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December 2nd, 2017 20:00

XPS 15 9560 does not recognize headphones

I just got new headphones, and when I plugged them in to my XPS 15, the audio would still only play through the speakers. I assumed that this was because I hadn't updated my computer in a while so I restarted it while the headphones were plugged in and sure enough, they started working. Also after the update, it said that WavesMaxxAudio was removed but I had disabled that for a while.

The problem appeared again when I unplugged my headphones and when I plugged them back in, sound would only come out through the speakers. I tried restarting my computer again but to no avail. It randomly started working again when I was running Dell's 10 minute diagnostic test to figure out what was wrong. Like an idiot however, I accidentally unplugged them and now I'm back to having my headphones plugged in with audio coming through the speakers.

Then I tried updating my BIOS because why not and the headphones started to work again. I took them out since I needed to use them on my phone and again the refuse to work.

Also it's worth noting that whenever my headphones do work, they are not recognized as a separate device, meaning that I can't mark them as a default device.

Is there anyway to fix this? I would really appreciate specific steps. I was thinking about uninstalling the audio drivers but I don't want to end up messing up my audio entirely

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13.6K Posts

December 3rd, 2017 05:00

Hello. On the modern Dell laptops with Realtek audio, when you plug anything into the headset (combo) jack you should get a popup dialog asking you to select the type of device plugged in. The headphones will work after you go through that process. The popup is a function of the Realtek/Waves driver so probably when you disabled or removed Waves you lost the popup. Download and install a fresh copy of the Realtek audio driver and Waves will be installed with it.

This is the version for Win10 & 7.

If the issue were to persist even after you get the popup back then it could be hardware failure.

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