Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1 Message
0
6209
Inspiron 15 7559 - Muffled Audio
I have had this Inspiron 15 7559 laptop for over a year now and the audio has been fine, besides the odd crackle or pop here and there. However, after a Windows update, the audio has since become "muffled" whenever I try to watch youtube or movies, listen to spotify, or play any games. It's like the sound is very distant or like it was being played underwater, if that makes any sense. From what I can tell, Windows notification sounds appear to be unaffected. Audio works fine when I use headphones.
I have seen frequent directions on this forum to open the Device Manager and expand the "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" section, then right clicking on "Realtek High Definition Audio". But I do not see that present there, instead I see "Intel Display Audio", "NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM), and "Realtek Audio" (unless this one qualifies?).
I am not sure whether I have made things more difficult trying other solutions posted on this forum and other troubleshooting forums, which has resulted in the Realtek High Definition Audio" disappearing or something.
In any case, I'm at my wits end here and would greatly appreciate any directions you can give me to find a solution to this problem.
Jim Coates
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
February 17th, 2017 06:00
Is it muffled just with streaming audio, or also when you play local audio, such as mp3 files from the hard drive? If all audio is muffled, the speakers might need replacing.
In my experience the Realtek audio driver has identified itself to Windows as "Realtek High Definition Audio", but there might be some variation where it names itself "Realtek Audio".
If you want to return to the audio driver that you had before you recently made changes, use Windows System Restore, and pick a restore point that is dated about the time of the Windows update, when you first noticed the issue. That should restore the driver you had then. If you want to undo the update, I think you would have to do that in the update dialog (type Windows Update in the search/run box). Click on view update history.
Saltgrass
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
•
4.3K Posts
0
February 17th, 2017 07:00
When you look at the hidden icons on the taskbar, do you show a Waves icon or a Realtek Audio Manager? Settings such as muting sound during communications may be involved. These would be on the Windows panel. Try running a test on the speakers and there may be a troubleshooter on the system.
Are you running your system through another device, such as a dock or HDMI cable to a monitor?
There could be some options which effect just the speakers. You are using a wired headset and not Bluetooth?
I suppose for me, the comment about "after a Windows update" would probably mean removing the Realtek device and drivers completely so that the Microsoft drivers were loaded and then reloading the latest Realtek drivers. And I agree later Realtek drivers may just be identified as Realtek Audio.