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No Sound

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7 replies

by chai714

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I'm working with a Dell laptop, which is usually simple but this is a special case. I can get sound from external speakers but not internal ones. Sound drivers are downloaded from Dell and device manager is happy with those. I have gone into control panel under sounds, checked everything and even unchecked everything. OS is Windows Vista, which came stock with the laptop. I have even swapped out the internal speakers with known good. Any more suggestions?

7 replies

by older mycroft

It could be a hardware problem - when you insert a 3.5mm jack into the headphone socket to connect headphones/external speakers the re is a spring contact that cuts out the internal feed to the speakers, so that the onboard amp is never required to drive 2 sets of speakers.

If a jack has been shoved into the socket in anyway roughly, or at an angle, it can jam the spring connection in the position as if the jack is always inserted.

If that is the case, the sound feed will always be fed out of the laptop, and never to the internal speakers. ;)

by vhrocker

I've had this happen twice on different machines. If you haven't already done so, just plug in and out the speakers until it works. Hope that helps...

by dijitol

I plugged the jack in and out of the port a thousand times. Can I service this piece without opening the laptop. Is this a FRU?

by older mycroft

You ought to be answering your own question.

Unless you have mastered the art of OSMOSIS through laptop plastics, I cannot imagine any other way of accessing an Internally mounted component, without opening the laptop case.

Can you? ;)

Typo.

by dijitol

Well it's just that I surfed around and someone says got it to work using a thumb tack. Somewhere else a screwdriver in the Mic port That didn't make sense until I heard your explanation. Since you say its a spring I was wondering if i could access it from the outside. Thanks a lot though because this one was driving me crazy.
Oh and yes there is a port which means a hole of some-kind right? No need for Osmosis

by older mycroft

Depending on the design of the laptop (this is by no means Manufacturer-Specific) there will be variations even between models (and motherboards within the each model's year of manufacture). The offending 3.5mm socket will EITHER be soldered directly onto the rear leading edge of the motherboard OR it might be on the end of a trailing lead (soldered to the motherboard at the other end) in which case you're in luck - a quick replacement as opposed to a fiddly de-soldering operation.

But without opening the laptop case, you'll never know.

As for sticking a screwdriver in it, I'd advise something on the dimensions of a watchmaker's screwdriver, preferably a flat head. But since a 3.5mm socket costs literally Pennies in any currency, even if you freed the errant internal connection - the very next time you inserted a 3.5mm jack, you stand just as much chance that the 'spring' will jam again.

[b]DO NOT[/b] stick the screwdriver into the socket while there is ANY current available to the laptop - this includes removing the laptop battery even after you've turned it off. Any short circuit could run backwards into the motherboard and that would cost a helluva lot more than a replacement 3.5mm socket! ;)

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