x17 R1, audio stops working when switching applications randomly

Small update but just had the motherboard on the system replaced, and the problem still persists right after a clean windows installation.

is anyone else running into this issue? Im wondering if it’s a driver issue? Im using the latest for my system from the dell website. This issue is pretty annoying because you have to keep switching the input to get audio back or if I disable audio enhancements or any other setting in the sound device.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Check Volume Levels and Muted Outputs
First, you should get the most obvious fix out of the way. If you have no sound on your computer, double-check to make sure that you haven't muted the audio. Click the Volume icon at the bottom-right corner of your computer to check the master volume bar; make sure it's not muted or set at an extremely low level. If it's muted, you'll see an X next to the speaker icon.

After this, right-click on the same volume icon and choose Open Volume mixer to see the current volume level for all apps playing audio. Turn these up as needed, confirming that they aren't muted by mistake or too low to hear. You may need to troubleshoot low audio output if you hear sound but it's too quiet.

Regards,
John

Hey John

Those were actually all the things I first tried but nothing was out of the ordinary. This is happening on a completely fresh installation of windows, even after repeated reformat attempts. 

If it was a hardware issue I would have thought that the motherboard replacement would have fixed that but it hasn't. The audio simply stops working if I switch between open applications and the desktop. It will then randomly come back when switching between different programs or going into the speaker settings and changing something like enhanced audio from on to off. If I have multiple outputs available switching between those also works.

I can't even begin to think of what other hardware component could be replaced at this point if it is indeed hardware since the speakers actually do work. I would think a fresh install of windows would eliminate any driver or software issue but that doesn't seem to be the case either.

This is really puzzling.

I am right there with you.  Annoying AF.  I have not gone through the whole support process, because truthfully, I find them useless.

What I have found is that when I lose my sound, normally if I am viewing programming videos and go to Evernote to take notes, and go back, I lose my sound.  What I do to resolve is go into the sound volume details page, and toggle something like mono on and off again;.  This seems to fix it temporarily.

I have not found a permanent solution yet.

I've been having the exact same issue with my X17 R1 since about a month ago. Sound cutting off sometimes when switching between apps, and toggling "mono audio" seems to be only thing that resets it without a reboot. All drivers up to date, all the newest windows updates installed (Windows 11). Everything worked fine before so I'm suspecting a driver/windows update actually broke it. Haven't found any permanent solution either, but good to know it's not just me having this issue...

As bad as it sounds I'm actually happy to see others having this issue because it means its not something with my system.

This has been driving me absolutely nuts because its so random. The only solutions to restoring the audio I have found are the ones both @DaveOfTheDogs and @j4b6ski have mentioned as well as toggling the sound output between devices if you have more then one. I have some external speakers connected to the headphone jack so I can switch between that and the internal speakers, and it restores the audio.

I have a feeling this is happening because of one of the more recent cumulative windows updates. This started happening for me around a month maybe two ago. 

I had to have the motherboard replaced due to a USB issue and I was really hopeful that would fix the problem but it didn't. I have done several clean installs and played with a variety of different driver combinations, from the original shipped drivers to the latest windows update drivers and nothing has worked.

Turning off Exclusive mode in the advanced sound options seems to prolong the issue but not eliminate it. 

Would be really nice if we could bring this to Dells attention in a more serious manner. Not sure what the best method for that is though.

If I stumble across a solution ill be sure to post it.

@Riftwire Here are the links to both versions:

version 6.0.9394.1 from Dell Support 

version 6.0.8996.1 from Dell Support 

You can also find these versions on the Microsoft website

version 6.0.9394.1 

version 6.0.8996.1 

hopefully this solution will work for you too.

 @N1c0 Would you have a link to those drivers? I am not finding them in my driver dashboard when using my ST. I only have 6.0.9168.1, A01 and 6.0.9244.1, A02 but I have tried both of those with no luck.

@N1c0 Finally got to trying this out but sadly is has not solved the problem for me. The drivers you linked to wont even install on my system after several different attempts.

I did then try removing AWCC as well and just doing the latest drivers but no dice sound behaves the same. Only thing left to try is one of the older drivers that I can download and see if that fixes it but I don't have high hopes.

This is beyond frustrating always having to switch output devices to return the audio.

After looking at a LOT of comments, I think that Dell has a serious problem with the Alienware x17 laptop. I bought mine and have had it less than one year. It has had the daughter board replaced several times, the motherboard, the heating element, the audio cable, LCD assembly, etc. All of this in less than an 8 month time frame. Still have no sound, keyboard randomly stops, screen blinks, absolutely ridiculous.  

Dell finally agreed to give me a refurbished laptop and about 6 weeks of warranty carryover from the non-working one by the time I would get it. So basically I spent about $5000 for a computer that does and has not worked, and giving me a used one is their answer.  

I am so shocked the number of people who are having the exact same issues and not getting anywhere.  We pay way to much for these products, much more than for other products on the market to be dealing with all of this and nothing to be done.

<Code of Conduct violation. Soliciting other users in this Legalistic manner is not allowed. DELL-Admin> 

Every once in a while I'll do updates to my x17, and the audio will just stop working, or only work for certain applications. I paid 4+k for this laptop and it can't even audio correctly? I've only fixed this in the past by completely removing AWCC and reinstalling the Realtek audio drivers. Today even that isn't working. Winamp can play audio, but Minecraft has been silenced. I've found playing with the speaker format output, switching between 24bit and 16bit sometimes seems to "reset" the audio, but again, that isn't working this morning. Dell should take a walk over to the RealTek offices and have a chat with the driver devs. If this continues to be a problem, others make really good laptops that compare favorably to the Alienware brand, and they DON'T have issues with things like audio that were supposedly solved a decade ago.

@N1c0 - brilliant solution, this has been driving me INSANE!!!!

@TheGarty Did those drivers actually work for you? Do you have X17 R1? I'm curious because I could not get any of the drivers to actually install anything all they would do is uninstall the previous version.