No electronic device is free from occasional glitches. Even the mighty Dell, renowned for its consistency in delivering remarkable laptops, suffers from infrequent hiccups. One such issue is the Dell laptop headphone jack not working.
The subject has been talked about a lot. And the manufacturer and computer experts have also suggested a good number of practical remedies that are easy to apply. In most cases, the remedies can fix the issue.
So, if you want to know about them a bit more, please carry on reading.
Dell Laptop Headphone Jack Not Working– Resolving the Issue
It’s possible that the headphones are not working or the headphone jack is not working simply because they are broken.
If not, why are your headphones not working with the laptop but working fine with other devices? Let us tell you the reasons first, and then we will discuss resolving them:
Know Why Dell Laptop Headphone Jack Not Working
A lot can cause the headphone jack not working in your Dell laptop. The most obvious reason is that you haven’t selected the integrated speakers to perform or they are left muted. If the files in the audio driver or sound card get corrupted, headphones will not work.
If the programs, like Media Player, for playing audio files are not installed properly, there will be no sound – either in the headphone or in the computer or external speakers. Often the audio driver becomes outdated and doesn’t sync with the laptop.
Sometimes there can be static charges stored in the metal part of the headphone jack due to inefficient earthing of the electricity supply of the whole building.
All the above reasons can make the headphones not working.
Let’s get to know how we can fix the problem in different versions of Windows.
Dell Headphone Jack Not Working In Windows 10
To comply with popular and professional demands, Dell equips every laptop with contemporary software and hardware. That’s why, if yours is a recent purchase, chances are, your laptop is running on Windows 10.
So, knowing a few basic tricks might make the problem solved.
Restart Your Laptop
While the headphone jack is still attached, a simple rebooting of your system may rectify the whole issue. So, go ahead and try it.
Set The Headphone As The Default Device For Audio
Follow the steps as below:
- Press’ Windows Key + I’ to go ‘Setting’ and then opt for ‘System’. You will get a tab called ‘Sound’ on the left and choose it.
- From there, go to the’Manage Sound Devices’ tab. You will see that the ‘Speakers’ option is currently on ‘Disabled’ mode. You need to change the mode to ‘Enable’ option.
- The final step would be going back to‘Sound Settings’ and from the dropdown menu, select ‘Headphone’ from the‘Choose Your Output Device’option.
Disabling The Detection Of Jack In The Front Panel
If your Dell laptop headphone jack is not working with a Realtek sound card, fix it by making the front panel jacks inactive. Please follow the below steps:
- Go to the Control Panel from the search bar.
- From the dropdown menu, select Realtek HD Audio Manager and select theConnector Settings option.
- There you can find the Disable Front Panel Jack Detection option. Simply choose the OK button.
- Restart.
Use Audio Troubleshooter
The troubleshooter in Windows 10 is an excellent tool to fix various issues. Here is how you would use it:
- Go to the Settings app by simultaneously pressing the Windows + I keys.
- SelectUpdate & Security option.
- After that choose Playing Audio, which you will get under the tab setup and Run category.
- Choose Run from the troubleshooter button.
- The tool will start working automatically and fix problems along the way.
Update The Audio And Sound Driver
Regular updates of the drivers can rectify obsolete audio drivers, which sometimes cause various issues.
- Go to the Run application.
- Write the following ‘devmgmt.msc’in the taskbar without quotation marks. Pressing OK will get you to the Device Manager option.
- Initiate the Sound, Video, and Game controllers bypressing the arrow icon.
- Right-click on Audio Driver then click on Update Driver.
- Select Search Automatically For Updated Driver Software.
Disable The Audio ‘App’ Control Over Sound System
This method is known to work best for the Latitude series.
- Go to Settings and select the Sound option. You can to do it comfortably by now.
- Under the Output tab of the Speaker/Headphone options, Choose Device Properties.
- From the dropdown menu, you will find ‘Related Settings’, and from there, go to ‘Additional Device Properties’
- Go to the ‘Advanced’ tab and click ‘Under Exclusive’ mode.
- You will find that ‘Allow’ option was selected to let the ‘Apps’ to take over the sound system of the device. Now, just deselect the option.
- Restart.
And you are good to go.
How to Fix Dell Laptop Headphone Jack Is Not Working In Windows 7 & 8
Windows 10 is overwhelmingly used around the world these days, but some users still cling to Windows 7 & 8 for the simple & practical functions they offer. If you have Windows 7 or 8 OS running on your Dell laptop, carry on reading for the solution to solve the headphone issue.
Windows 7
Please follow the below steps:
- Just follow the easy steps below;
- Open Control Panel using WindowsStart menu and open Audio Manager
- Then select the small folder sign to find the text Analog.
- Click the “Disable Front Panel Jack Detection” to deselect.
- Press OK.
You should be ok now with the headphones.
Windows 8
- Go to the Loudspeaker sign at the bottom right and right-click it.
- Select Sound Manager and go to the Advanced tab and click on Jack sign.
- Press the button.
- Select Ok.
Hopefully, the problems are gone now.
Final Thoughts
Whether it’s Dell Latitude 7400, Inspiron 14, or Inspiron 15 series 5000 or 3000 – the above steps may get you sorted with Dell laptop headphone jack not working issue. But be prepared if any or all of them fail. The headphone jack or the port of the laptop may get physically damaged. Dust or insects can be stored and the physical connection may also get disrupted.
The truth is any number of reasons can cause problems. The sensible thing is to apply the processes described above before rushing to the mechanics or getting a shiny, new one.
We hope, unless the product is physically damaged, the methods we described will fix the issue.
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