*M17xR3/R4 & M18xR1/R2* Internal Speakers not working after using Optical/external audio out

If it just includes replacing the sound board and not the whole motherboard I may do that as well.

 

There is no sound board. The audio jacks are integrated onto the motherboard, hopefully they are sending the right part (the whole motherboard)

 

Still having issues with the SB?

 

just got off the phoenw tih um again.. they are replacing the motherboard..

 

Make sure you watch him/her closely to make sure they don't misplace parts or lose any screws or misalign stuff. Nah mean?

 

Just did it again... This time just by plugging normal headphones into the jack! And this time I can't get it back. FFS Dell, get your act together!

 

threads merged and stickied for the time being

EDIT: Merged thread from M18x sub-forum. Looks like this is impacting both systems. Note added to post#1 and thread title changed. Thread relocated to the main AW forum.

 

Thanks BatBoy!

 

I picked up the Creative SB 5.1 Pro USB, discussed earlier. Works fantastically.

I don't use headphones - I'm either using the built-in speakers, or I'm at my desk and I'm looking to drive my 5.1 setup. This is allowing me to just plug in a USB cable (that goes to my USB 3.0 hub, which has various items plugged into it - including the Creative Labs unit) and avoid using the sp/dif jack.

 

Still waiting on alienware to fix this, they still believe its simply a defective pair of speakers but I emailed the tech this thread, hopefully we will get some kind of response.

I haven't tried the driver solutions yet because I'd rather they replace the defective part then I be stuck with a software workaround since it's only a few weeks old.

 

I agree completely, they need to re-write the driver to disregard that hardware check as it is clearly borked

Just another "feature" for us to enjoy....lol

 

This may or may not be related but I noticed my speaker volumes became a little too soft (low volume) for my taste after a 2weeks of plugging/unplugging...
Anyone noticed the same?

 

havent ran into that yet.. just got a mobo swap and everything is working to spec now

 

have you used the SPDIF jack without it malfunctioning?

 

I've noticed something similar, where the speakers don't sound as loud as they did when I first received it. Dunno if it's related to using/not-using the earphone jack.

 

The volume drops because it thinks there are headphones plugged in still...

 

You meantersay that mine's suffering from this problem as well??????

 

Just an update, I FedEx'd my system back a couple of days ago, don't know if I'll hear from them regarding the issue or just get it back in a few weeks.
I left a note on it asking them to test all of the audio outputs, especially SPDIF, after they get it working, so we'll see...

 

You seriously expecting them to actually read the note and actually test stuff for you? smh

 

I seriously expect it to come back with every feature they sold it to me with working. If using the optical audio port is what caused the speaker to stop working in the first place, asking them to troubleshoot it is a reasonable request IMO

 

Any word on this problem? Since I haven't ordered, but would use the spdif from time to time, this would be an issue for me.

Thanks!

 

i had my mobo replaced and bios updated and everything is running perfect

 

Hey guys does any one's speakers become distorted at 70-80% on sounds? TV streamed off the net, youtube, some game sounds, and vent.

 

not 4 me... sounds perfect, u made need ur speakers replaced

 

i didn't see this thread until after i used my spdif port and my speakers no longer work either... suuuuux seeing that my system is only a little over a month old

 

Sure hope they fixed this. I'll be testing it in that 21 day window, for sure. Have the full surround SPDIF receiver setup down in the cave

 

called support today they admitted there was a problem with this. They also said there is a new mobo that fixes the issue... It will be a day or two before an "engineer" calls me back with a solution

 

Update: I've been using the audio out for a couple of weeks now.
Internal speakers are still working but somehow I feel the speakers sound softer than my previous R2. I can't actually prove it so I'm shutting my trap on this one. Heh.

 

@scook9 - What was it you did to get things working properly after your M18x quit outputting sound to the integrated speakers? Did I understand correctly that you are using native Win7 drivers for your audio system? Please explain a bit more. Does the name still appear as IDT High Definition Audio Coded in Device Manager? Was any functionality lost?

 

You lose some of the DSP and equalizer settings but not much. I currently have my Z-5500s setup and working with the 6 channel input. Took some trial and error but got all 6 channels outputting correctly using the windows driver (I believe?). Not home right now so cannot confirm. Will next week.

 

Hello,

I receive my system in a couple of days and was wondering if this issue is still present with the new motherboards.

Thank you in advance

 

They haven't redesigned the port, so yes.

 

Hey buddy, did you confirm what drivers your audio is using? Running the Microsoft version of the driver corrected the issue with no sound from the speakers?

 

I have same problem with my new replacement , not matter what driver ver I tried , its not working (no sound) , I'm trying clean install now. If still not working , I gonna switch my mother board.

not working either after clean instal , the audio probably broken not funtion.

Update : Switched mother board , my sound back to working.

 

How and where did you get a replacement motherboard in only a few hours?

 

I had the replacement few days ago due to dead pixiel, I thought it was perfect...I didn't notice it has sound problem, the speaker is completely dead no respond.

 

I have this same issue and I called technical support and they didn't offer to replace the mobo or the speakers, they just said they would escalate the situation, I asked him about it and he said that it would fix it but it wouldn't be the easiest solution, I'm curious about should I just wait to hear back or call again and push for a new motherboard.

 

I'd call them back. I'm not sure what "wouldn't be the easiest solution" means unless they have some kind of fix for it. I would not wait around for them to get back to you.

 

Did this problem occur from plugging in ordinary headphone or earbuds, or only from using the optical adapter?

 

I got a response from my Rep from Dell about this audio issue

this is what he said "I have the solution for the audio issue that you where having (No audio on the speakers). It seems that the system has a short circuit in the audio chip that is weld in the motherboard and it could also affect other components on the system. That is why we recommend to send the system to depot (our repair facilities). If you want I can call you back and give you more information and verify your address so that I can place the dispatch"

I'm definately gonna try and push for a better graphics card if they want to take my laptop for probably 2 months.

 

i got mine replaces a lil over a month ago, and it works fine now... idk wat happened, just ed up then started working

 

Don't have much to add other than a "me too", as I explained on this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...reinstall-no-audio-using-updated-drivers.html

tl;dr: my system's sound was working perfectly, mother board fried, got a replacement and the new one doesnt' want to play sound in the speakers, just in the earphones.

Will call Dell on Monday :X

 

ur promblems is either the pin insode one of the jacks is stuck or the part of the mobo that has the jacks on it has a short, my problem was the latter, got it replaced, works fine

 

I simply dont understand. Everyone of you seem to be content with the motherboard replacement. Are you telling me that once the motherboard is replaced your are once more able to use your optical/external audio output jack without causing the problem to reccur?

If I were you I would just insert the Toslink over whatever it is even with the bare motherboard. And make the engineer right sit there and figure out why this is happening again. If every single person simply just does this and repeatedly forces Dell to initiate motherboard change..then we could perhaps finally force Dell to do something about this.

How many times will they keep changing motherboard until the decide to issue a new replacement or fix the mother freaking board or IDT software? Is it such a mind boggling affair for Dell to address? Maybe it is something more serious that what it looks like ...who knows? Its very strange they havent addressed this.

And what about those who received laptops recently in the last one month.Has there been any complains? Those with replacement motherboards may have a higher likelihood of still having this potential problem because it may be a refurb mother board. Not a new revision etc.

Finally....are there anyone out there in Notebookreview.com who have used the optical/external audio out put and NOT SUFFERED FROM THIS PROBLEM!

ANYONE! Is this affecting 100% of all Alienware M17x R3 productions? If you are just accepting a motherboard with the potential problem that akin to Dell covering your warranty with another defective motherboard. Why would you accept that solution? Thats unethical of Dell and amounts to deception.

This also mirrors the same solution the gave for various systems suffered due to Nvidia GPUs failing after sometime due to bad die material in 2008/9. There was a massive litigation initiated against Dell. Dell had to pay out to the customers in US. But to the rest of the customers worldwide they simply added 1 more year to the warranty specifically for failure arising from the GPU failure.

However their solution for those notebooks within warranty was to simply replace the motherboard when the GPU fails. And these motherboards had the same batch of potentially failing GPUs as well.

I am not surprised that they are doing the same now. After changing the motherboard, are you expected never to use the optical output jack? Is this the solution from Dell.

Where are those Dell people who always hang out here in Notebookreview. Perhaps some of you in the states can fax an explicit detail of this matter to the corporate office.

Seems like Dell is consciously ignorant and adamant in refusing to solve this problem because they hope most customers wont use it and also people will get fed up and never use these jacks.

I think they dont want to declare the problem because there will be a massive recall to change motherboards. But why are they not changing the design if this is a matter of stuck pin or faulty jack and preventing further cases. This is called cheating when you know your motherboard is defective and yet you push it for sales.

 

ive done all that, unplugged, replugged, many many times.. cant get it to happen again

 

SERIOUS SIMPLE FIX


This is what i did and it somehow worked....:

Unplug headset
Disable all audio drivers
Turn off computer
Turn on computer
Enable audio drivers
Turn off computer
Blow into your audio inputs ( Seriously do this it didnt work without doing it)
Turn on your computer


DONE


I was like WEWTTTTTT


THIS IS MY FIRST POST EVER ON A FORUM AND IF I GET REPLYS I WILL POST MORE FIXES ON ALIENWARES SYSTEMS AND OTHERS

 

Has anyone else actually tried this ^^^^^^^ when nobody was around to laugh about blowing into the audio input jack?
(That step doesn't make any sense, but if you're desperate to get speaker output I suppose anything is worth a try, LOL.)

 

i did it worked a lil, but it came back soon after

 

Hmm...Surprised that this thread is still alive n kickin'.

Not sure what problems you're all experiencing, but I do notice that the speakers get quieter after I unplug my headphones from the jack. Or, maybe my head/ears are playing tricks on me cuz my headphones are so much more bassy/trebly than the speakers on the R3. If I restart my computer, the speakers seem to be louder/back to normal again. I've tried testing various things, such as the Waves settings in IDT, but that didn't do anything to the sound. Basically, a restart will make it go back to normal. Either that, or I'm really tricking myself here lolz.

 

Maybe it's the restarting your computer part that does it. Cuz that's how mine is. lolz