Dell Vostro sound prob

Tried to google the hell outta this problem but I can't find anything specific enough.

Just got a Dell Vostro 1540 laptop from a school I'm attending. The problem is it doesn't support external speakers. It has a headphone jack but apparently the way its set up it only uses the headphones for things like skype, etc. Everything else it only plays through the crappy little built in speakers, Sounds like a firmware issue to me since its simply a matter of the codec telling the sound part of the MoBo what to do. It should have the capability of sending sound to external speakers but it won't.

Computer is brand new outta the box, still under warranty, running Win7 Home Premium 64 bit.

Otherwise its a great little laptop but it seems to be internally configured to be a "business guy in a meeting" kinda laptop.

Any ideas?

**Update** Hmm, plugged in the headset I use for TS and selected the headset as my default audio device. Seems to have solved it for now. Weird...regular headphones wouldn't work but a headset with a microphone does.

 

Sounds like the audio jack is setup for mic and speakers, rather than just speakers, it is a different connection, looks very similar, but the connector has 3 (I believe) contact points rather than 2.

 

Strange.. does your TS headset have two separate plugs? Mine has 2 separate connectors.. a stereo (2 rings), and a mic (2 rings).
Usually the switch from internal speakers to the jack is triggered by a physical contact inside the port. Plugging in any 3.5mm stereo plug (2 rings) should do the trick. Unless it IS some bizarre Dell customized port.

 

download the latest audio drivers from the manufacturers website, you probably have an outdated driver that doesnt have the specific feature or way to configure the settings through the software. You should even be able to use the microphone jack as an output if you want, usually with decent quality integrated audio