When using VLC media player, volume can be increased to max output. Issue with increased volume while using VLC media player I will be happy to investigate further.įor those of you that have asked for official Dell documentation on the subject please take a look at the following link. In your message please include your contact information, the service tag of the notebook and any case numbers that tech support may have offered. Just click on my portrait or the link in my signature and then click start conversation. If anyone was refused help by technical support when the only troubleshooting performed was finding VLC player installed please feel free to private message me. Best advice is to remove all media players except Windows Media Player before seeking warranty service for speakers. My guess is there are a few service reps out there who didn't get the word that the exclusion no longer is supposed to be enforced. Within the last year we have received a couple of reports of owners being denied service again.
(Note that there might still be a risk if you use software to boost the volume over 100%. The current version of the VLC Media Player boosts audio to only 125%, not the 200-400% of earlier versions, so the issue might be moot now anyway.
The exclusion still applied to Windows 7 systems that did not have the latest audio driver and BIOS installed. That will take you to his profile page where you can click on "send a private message" or "add as friend".Īs of 3-3-2014 the exclusion no longer applied to models that have Windows 8 or 8.1. The way to do that is to click on his link, which is his name in blue letters. If you have already been denied warranty service for a speaker problem only because you have the VLC player, please see the next post which is marked "Verified Answer". If you contact Tech Support about a speaker problem, it is suggested that you do not have the player installed. If you choose to use the VLC player, it is suggested that you do not set the volume higher than 100% in order to avoid potential damage to the speakers. I believe that HP (Hewlett Packard) also says that VLC damage is not covered under its warranty. Dell has tested VLC and verified that the speakers can be damaged after several hours of using VLC. VLC achieves this by using a process that creates hard clipping (see below in this thread for explanation) which can damage small speakers. VLC has a feature that can make the audio seem louder than other players. The warranty remains valid on the other parts of the laptop. Also we got a report that service was denied because a KMPlayer was installed on a laptop.
See the Update below for current status.ĭell Tech Support is denying warranty service for speaker damage if the popular VLC Media Player is installed on a Dell laptop.
Note that this is a Legacy FAQ and contains information that is no longer current.