Hello everybody!
In today’s video, I’ll show you what to do if your headphones don't work when you
connect them to a computer.
If
you
connect a set of headphones to a computer but there is no sound, this video will be
useful for you.
We will discuss the most common causes of this problem and the methods for solving it.
Basically, the absence of sound in your headphones boils down to one of the two causes: a software
failure or hardware issues.
Diagnostics First of all, you have to find out why the
headphones don’t work as they should, and take a step-by-step approach.
To begin with, check your headphones with another device, for example, a phone, tablet
PC, laptop or another computer.
If they do work with one of these devices, then the problem is in the computer itself.
On the contrary, if there is no sound no matter what device you are using, the headphones
must be broken, and this video is not going to help you anymore - you’d better visit
a repair shop or just replace the headphones with a new set.
Some models have a built-in volume control wheel, so check it first - it might be set
to a minimum and so you cannot hear any sounds.
Also, check volume control in your computer.
You can do it by clicking on the sound icon in the system tray, in the right bottom comer
of the screen.
It’s a good idea to check the volume level in the player, game, browser or another application
that is supposed to produce sound - they also have their own sound settings and volume control
sliders.
Make sure the headphones are connected properly.
The headphones plug-in connector should be inserted into a green port, or a port marked
with a corresponding symbol of headphones.
Often there is no sound when you plug your headphones into a front panel connector.
If that’s the case, try plugging them into the back panel port.
If the sound appears after you connect the headphones to the back panel, and disappears
when you switch to the front panel, then there is a problem with the front panel port.
If it used to work before, go to settings, and if it never worked, there could be some
wires you forgot to connect to your motherboard.
But this is something you can check only when you open the system case.
You can watch one of our videos to see how to connect the front panel devices to the
motherboard; find the link in the description.
If everything is all right with the hardware, and the headphones work properly with another
device, and you have used the right ports to connect the set to your computer, all there
is left to do is check the settings and drivers of your sound card.
Configure playback devices Let’s start by configuring playback devices.
If you have several devices connected, make sure that the headphones are selected as the
default playback device.
To do it, open Sound settings by right-clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray.
Check if you can select the headphones as the output device.
Open the Sound control panel and choose the headphones as the default output item.
To do it, right-click on them and select Set as default communication device.
If the headphones are not shown at all, they might be disabled.
To fix it, right-click on any area of this window and click to activate “Show disabled
devices”, then right-click on the headphones again and choose “Enable.”
Check the sound level; to do it, open Properties and in the Levels tab, drag the slider to
the right so that its value exceeds 0.
In the General tab below, make sure the device is enabled.
Then go to the Advanced tab to run the Test - you should hear a melody playing in your
speakers.
In the same tab, try unchecking Exclusive Mode options and test the sound again.
If this attempt failed and there is still no sound, have a look in the system tray:
can you see any third-party speaker icons?
It could be Realtek HD or something like that.
In the settings of this utility you can configure front and back panel ports.
You can also enable front panel to be used for sound output,
And check the box next to “Disable front panel jack detection” in the Connector settings.
In some sound cards, settings should look like this.
(ASUS, VIA).
If there is no sound yet, start Device Manager by right-clicking on the Start menu.
In the section “Audio Inputs and Outputs” you should see speakers or headphones.
Install sound device drivers If you can’t see the headphones in the Device
Manager, they are not recognized or displayed in the sound settings, try installing a driver
or a sound management program.
The best way to download the required driver is to visit the website of your motherboard
manufacturer.
To do it, you should learn the model and manufacturer name of your motherboard.
You can watch one of our videos to learn how.
Find the link in the description.
Go to the manufacturer’s official website, specify your motherboard model in the search
field, or find the page with downloads for this model.
From this list, you need to download Audio Drivers.
Download the file, open the archive and start the installation.
Usually, it’s a file with the name Setup.exe, and sometimes you need to unpack it from the
archive.
After the drivers are installed, you should restart the computer.
As a result, an application for management of playback devices should appear, and your
headphones will work all right.
If you can’t find out the name of the motherboard or find a suitable driver, try to download
and install High Definition Audio Codecs from the official Realtek website.
Make sure you download the version corresponding to the bitness of your operating system.
You can also go to BIOS and check if High Definition Audio is disabled, and try to change
the front panel setting from AC’97 to HD Audio, or vice versa.
Most often, headphones don’t work properly because of sound settings, absence of special
sound management software or proper drivers.
If your headphones can work with other devices, one of the hints I gave you today should help
in solving the problem.
That is all for now.
I hope you liked this video.
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Leave comments to ask questions.
Thank you for watching.
Good luck.