Dell G7 15 7588 internal microphone issues

Hello,

I recently purchased a new G7 7588 (open-box model at a BestBuy). The computer is working great. However there's something strange going on with the built-in microphone.

Using Audacity (a free audio editing program) I am able to record incoming audio from the built-in microphone but only on the right channel. The left channel is completely silent (except for a low volume noise floor). Please see the attached photos.

If this "left channel only" behavior wasn't already strange enough - to get any signal input from the built-in microphone at all I need to completely disable the voice profile feature of Waves MaxxAudio. If this feature is enabled, there is absolutely no signal coming in from the microphone to audacity - not even noise!

The final strange behavior happens in Skype - where I am unable to capture any signal at all from the microphone.

I've tried doing a fresh installation of windows and installed all the Dell drivers from scratch (Realtek HD audio & Waves MaxxAudio) - as well as the latest 1.9 firmware update - however the problem persists, and even gives some additional strangeness with driver conflicts between the Realtek audio drivers and another driver ("Intel Smartsound Technology Audio Controller") that just seemed to pop up out of nowhere!

Please help!

best,

Ehb

Microphone input into Audacity with MaxxAudio disabled (right channel works - left channel only noise)Microphone input with MaxxAudio enabled, there is no signal from the built-in microphoneRecording of microphone input with MaxxAudio enabled

When I try to make a phone call with Skype there is no microphone signal whatsoever.