m1330 headphone jack issue

So, I've had my m1330 about 9 months now and it's been pretty good in general, a little down on the performance recently but I figure that's cause I've simply been installing too much on it.

So, a couple of weeks ago I notice that when I have the headphones plugged in, sound is still coming out of the laptop speakers. So far, so irritating. So I fiddle around with all of the sound settings in the Sigmatel panel (the ones I can actually access, anyway, as it won't let me use the advanced tab). So, as a result sound only comes out of the headphones and never out of the speakers at all. Slight overcorrection maybe.

So I uninstall the drivers for both the intel sound device and the Sigmatel, reinstall with the updated ones, and I'm back to the sound still coming out of the speakers when headphones are plugged in. Fun, fun, fun.

Anyone had any experience of this or got any ideas? I have seen mention of this on a few other forums but no concrete solution, and can't find anything useful by doing a couple of quick searches on here.

Nothing else seems to have really chanced with the machine, except it is possibly a little hotter than normal, especially at the front around the harddrive and near the jacks. May just be my imagination though.

If anyone can help at all, I'd be extremely grateful. I am on vista and have the 7200rpm HDD and the integrated graphics.

 

Hello, sorry to bump but if anyone does have any ideas, no matter how vague, they will be most appreciated - as anyone who's experienced the torture of trying to get anything sensible out of Dell UK support will testify.

 

I never opened the M1330, but all other audio devices with plug like that are mechanically disconnects the internal speakers when the headphone jack is inserted. Now if this is the case first try another headphones as they could short out the contacts and cause this problem, if that does not do it call Dell, they have to open the laptop and fix the plug or replace it.
Again I'm not 100% sure as I never opened M1330 but most likely this how it works.

 

I've tried it with a number of headphones, so it's not them. I know most audio devices work like you describe, but I've been told a lot of newer computer hardware doesn't and uses software instead.

The problem occurs in both jacks rather than just one, which suggests something other than dodgy jack sockets as well.

I have the sigmatel audio codec which by all accounts is either crap or crippled by dell.

 

When I'm not 100% sure if it is software or hardware I use Ubuntu live CD (or gOS), it does not use any thing on your hard drive an will load all the drivers from the CD, in fact to be sure I would remove the hard drive first then boot from the live CD.

 

I had Dell replace the whole motherboard on my M1330 and it still didn't fix the issue. Have you checked your headphones? The in-ear ones that come with it (Creative) are just too sensitive. My sony ear buds don't make the sound.