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No Audio through Surface Dock on Monitor Speakers - Dell S2715H

Anonymous
2017-07-29T22:31:47+00:00

All,

I am not getting any audio from the surface dock. My set up is as follows:

  1. Surface Pro 4
  2. Two Dell S2715H Monitors with built in speakers

All attached to the surface dock. The two monitors have hdmi ports, so I am using mini display to HDMI converters.

I have done the following:

  1. Updated surface pro 4 with all the updates
  2. Updated the Dock firmware - the updater says the dock is up to date
  3. The audio source is set to one of the DELL S2715H (Intel Audio)

The volume level is above 50. I am not getting any sound through any of the monitors. When I directly plug one monitor in to the mini display port on the surface pro 4, I get sound. I have checked this for both the monitors.

I also tried attaching an audio cable from the dock to monitors using an audio cable with 3.5mm jacks. The computer sees the "Dock Speakers" but no sound either.

Does this mean my Surface Dock is faulty? I am still within the 14 day period, so I can try returning and getting another one if this is likely to be the case.

I have no issues with video. Both displays and the surface pro display are all functioning great. I thought this may have something to do with the audio driver, but windows tells me I have the best driver for the S2715H and the audio.

I can change the audio out to the surface pro 4 speakers (Realtek) and get the sound, but really would like one of the monitor speakers to work.

Thanks.

**Moved From: Surface  / Surface Pro 4  / Display and screen**

Surface | Surface Pro | Sound and camera

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-11-30T13:57:31+00:00

    I notice that you encountered this problem in July. I don't know if you have discovered from your searchers, but the FW update from around that time broke audio over HDMI. The update dated November the 3rd fixed it again. I just went around the houses trying to fix this issue, and it was solved with the FW update.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  1. Anonymous
    2017-07-30T10:47:37+00:00

    Hi Daniel,

    If you can't hear audio while your Surface is in the docking station, here are a few things to check:

    Make sure the audio device is enabled

    1. Select the search box in the taskbar, enter manage audio, and select Manage audio devices from the search results.
    2. Tap and hold (or right-click) any device in the list and then select Show Disabled Devices.
    3. If the device you want to use is disabled, tap and hold (or right-click) the device and then select Enable.
    4. Select the device and then select Set Default > OK.

    Switch to a different audio device

    To switch audio playback between Surface Dock and your Surface speakers:

    1. Select the search box in the taskbar, enter manage audio, and then select Manage audio devices from the search results.
    2. Next, do one of the following to choose which speakers play audio: To play audio through the audio port on the docking station, select Speakers Microsoft Docking Station Audio Device.
    3. Select Set Default > OK.

    If still the issue persists, we suggest that you download and run the Surface Dock Updater. To download the tool, click here.

    Let us know how it goes after performing the suggested troubleshooting steps.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-07-30T13:36:26+00:00

    Mark,

    Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question.  As I had outlined in my original post, I had already done all of the troubleshooting that you had suggested.

    1. I cannot get sound through the Dell S2715H monitor speakers
      1. I have updated the surface dock firmware - the dock updater software tells me I have the latest firmware
      2. The appropriate audio devices have been enabled - but no sound - even the "test" in manage audio devices doesn't work
      3. All the devices show up and are running the best drivers according to windows
    2. I can get sound through the Surface Pro 4 speakers and through the monitor speakers when I connect one monitor at a time to the Surface Pro 4 mini-display port directly. This indicates a problem with the surface dock and not with any of the other components or drivers.

    It will be very helpful to get some advice on this before I take the entire set up back to the store.

    Thanks.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-07-31T14:34:50+00:00

    There are few things you can try and see if it helps you resolve the issue.

    Change the default audio playback to HDMI output.

    1. Go to Sound control panel.
    2. Under the Playback tab, choose HDMI output ****as default.
    3. Restart your Surface device.

    Disable and enable the audio driver.

    1. Right click on the Start button, and select Device Manager.
    2. Look for Sound, video, and game controllers, and expand its section.
    3. Right click on Intel(R) Display Audio, and select Disable.
    4. Then right click it again, this time selecting Enable.

    Change the audio quality.

    1. Go to Control Panel > Sound > Playback>HDMI output (make sure it it set as default device after HDMI is plugged in) > click to highlight > Properties > Advanced > Choose the Default Format:

    16 bit, 32000 Hz (FM Radio Quality), 24 bit, 44100 Hz (Studio Quality), and 24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality)

    If still you're unable to get sound from the external monitors, then you can contact our Answer Desk for further assistance. 

    Feel free to post back if you need assistance.

    Regards.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-08-01T20:29:16+00:00

    I have repeated the steps outlined above multiple times without success. I even tried an "active" mini display port to HDMI adapter, and that didn't help either.  Clearly, the system sees both the monitors and two sets of speakers I can output to either one of them but cannot get any sound through the mini display port to HDMI.  The "test" from the sound panel shows the audio is being sent but I cannot hear anything through the monitors with all the correct settings.

    However, now I can get sound in the monitor speakers by connecting an audio cable from the dock to the monitor, which I wasn't able to earlier. This is due to the in-monitor setting not being changed automatically unlike the video inputs (the monitor defaults to HDMI).  So, now I know that the dock is getting audio from the system through the proprietary connector once I fixed this user error. 

    However, I am still puzzled why I can get both perfect audio and video when I plug the monitors into the surface directly and not through the dock.  I will reach out to Microsoft answer desk once I have a bit more time.

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