I have an almost new Dell XPS-17 L702X laptop with Realtek Audio. I'm running Win 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 on it. If I choose to customize my taskbar and place the Realtek Icon on the taskbar it disappears after a few seconds. The only way to access it is to go to my C Drive, Program Files, Realtek and manually open it for there. The Realtech icon then appears on the taskbar; however, if you hover the cursor over the icon for one or two seconds it disappears. If I'm lucky enough to open the Sound Manager application before the icon disappears I must right click on it and select "Open". It cannot be opened by a left single click or double click. Once the Sound Manager window is open it displays nothing. The Sound Manager window can be closed only by using the Processes tab in Task Manager and shutting down the process itself. It cannot be shut down by clicking Realtek in the Task Manager Applications tab. Dell has tried on three occasions to fix the problem, to no avail, by taking control of the laptop. Realtek Audio has been uninstalled from Programs and Features and then been reinstalled, and the drivers have been uninstalled and reinstalled from within Device Manager. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the OS on four occasions while attempting to fix the problem. I did two reinstalls using the recovery partition, one clean reinstall from the Dell provided OS installation DVD, which contains the OS only (no free third party applications that came with the laptop) and one reinstall from the Dell DataSafe Backup DVDs I made upon receipt of the laptop. A new sound card was installed at Dell's Texas repair facility just last week. The problem remains unsolved. Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance provided. C.B.
Try going to your Start Button and in the search Bar type in RealTek and see if it is in the list if it is rught Click on in it and Copy it never choose to Cut it and then try putting it on the Taskbar. Also the reason you never Cut from the list is because if you ever delete it off your Desktop it will not be in the list and also never just go up to it and left Click on it as well and drag it to the Desktop as it is the same as cutting trust me I learned this the hard way one time.
I've spent hours and hours searching online and through several forums. I appear to be the only one experiencing this problem and Dell (after three attempts via live chat, a motherboard replacement and sound card replacement) seems unable to solve the problem. I'm almost ready to ask Dell to replace the laptop. C.B.
What i would try is get a clean windows 7 SP1 DVD (you can find it here, check the stickies), and reinstall windows that way. After that is done I would reinstall the Realtek software. And check to see if that solves the problem before installing anything else. If that works than that would mean that there is something wrong with the Dell recovery image that you have been reinstalling from. Sorry I cant post a link forum wont let me
I really wish I could send you a screeshot but I can't get the Sound Manager to open. Regardless of how I access it (Control Panel, Program Files or a shortcut created from the application in Program Files and placed on my Desktop) the only thing that happens is that a Realtek icon is placed on the taskbar and as always, It either disappears when the curson is placed over it or it simply won't open, left click or richt click. When I'm able to open the application the window shows something like "Realtek Sound Manager by Dell" at the top of the window in the Title position but the remainder of the window is blank, a gray color if I remember correctly. It's been so long since I've been able to open it that I forget the color. LOL I'm a patient man, acrsn, and it's very seldom that I let such things bother me. One day at a time, you know. C.B.
Thank you for replying, im bored. I've already reinstalled twice from the recovery partition, once from a set of Dell DataSafe backup DVDs I made and once from the installation DVD (reformatted and clean, custom install) that came with the laptop. I'll check the Stickies and see if I can locate the Win7 SP1; I assume it's ISO. It's quite possible that both the initial image placed on my C Drive by Dell and the installation DVD they sent me (Os only; no third party software or Dell utilities) were faulty, although I doubt it. C.B.
Hello again, acrsn. You see, that's one of the problems. I cannot open the Sound Manager from Control Panel. It only puts the icon on the taskbar, same as trying to open it from Program Files or a shortcut on the desktop. I've been able to click on the taskbar icon at times, before it disappears, and the Sound Manager window will open but it's only a blank window. I don't have access to any settings; I get nothing. I've been trying for quite some time to get the application to open but I get nothing and then the Realtek icon disappears from the taskbar. I'd like to send you a screenshot but I can't. C.B.
I absolutely agree it does sound like a software problem the only reason i mentioned reinstalling from a clean DVD is because, it roughly takes about 1h to reinstall and in most cases another 1-2hours to reinstall and tweak all the software. Just a quicker way out.
Hello again, im bored. I agree. Reinstalling an OS doesn't bother me; I never get frustrated, aggravated or impatient during a reinstall. I have a Win 7 x64 installation disc that came with my Studio XPS 7100, which is only a few months older than this laptop but I don't recall if it's the OS only or includes the bloatware. I think it's OS only but again, I don't think the OS is the problem. C.B.
Well now, what do you know. It shows Realtek as "Not plugged in". I wonder why Dell didn't check this. Anyway, I can't enable it as it's already enabled, which you can determine from the two screenshots I'm attaching. I've never had any problems with the sound being produced and being able to use headphones. The problem is that I can't access the Sound manager. I do appreciate all the assistance I'm receiving. C.B.
Just the other day I had a similar problem with my XPS the Nvidia Control panel would not show up for me it was giving me an error video card not in use or something like that, I know you mentioned that Dell was already trying to reinstall the software. When they did it, did they download the latest and greatest from their website?
Yes, we tried the latest Dell driver, which is the same as was already installed. I've also tried the driver downloaded directly from Realtek's website. Neither one solved the problem. C.B.
After going back and checking Sound in Control Panel I realize the "Not plugged in applies to the Realtek Digital Output. I don't know whether or not this relates to the problem. I'm not a novice but then again, I'm not an expert. C.B.
LOL. I reread this post and realized that I had typed "Hey, Im bored. No, I am not". I don't want anyone thinking that I'm schizophrenic or suffer from dual personality syndrome. C.B.