WD19S Docking Station Audio Cutoff

That's an interesting thought - I also have an external webcam plugged in via the dock.  That does not stop showing my video to others I think, at least nobody has mentioned that - but I will see if I can find out for sure next time it happens.  I do not experience any other issue when this happens such as losing the picture on my monitor, charging, etc.  It is just the audio I can hear from others - definitely feels like some kind of bug for audio headsets connected via the dock.

So far people here have reported the speakers (not microphones) muting on Plantronics, Creative and Sennheiser headsets. This tends to make me think the defect isn't with the variety of headsets attached to the docks, but that the defect is with the dock itself.

Maybe not  directly related, however I experience the same/similar issue with 2 different Plantronics headphones 3xxx and 5xxx and 2 different Dell monitors: S3423DWC and U2722DE.

Sound is disappearing after undetermined amount of time and it is only regained, when USB headphones are unplugged and plugged into USB port. Applications still show the device, I can control sound level using physical control buttons. Interesting thing, when the issue does occur, I can hear beeps, when changing sound level using physical buttons on Plantronics controller, but when I change sound level via WIndows, then it is silent. Sometimes sound disappears after 1-2 minutes, sometimes it takes 20-30 minutes.

Hi there, I've been following this thread for some time and I thought it was time to share my experience. I'm encountering the same issue with my Creative Pebble Speakers. After some period of use, the sound gets disrupted and turns into a noticeable hissing noise. I'd really appreciate any advice or solutions to resolve this problem.

I'm seeing the same symptoms with my Plantronics headset. I think you can hear the beeps adjusting volume because the beeps are being generated upstream from the Docking Station. I think there's electronics in the small box on the wire going to the headset that generate that noise.

@jay_jay_jay​ absolutely - especially since the audio devices I have tried all work perfectly when connected directly to the Dell laptop ports rather than the Dell Docks.  They also work perfectly with other docks I have (both Displayport type, Startech and Diamond brands) chromebooks, etc.

After some further testing, I found that the issue keeps occurring even when using different Dell docking stations. We have tried 3 different docking stations total with both Logitech and Dell headsets and the issue will still happen. When the issue does happen, it seems to completely disable the audio driver and sometimes other drivers as well (bluetooth/camera). We have tried the docking station on a non Dell laptop (LG Gram) and did not run into this issue once. This leads me to believe that the issue is due to the laptop instead. I wanted to see if anyone else here has tried testing on a non Dell laptop and see if you get the same results. As a side note, I still have my ticket open with Dell and will keep escalating this issue until it's resolved. 

Important: If the below info doesn't help or you don't have this software installed, the engineering team stated that for now to use the system ports for audio related purposes.


Please try this Dell support article here

Steps from the article (note the article link has images that might make this a little easier):

To resolve for Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision computers, disable Remove Others' Background Noise function in the Dell Optimizer Application.

1. Open the Dell Optimizer Application.
2. Select Audio in the Elevate Your Dell Experience section
3. Set the Remove Others' Background Noise function to OFF

To resolve for Inspiron and Vostro computers, disable Remove Noise function in the Waves MaxxAudio Pro Application.

1. Open the Waves MaxxAudio Pro Application.
2. Select the Voice tab.
3. Under Speaker setting, set the Remove Noise function to OFF

We're having the same issue as well. Audio will cut out randomly in all applications.

Operating System: Windows 11

Lapmargin: 0;">Headset Logitech H570e

Docking Station: WD19S

We have tried updating and reinstalling drivers, checking for firmware updates, windows updates etc. This computer is brand new so we did not reinstall the operating system.

@Dell-BradL​ I initially couldn't find the Dell Optimizer application on my device and had to install it. Even after following the steps you've listed from the support article, there was no change. It might be more helpful to others if you move the "Important" note to the beginning of the message, as the current guidance seems a bit misleading.

@Dell-BradL​ I'm having this problem on my Latitude 7420 but it isn't listed as an affected model in that support article.

I also do not have the Dell Optimizer application or the Waves MaxxAudio Pro application installed on my Latitude 7420. Neither app is listed in the Windows installed apps listing.

Regards,

Jay

PS - That support article you linked to makes no mention of the WD19S docking station which is the common link to this defect.

@ldavids7​ May I ask how you opened a ticket? Our organization is telling me that they weren't aware of a process to open a ticket directly with Dell.

Thanks!

@Dell-Brad L​ I am assuming the above mentioned fix does not work if you do not already have Dell Optimisor and Waves already installed on the machines?

@Duco86​ You can try it as a possible workaround still (installing them/following steps), but I have alerted the team that it didn't work for @cubone If you do decide to try it, please let us know if it helps or changes anything. 

@jay_jay_jay​ I have alerted the team on this, from my understanding it should help on the WD19S still, but I will let you know what I hear back.