Audio ouput jack is mono though the speaker balance feature is working.

Question

I have an Inspiron N5110 laptop running Windows 7 and I've discovered that when playing audio files via the audio jack the sound is mono. This is the case for music, stereo output testing websites and also for the "configure option" sounds in "settings."
That said, the laptop speakers are playing stereo. Also, the balance feature in settings is working and allows me to selectively control the volume of the two external speakers.Which suggests it's how sound files is being processed rather than the output jack itself.
I've deleted and reinstalled the IDT High Def Audio Codex, downloaded the latest audio updates R315254.exe and Audio_IDT_W7_A03_Setup-8H18M_ZPE.exe but the problem persists.

Answer 1

nycron
That said, the laptop speakers are playing stereo.
Hello. that would suggest that the integrated audio system is working okay and that the problem is in the jack or external device. There is no processing that I know of that would send 2 channels to the speakers but combine them into one channel into the jack.
If you want to replace the jack you would replace this I/O circuit board.
For a workaround there are many inexpensive usb audio jacks available.
If you want to test some more, switch to the Windows native audio driver.
1. Open the Device Manager (type devmgmt.msc in the Windows search box).
2. Expand the "Sound, video & game controllers" and right click on "IDT High Definition Audio Codec".
3. Select to "Update Driver Software".
4. Click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
5. Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer".
6. Put a check in the box "Show compatible hardware" if not already checked.
7. In the list of devices, click "High Definition Audio" (the native driver).
8. Click "Next".
9. On the Update Driver Warning box, click "Yes" (install the driver).
10. Restart the laptop if prompted. If not prompted, then no need to restart.
[To get back to the IDT driver,  do it again but reverse the names in steps 1 and 6.]
If it doesn't work with the native driver then it is pretty surely hardware failure.
nycron
Also, the balance feature in settings is working and allows me to selectively control the volume of the two external speakers.Which suggests it's how sound files is being processed rather than the output jack itself.
If you still feel that it is a software issue could perform a system recovery. Doing so will fix the issue unless it is due to hardware failure.