Symptoms

Inspiron laptops may not recognize the microphone or headset when connected to the P2/P3 port after the operating system is properly booted. The audio may continue to come out on the speakers. If the headset is already connected to the computer from the start, then the microphone and the headset are recognized. However, if disconnect and reconnected again, the fault appears resulting in a restart of the equipment with the phone connected to it to be recognized.

Cause

This is due to the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application which must be loaded at the startup of the computer. Some users choose to disable certain features at startup to improve performance and reduce the time for equipment to become available after startup. Sometimes they disable the audio driver, which causes the headset and microphone to not be recognized if connected after the computer has booted.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, follow the steps below: Ensure that your Inspiron device has the latest BIOS version installed and the latest version of the Realtek audio driver available on the Dell website. If it does not, remove the current versions and install the new versionsOpen the start menu by clicking the Windows icon on the leftmost or pressing the Windows button on your keyboard and verify that the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application service is enabled. If not, enable it.Reboot the device with the headset and microphone disconnected.When the computer finishes booting up, put any audio to play to confirm that the sound comes out only through the speakers. If yes, try inserting the headset and see if Waves MaxxAudio opens a window asking which device you connected, as below: Select the correct device while the audio is still playing, click OK, and check if the audio starts playing on the headset. If so, the problem has been solved. Note: In this box, do not select "Never show this dialog again" to ensure that you can set this up properly in future. If the procedure above does not solve the issue, check the possibility that some other audio managing application might be causing the failure by following the next steps: Open the Task Manager, go to the 'Startup' tab, and disable all other audio managing applications for instance: Waves MaxxAudio Service Application, Realtek HD Audio Manager, and HD Audio Background Process. Reboot the computer with the headset and microphone disconnected. When the computer finishes booting up, check if the audio comes out through the headset as usual.

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