Struggling to get mics / headsets / earphones / etc to work

I get sound output just fine from the the laptop speakers, but several weeks ago, something changed and the audio jack stopped picking up headset / headphones mic.

Now after trying to troubleshoot, I'm getting nothing out of headset speakers even though the computer seems to recognize that it's plugged in.

Whenever I plug in (since having the computer for a year), a mysterious box pops up asking about the device:



"Headphones" apparently means "a headset with a mic", and "Headset" means "a headset with just speakers (no mic)". However, I haven't been able to make rhyme or reason out of any of the selections (even though things worked months ago), and now even after clicking "Optimize" for my current meeting headphones (very simple), all audio input/output is only on the laptop itself. I'm at a loss.

The other audiojack headsets I use are an old fancy Bose noise-canceling headphones (works fine elsewhere), and whatever earbuds happen to be around if they're most convenient. All have mics. I've occasionally used a headset without a mic, but most times I need a mic.

Bluetooth headsets work just fine (sometimes only after finagling), but I prefer to leave Bluetooth off.

Anyway, I've gone through settings in various places, I haven't installed any audio software or video games, and I only use the laptop for work and personal chores. I do screen recording sometimes using Snipping Tool or Win+G (I forget its name), and I don't connect the laptop to video game consoles or mobile devices (only occasionally to offload camera stuff).

One odd thing is input properties always show input jack "not plugged in".



I never checked it before the problem, and it never understands that the jack has something plugged in.

I don't know what to do, or even how to start troubleshooting at this moment. I'm exhausted.

motherboard bios settings, drivers, and utilities
makes sure they are correct.

I would bet on the audio jack being defective.

I was hoping for some specific troubleshooting steps, not vague suggestions. I've already gone through motherboard bios settings, drivers, and utilities to make sure they are correct. Betting on the audio jack being defective doesn't offer any particular suggestion of how to determine that. I guess I just pray now.

I'm discovering there is major problems with Realtek audio on Dell or Windows 11 right now... trying to download from Microsoft Store (per online recommendations I found that worked months ago) just showed a cryptic error:



Nothing I do even fixes that.

ChatGPT told me to search for Realtek Audio Console in Start and select Run as Administrator, but there's no option for that there. I can't tell where it's even installed, there's no option to view that. All I could do was uninstall it.

I still can't tell which app the "Which device did you plug in" pop-up is:



Does nobody here know?

As far as I know, Dell Latitude laptops are still popular, so I'm surprised nobody's seen this before.

I would try to uninstall any Realtek application and restart. Do Windows automatically install an audio driver? Do the headphones work now? Next step download the audio driver from Dell and install it. Use your Service Tag (aka serial number) to get the appropriate download page). If you already have done these and the headphones still don't work, you can buy a cheap USB audio card or USB headphones and use that instead.

I had to uninstall the Realtek app, uninstall the Realtek driver, then reset the UEFI to BIOS (sic) to fix the problem. I have no idea what went wrong. I don't know if my BIOS/UEFI settings are sensible for security/privacy etc. When I originally got the laptop, I disabled on-board mic and camera (same as my last laptop), but even after re-enabling them, the headphones jack still wouldn't work right or consistently with mic/speaker. I can't explain why a complete BIOS/UEFI reset was required at least.

Computers aren't what they used to be. Nice and direct and relatively simple, nope, not anymore. Now there's a bunch of crap buried somewhere causing an issue while looking like everything's in order. Very frustrating.

We experts also meet some weird issue that cannot be explained by logic.

Sure but I was hoping to get particular steps and screenshots to troubleshooting like I've seen on the Windows 10 forum often, but maybe Windows 11 is too new to have something like that for audio issues.

Most Tenforums tutorials also apply to Windows 11 with minor differences. When I cannot find a solution in Elevenforum, I also look in Tenforums.

old drivers conflicting or old misbehaving bios in combination with some other new updates installed at some point lead to conflicts within. Windows needs permanent attention or else it misbehaves like this.

I suggest you do a thorough check of your driver repository with driverstoreexplorer and delete old leftover drivers, its on github; and maybe check for better bios firmware and better updated support apps from website.

I don't like any utility automatically replace my drivers. I rather go to manufacturer support site and download any new drivers and update them myself.

OK so the problem is back after using that "Optimize" pop-up again. Apparently that's Realtek's selector, and it breaks the setup when used.

To be specific, just so you know I'm not crazy, two days ago (after resetting/reinstalling software) when I plugged in a new audio jack headset (ear speakers + wire mic), the pop-up showed with options "Headphones" selected (which include mic, as opposed to its alternate option "Headset", which doesn't), "On-ear" selected (as opposed to "Over ear", which the headphones are not), then the input mic (already selected as from the headset), then clicked Optimize, everything worked perfectly. Yesterday, doing the exact same thing, the mic only picked up from the laptop (not the headphones), though I could hear people in the earphones.

I switched to USB headphones and they worked perfectly. However, I shouldn't have to rely on USB headphones if there's an audio jack for headphones.

Regardless, I can't risk this happening randomly during meetings, I start to lose reputation. I need a final fix.

Considering Realtek's app in the Microsoft Store gives an error during install, and their "Optimize" pop-up works inconsistently, there appears to be an interoperability problem between Microsoft+Dell+Realtek with their audio/mic software. I've yet to find an actual consistent fix yet that behaves sensibly and as it appears it's supposed to. I haven't had this issue on previous Windows laptops.

The solution is simple, use only the driver, disable the Realtek app (make sure it doesn't load at startup).

Uninstall everything but the Driver (or re-install the Driver alone) - and you could try Realtek Audio Console instead:


Not sure if it helps - but worth trying anyway.

spapakons said:

The solution is simple, use only the driver, disable the Realtek app (make sure it doesn't load at startup).

Click to expand...

I looked for the Realtek app but it's not installed.



There was no installed Realtek app until after I started troubleshooting the problem and took a recommendation to install the Microsoft Store's Realtek Audio Control, which just gave an error. I think that's the one I uninstalled recently. That means "only the driver" was installed before (at least that's what it looks like). It looks like the Store app is now gone.

The "Optimize" pop-up is... coming from... something... I'd really love to know how to find out which app that is. Scroll up to see the screenshot.

neves said:

Uninstall everything but the Driver (or re-install the Driver alone) - and you could try Realtek Audio Console instead:

Realtek Audio Console Application | Driver Details | Dell US

www.dell.com

Not sure if it helps - but worth trying anyway.

Click to expand...

The Console link takes me to a download from Dell's site, the download runs Dell Update Manager, which then opens up a browser window of the Microsoft Store with "realtek audio control" as the search term and the Realtek Audio Control app with the Download/Get button, and going through that process again gets me to the same error 0x803FB005.

So, I'm back in a circle again.

There appears to be an interoperability issue with Microsoft+Realtek+Dell here. I have no idea what to do.

Go to Task Manager, Startup and see any audio or sound or Realtek entry and disable it. If it is a service instead, press WIN+R to open a Run box and execute msconfig. Go to services, check the box to hide Microsoft services and examine the rest. Uncheck the box to disable the service and click OK.

I'll test your Task Manager suggestion when I have time, thanks.

Just for the record, here's what it shows at the moment (not plugged in):



Here's what I find in Device Manager:

Here's Details:

I notice there's an Events tab, last updated Oct 20... maybe when I plug in again, I'll check that Events tab.