The laptop does not see the headphones

There are many reasons when you are not receiving sound signals when connecting headphones to your laptop. Such malfunctions do not always mean that one of the devices is broken. Perhaps the problem is the lack of drivers or incorrect sound settings.

Why the laptop does not see the headphones: reasons

There are several reasons why a laptop may not see the headphones. Among them:

1. Drivers It is a major problem turning off many devices. They are often damaged or their settings fly off. Need to reinstall drivers.
2. Viruses. Very often, they hit the system. You should install an antivirus and scan your computer for threats.
3. The problem is with the port or with the headphones themselves (both wires and plug). Another common breakdown. To check the functionality of the jack and headphones, you must connect the latter to another device (such as a telephone). If they do not work, the reason is in them. The malfunction of the connector is determined if the computer is working properly drivers and no viruses.
4. Mute The sound may have turned off for unknown reasons. You need to open the corresponding panel and check the location of the slider.
5. The video card is broken or overheated. It happens very rarely. But to determine such a breakdown is simple, the connectors will not work, and the sound will completely disappear. Check for damage by going to the Device Manager. If there is a breakdown, an exclamation mark will be shown there.

How to troubleshoot

Malfunctions do not always mean that some part is broken. Sometimes the simplest solutions can handle the problem. If the laptop does not recognize the headphones, do the following:

1. Check if plugs are inserted into the correct ports.
2. Try to remove them from the connectors and reinsert.
3. Reboot the computer. Perhaps there was some kind of error during the boot, which now prevents the connection of devices. When rebooting, it should disappear.
4. Go to the headphone manufacturer website. Check which drivers are needed for their operation. Download the updated version of the utility.
5. Go to Device Manager. Find Sound, video, and gaming devices. Go to Audio Inputs and Audio Outputs. Now you need to find the connected headphones. Right-click on them and select Update Drivers.
6. If the headphones are wireless, check if the bluetooth is turned on. You also need to check the availability of a driver for it and the health of the adapter. To do this, use the Device Manager.
7. Wireless devices run on batteries. Check the amount of energy and restart them.

Reference! Check the wire for visual damage.

But it also often happens that the cause is damage to parts. For example:

1. Broken plug. Headphones do not transmit signals, and both speakers do not work. To repair the plug with your own hands, you need to buy the appropriate product and solder it to the wire channels. If you do not know how, it is better to give the headphones to a service center for repair.
2. One of the contacts is damaged or stuck. Most often, this happens in the area of ​​connection to the plug. In most cases, the sound goes to one or both of the speakers, but its quality is worse than usual (it is very quiet or extraneous noise is heard). And if you touch the wire in the plug area, and the sound quality changes (it can either improve or deteriorate), then you can be 99% sure that the reason is in the contacts.
3. If the cause is a virus, just download a good antivirus. He himself will do the necessary work.
4. If the video card breaks down, the laptop will have to be taken to a service center. In most cases, the part has to be replaced. But you can do it at home, with your own hands, if you know where it is and how to mount it.

Attention! If the connector on the laptop is broken, you cannot do without the help of a wizard. Take your computer to a service center to replace the port.

Depending on windows

Driver troubleshooting may also vary depending on the software version.

Verification through Windows 10

Perhaps the reason is that the drivers are not configured. First, check if there is a driver on the computer at all. For this:

1. We go to the Start.
2. Open the control panel.
3. Go to the System section.
4. Then the equipment.
5. Now Device Manager.
6. You need to open the Audio Inputs and Audio Outputs section.
7. Check for exclamation marks. If they are missing, the driver is already installed.
8. If you saw “!”, The driver needs to be installed or reinstalled.

Important! Most modern laptops have sound cards from Realtek. This means that the driver settings will be almost identical, regardless of the system.

Windows 7

The most common mistake that happens on this version of the program is that the laptop cannot recognize the headphones. Most likely, the audio device is disabled in the settings. We do the following:

1. We go to the Start.
2. Open the control panel.
3. We are looking for the Sound section.
4. A window will flash on us. It has 4 tabs. We need the first - Playback (most often, it is by default).
5. There is a list of all the sound devices that are currently connected to the laptop.
6. We find the headphones (signed as speakers).
7. Click on them with the right mouse button.
8. In the window that appears, click Enable.

The audio device should now work.

Differences in installing drivers depending on the Windows system can still be as follows:

1. When installing Windows 10, a standard sound driver appears. Downloading additional drivers is not needed.
2. For Windows 7, 8 and XP, it is imperative to install the sound drivers separately.

How to set up correctly

To configure the sound driver through Realtek you need to do the following:

1. We start the driver.
2. Go to the settings.
3. Check the box next to Separate all input sockets.
4. Now turn off the definition of sockets (this is not true for all laptops).

If we need to adjust the sound itself. We go into the Quick Launch Panel (on the desktop, next to the clock there is a sound device icon). There we move the slider to the desired value. Another way is to go to the Control Panel. Select the equipment and sound tab. We will display a window with a list of equipment. We are looking for Sound, but do not click on it. Below it will be the Volume Settings button. And you need to click on it. There are also sliders for customization.