[stunnerdoc]

Hello everyone,

 

This is my first post on this forum and am very hopeful that someone here would crack this problem.
I just received my Dell XPS 14 ultrabook (used -bought from Ebay) a few days ago and the microphone and webcam are not working.

I only realized this as i tried to install 'skype' it is said that there is no webcam found. The microphone is found - Realtek, but it is not working (i do not see the green bars move up and down on speaking)

I have extensively searched the internet for solutions, which include updatind the bios, installing an reinstalling chipset drivers etc, but still no solution,

The Imaging devices tab in Device manager is also missing. As far as the webcam driver, I am under the impression that windows 7 does not need separate drivers for plug and play devices and I cannot even find the driver in Dell Drivers and Downloads. 

People seem to have this issue prior and do not seem like a hardware issue.
Dell Tech Support wont help me since the laptop was purchased from Ebay. Please help!

Any help will be much appreciated.
Kind regards,

 

I have attached a couple of screenshots.

Attached Thumbnails

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Hi,

Being second hand neither of us know if this computer has been dismantled by the previous owner or what sort of work it has been put through.

So the worst scenario is that they have had the lid off and not reconnected the cables from the microphone or the camera, or through heavy use and constant opening and closing the lid has broken the cables as they go through the lid hinges. Please bear that in mind.

 

However although I cannot see a way to help with the camera as at the moment everything points to it being either dud or disconnected, I can at least help you find out if the microphone works. As there is not any yellow or red warning next to "Sound, video, and game controllers", I have to assume the drivers are present and working OK for the moment.

 

First thing to ask is what shows up in control panel, as well as just "Sound" with a speaker icon, do you also see something on the lines of "Realtek HD Audio Manager", (it may be a different manufacturer than Realtek).

 

If so open that and find out if there is any microphone tab, and if so is the slider at some point other than the left hand side, is the mute box ticked or with a red X in it? If a red X click on it and that should remove the mute, if the slider is fully to the left, move it to about mid way.

 

Next is to go back to that "Sound" box you showed in the screen shot, click on the microphone that is showing as "Default", (Not the "Not plugged in" one)

 

Youshould see the "Properties" button now live and not greyed out, click on that and another small window should open.

 

Click on the listen tab and you should then see a tick box for "listen to this device"

Put a tick in the box, then click the "Apply" button, speaking into or near the microphone you should hear your own voice in the speakers, and also if the volume is pretty high it might also howl round.

That should prove the microphone is OK and working.

 

If a loud howl round, remove the tick and click apply again quickly, to save your ears.

 

If none of that does any good and still no sound from the microphone, it also may be dud or disconnected.

 

Nev.

[Plastic Nev]

 

Hi,

Being second hand neither of us know if this computer has been dismantled by the previous owner or what sort of work it has been put through.

So the worst scenario is that they have had the lid off and not reconnected the cables from the microphone or the camera, or through heavy use and constant opening and closing the lid has broken the cables as they go through the lid hinges. Please bear that in mind.

 

However although I cannot see a way to help with the camera as at the moment everything points to it being either dud or disconnected, I can at least help you find out if the microphone works. As there is not any yellow or red warning next to "Sound, video, and game controllers", I have to assume the drivers are present and working OK for the moment.

 

First thing to ask is what shows up in control panel, as well as just "Sound" with a speaker icon, do you also see something on the lines of "Realtek HD Audio Manager", (it may be a different manufacturer than Realtek).

 

If so open that and find out if there is any microphone tab, and if so is the slider at some point other than the left hand side, is the mute box ticked or with a red X in it? If a red X click on it and that should remove the mute, if the slider is fully to the left, move it to about mid way.

 

Next is to go back to that "Sound" box you showed in the screen shot, click on the microphone that is showing as "Default", (Not the "Not plugged in" one)

 

Youshould see the "Properties" button now live and not greyed out, click on that and another small window should open.

 

Click on the listen tab and you should then see a tick box for "listen to this device"

Put a tick in the box, then click the "Apply" button, speaking into or near the microphone you should hear your own voice in the speakers, and also if the volume is pretty high it might also howl round.

That should prove the microphone is OK and working.

 

If a loud howl round, remove the tick and click apply again quickly, to save your ears.

 

If none of that does any good and still no sound from the microphone, it also may be dud or disconnected.

 

Nev.

[stunnerdoc]

Thanks Nev, for your reply. Much appreciated.

Attached is the screenshot of the control panel. I dont have a Realtek audio manager.

When I click on the speaker icon, the window with the playback and recording devices pop up.

I click on listen to this device after clicking on properties and couldnt hear a sound.

 

Is there a way to run webcam diagnostics thru the Bios?

 

My laptop has a aluminium lid with gorilla glass (no bezel) , not sure how the webcam can be accessed.

 

Still not convinced its a hardware issue. A couple of people from 247techies remotely accessed my computer and said they could fix it for a whopping $149. Unfortunately it was not something I could afford.

 

Any other suggestions?

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by stunnerdoc, 28 August 2014 - 09:54 AM.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, I am a bit surprised about that as Skype found a Realtek microphone.

 

While you were in the microphone properties, is there a tab for "Levels", I meant to ask to check that and see if the volume slider is down or a red X in the speaker icon in there.

 

If not that, lets have another look in device manager, once opened, click the > by the side of "Sound, Video, and games controllers", let me know what is showing there.

Double click on each device shown, then in the window that opens, click the "Drivers" tab, check that it isn't showing disabled or no drivers, the only thing likely to be greyed out should only be "Roll back to previous drivers". Please do that on everything shown in Sound, video and games controllers.

 

Nev.

Edited by Plastic Nev, 28 August 2014 - 12:12 PM.

[stunnerdoc]

Hi Nev, 

I might have got this wrong, but the microphone also wasn't working with skype either. 

Anyways I did go to device manager and looked under the sound tab, everything looks alright in there

I snapped a few pic for your reference

I also opened up every tab, in the 2nd and 3rd pictures so that you can see whats is installed

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[Plastic Nev]

Hi did you check for the levels in the "Sound" window?

 

Open this window again. Then as arrowed, click on the microphone, then the Properties button.

 

 

The next window should be this one.

Click the "Levels" tab as arrowed.

Are the sliders similar to this? and also there should be no red mark in the speaker icon. If there is click on it to remove the red mark.

 

 

If you find everything is the same as my screen shots and the microphone still doesn't work it must be duff.

 

As far as the camera is concerned there is definitely no entry anywhere for it in device manager, so even if it is connected Windows is not recognising it, suggesting that it also is duff.

However if someone else knows anything more they are welcome to say so.

 

Edit to add, after looking through the screen shots of everything shown in your device manager windows, it looks a lot like the previous owner has reinstalled Windows 7, however they haven't installed the drivers as everything shown looks to be Windows own generic drivers.

 

I know you said Dell won't help due to it being second hand, however, they may be able to sell you the full reinstall disks for both the Dell Windows 7 based operating system, and all the rquired drivers.

It is worth getting in touch with them about them selling you the disks and how much they charge. The camera and microphone drivers will be on their disk and may just be the reason for things not working if they are connected and I am wrong about them appearing to not be.

 

Nev.

Edited by Plastic Nev, 29 August 2014 - 06:39 AM.

[stunnerdoc]

Thanks for the reply, Nev.

The sound levels are not mute.

I appreciate your input and time.

I will keep posted on how this works out

I am going to re-install Windows 7 and the drivers from scratch and see if it works.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi,

How are you intending to do the reinstall?

Do you already have Dell disks or is it from either disks created when the computer was new, the restore partition, or some other media?

If not from Dell disks, it may finish up just the same as it is now, however best of luck and see how it goes.

 

Nev.

[stunnerdoc]

Hi Nev,

 

So finally did a clean install of Windows 7 professional SP1 and installed all the drivers from the Dell supports page in the correct order and still no webcam and microphone. An external webcam and headset with microphone worked like a charm. So I decided to haggle with 247 techies and had them do a one time remote diagnosis for $80 dollars. They spent 4 hours trouble shooting remotely, checking windows audio services etc and finally concluded that it was a hardware issue. Well they confirmed what we had already suspected. I am going to stick with the laptop as repairs are pretty expensive, the lid,gorilla glass , webcam, microphone and wifi cabled are glued together as one piece. Will invest in an external webcam if needed. Well thanks a lot for your help. I am posting a summary of what they did:

 

(03:10:38) Ian said to everyone:

Initially I checked the driver.

 

(03:11:11) Ian said to everyone:

Then checked the hardware and software compatibility with the driver

 

(03:12:36) Ian said to everyone:

Then removed the complete driver package from the Computer and tried with the windows update driver

 

(03:12:56) Ian said to everyone:

Then got to safe mode and checked

 

(03:13:08) Ian said to everyone:

Then refreshed the Windows services

 

(03:13:25) Ian said to everyone:

Then reconfigured the Windows audio services

 

(03:14:45) Ian said to everyone:

Checked the whether audio driver is working with the additional audio device

 

(03:14:51) Ian said to everyone:

Mean with the headphone

 

(03:15:11) Ian said to everyone:

The microphone and the earphone worked fine

 

(03:15:36) Ian said to everyone:

The problem is with inbuilt microphone only

 

(03:15:53) You said to everyone:

and webcam right?

 

(03:20:00) Ian said to everyone:

Webcam also same

Edited by stunnerdoc, 30 August 2014 - 06:05 PM.

[Plastic Nev]

OK, thanks for the update, though a shame you had to pay for what we were already pretty sure about.

 

At least you know now, and if you get back to the original vendor that you bought the laptop from, in your place I would use that evidence to get a refund, or at least a part one as the vendor sold a laptop that was not fully functional.

 

Nev.