Dell 3280 AIO - Sound stops working?

[supra21]

So we have quite a few new Dell 3280 AIO computers around the school and for the most part they are great. However recently we have been encountering an issue which we just cannot find the cause or solution. The sound randomly will stop working for the teacher, there does not seem to be any specific cause just happens. Today for example out of the x20 classrooms that have this model of computer x2 had the sound issue. The only quick fix is to reboot the computer and its working again.

 

I looked at one today and checked to see that the devices were enabled and working in device manager, the sound was set to output to the interactive board via the display port (switching to the internal speakers also does not work). We have tried running dell command to get latest drivers, have downloaded and installed the drivers separately from Dell's website. Have tried using intel's latest IGFX driver from Intel's website, yet the issue still occurs. Even re-installing the sound drivers when issue is present does not resolve the issue, it only starts working again after a full reboot.

 

We are an RM School running latest RM build of Win 10 (Nov 2021 21H2 10.0.19044.2251) on all the computers. The computers are connected to Avacor interactive boards using a startech DP to HDMI adaptor (we have tried unplugging and plugging back in, no change) the internal speakers also do not work when the issue has manifested and have also had a report of this happening with a standard set of 2.1 speakers plugged into audio jack. Makes no sense, audio just stops outputting through any output (internal / 3.5 jack / dp).

 

Has anyone had this issue, because we have no idea what it could be.

 

Thanks.

Edited December 5, 2022 by supra21

[Olliedawg]

We have a batch of Dell AIO's similar to that in my school. We did encounter some strange network issues on one specific unit which we just could not get to the bottom of.. Turned out that the BIOS firmware had not been updated since the release version which came with the board (2016!). We ran through the BIOS updates in order, and this fixed the issue we were having. Might be worth checking this on yours too?

[TechMonkey]

Have you tried plugging in headphones, see if they work and then unplug the headphones and see if the speaker works? We have some Dell laptops that we have discovered this bug on and I wonder if it is a driver or firmware issue.

[supra21]

We have ran a Bios update on all of them, also ran the sound test through the bios utility and completed with no errors.

In regard to plugging in headphones, my technician tells me he has attempted to plug in speakers into the headphone jack and unplug when the issue has manifested and still no change.

I did raise a support ticket with Dell, after a lot of back and forth the final conclusion was to re-image the machine, which we have not done yet but, but at this point they are out of ideas or are not aware of a potential firmware issue.

[Olliedawg]

Sounds like it's worth a shot to re-image, if the sound test is ok on the BIOS then it could very well be some sort of windows issue.

[supra21]

This time we did a clean install of windows 10 and let windows update install all drivers sound was working fine. Then pulled the drivers out and added them to RMMC and re-imaged. After imaging was completed checked to see all devices installed correctly. We have now put that pc back in the classroom yesterday, as of yet have not had any issues reported. Will give it until the end of the week. Fingers crossed...

[supra21]

Can confirm this resolved the issue. So not using the drivers from directly from dell was the solution.

[Bobbeh]

Do you know what version of the driver you used to resolve the problem? We have had some similar issues with the 3280s connected to Promethan interactive panels via a DP to HDMI converter where the sound works but then for no apparent reason stops. Tried some different drivers but problem seems to keep coming back.

[supra21]

Do you know what version of the driver you used to resolve the problem? We have had some similar issues with the 3280s connected to Promethan interactive panels via a DP to HDMI converter where the sound works but then for no apparent reason stops. Tried some different drivers but problem seems to keep coming back.

Can't recall the exact version number, but here is a link to all the drivers we used: https://we.tl/t-nkoh4hOxwU

I would still strongly recommend you do a re-image with new drivers.

[Bobbeh]

Thanks, I'll give them a try.