audio through the headphones but not the speakers. The purpose of doing the test is to distinguish between these 2 things:
a. no sound from speakers because they are disconnected or have failed. This is indicated by not hearing the beeps.
b. or no sound from speakers because the sensing mechanism in the headphone jack has failed.
However in the title of this thread you indicate that there is no sound from either the speakers or headphones. That is a different circumstance and it means that what we can deduce from the test results is a bit muddled, but probably the speakers are disconnected (or failed).
I looked at the board and it seemed that I would need to replace the motherboard to fix this problem
Yes, there is not a separate jack circuit board on your model so in order to replace the headphone jack, or the IDT chip, you would replace the motherboard. Note that if you did not not hear the beeps (when failing the color bar test) because the speakers have failed, then replacing the motherboard should restore audio to the headphone jack but the speakers still won't work. However with any luck the speakers will work again after reseating the cable.
Your symptoms are unusual and right now it is impossible to pinpoint the exact failure, but I think that before replacing the motherboard and speakers I would
a. reinstall the IDT audio driver again to correct for any misconfiguration or corruption.
b. double check by removing the IDT driver and installing the native Windows audio driver.
c. check the Windows Audio Service.
d. re-seat the speaker cable and run the PSA test again.
e. if the beeps are heard in PSA tests after reseating cable, I would run the audio tests section of the Dell 32 bit Diagnostics.***
I might go beyond those steps and use the restoration image (Factory Image Restore) to return the laptop to the original factory configuration.
*** The N5010 shipped with Dell 32 bit Diagnostics in the diagnostics partition of the hard drive. If you still have that set of tests, you will will see the option to run them after the PSA tests have finished running. If you have the 32 bit Diagnostics then run the audio test because it will test the audio chip, something the PSA test does not do. To run the audio test if you have the 32 bit Diagnostics
1. Select 'Custom', then the audio tests. (At this point - after you have been able to open the 32 bit Diagnostics custom section - if you can't find the option to select the audio tests that in itself is a symptom of a failed audio chip.)
2. The tests will run. The tests will play some audio and ask you whether you heard it.
3. If you don't hear the music through the speakers during the test, and if the speakers were confirmed to work in the PSA tests, then that indicates failure of the audio chip.
If you do hear audio through the speakers during the test, but not when you boot back into Windows, then it is either a software problem or the sensing mechanism in the headphone jack has failed.
If the main concern is getting the headphone jack to work, consider getting a cheap usb audio adapter. It will take the place of the IDT audio chip and will provide a jack for headphones or external speakers. for just a few dollars.
2. From here on, the issue is with the built-in speakers AND the headphone jacks.
- I tried clean installations with several versions of IDT drivers from Dell for N5010, all installed and worked "properly" per Windows driver status under driver's properties. No sound from neither output (speakers and headphone jack)
- Audio files played Windows Media Player and 3rd party players without any error.
- Windows' speaker configuration utility showed animation of sound being played but nothing came out of either output.
- Tried driver from Windows auto installation. Driver installed and worked properly. No sound from either output
- The OEM hard drive failed completely so I lost the entire OEM content. I tried to savage data with an external enclosure but couldn't.
- Microsoft Audio service test had no problem with the driver but failed (user initiated) because there was no sound from speakers.
- Both speaker cables disconnected/reconnected at the beginning of trouble shooting.
I tried USB audio adapter, it worked but wanted to be able to use the built-in speakers.
I guess I'll use this laptop as media host for digital format via HDMI and USB audio adaptor because a working motherboard costs around $150.
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
January 3rd, 2014 06:00
When you say the file played without error, are you still talking about HDMI? I'm a bit confused on this point.
When I tell folks to fail the PSA test to generate beeps, it is usually because they have reported that they get audio through the headphones but not the speakers. The purpose of doing the test is to distinguish between these 2 things:
a. no sound from speakers because they are disconnected or have failed. This is indicated by not hearing the beeps.
b. or no sound from speakers because the sensing mechanism in the headphone jack has failed.
However in the title of this thread you indicate that there is no sound from either the speakers or headphones. That is a different circumstance and it means that what we can deduce from the test results is a bit muddled, but probably the speakers are disconnected (or failed).
Yes, there is not a separate jack circuit board on your model so in order to replace the headphone jack, or the IDT chip, you would replace the motherboard. Note that if you did not not hear the beeps (when failing the color bar test) because the speakers have failed, then replacing the motherboard should restore audio to the headphone jack but the speakers still won't work. However with any luck the speakers will work again after reseating the cable.
Your symptoms are unusual and right now it is impossible to pinpoint the exact failure, but I think that before replacing the motherboard and speakers I would
a. reinstall the IDT audio driver again to correct for any misconfiguration or corruption.
b. double check by removing the IDT driver and installing the native Windows audio driver.
c. check the Windows Audio Service.
d. re-seat the speaker cable and run the PSA test again.
e. if the beeps are heard in PSA tests after reseating cable, I would run the audio tests section of the Dell 32 bit Diagnostics.***
I might go beyond those steps and use the restoration image (Factory Image Restore) to return the laptop to the original factory configuration.
*** The N5010 shipped with Dell 32 bit Diagnostics in the diagnostics partition of the hard drive. If you still have that set of tests, you will will see the option to run them after the PSA tests have finished running. If you have the 32 bit Diagnostics then run the audio test because it will test the audio chip, something the PSA test does not do. To run the audio test if you have the 32 bit Diagnostics
1. Select 'Custom', then the audio tests. (At this point - after you have been able to open the 32 bit Diagnostics custom section - if you can't find the option to select the audio tests that in itself is a symptom of a failed audio chip.)
2. The tests will run. The tests will play some audio and ask you whether you heard it.
3. If you don't hear the music through the speakers during the test, and if the speakers were confirmed to work in the PSA tests, then that indicates failure of the audio chip.
If you do hear audio through the speakers during the test, but not when you boot back into Windows, then it is either a software problem or the sensing mechanism in the headphone jack has failed.
If the main concern is getting the headphone jack to work, consider getting a cheap usb audio adapter. It will take the place of the IDT audio chip and will provide a jack for headphones or external speakers. for just a few dollars.
SilverKnight1
2 Posts
0
January 3rd, 2014 10:00
Thank you for taking your time to respond.
1. Audio played fine via HDMI. No issue here.
2. From here on, the issue is with the built-in speakers AND the headphone jacks.
- I tried clean installations with several versions of IDT drivers from Dell for N5010, all installed and worked "properly" per Windows driver status under driver's properties. No sound from neither output (speakers and headphone jack)
- Audio files played Windows Media Player and 3rd party players without any error.
- Windows' speaker configuration utility showed animation of sound being played but nothing came out of either output.
- Tried driver from Windows auto installation. Driver installed and worked properly. No sound from either output
- The OEM hard drive failed completely so I lost the entire OEM content. I tried to savage data with an external enclosure but couldn't.
- Microsoft Audio service test had no problem with the driver but failed (user initiated) because there was no sound from speakers.
- Both speaker cables disconnected/reconnected at the beginning of trouble shooting.
I tried USB audio adapter, it worked but wanted to be able to use the built-in speakers.
I guess I'll use this laptop as media host for digital format via HDMI and USB audio adaptor because a working motherboard costs around $150.