Windows can't see my headphones

[Squidbit]

So while I'm waiting on a reply in a really slow tech forum, I figured I'd see if NG had any ideas.

I was away from home for the weekend, and my dad was using my computer while I was gone. I come home and now suddenly my computer throws errors at me when I try to unmute it, because it can't find anything to play the sound with. I've had this computer for months, and I've never had this problem. I tried three different pairs of headphones, and nothing works.
My dad says he just tried to plug in a speaker and it stopped working.

I tried the port in the front and the back of the computer, so I don't think it's hardware, like he tried to plug something in that didn't fit, and I tried system restoring to a couple weeks ago when the sound did work. I'm out of ideas on how to fix this.

[Lemonardo]

Your dad's been installing web browser toolbars again.

[Halberd]

did you try masturbating your father to solve the problem?

[Squidbit]

At 1/27/13 08:29 AM, w33zl wrote: Your dad's been installing web browser toolbars again.

Probably. He fucking destroyed my first laptop with viruses, and broke the one I got him for his birthday by spilling water all over it. I think I've learned my lesson about letting him touch computers.

At 1/27/13 08:29 AM, Halberd wrote: did you try masturbating your father to solve the problem?

I did not.

[deckheadtottie]

Squid, I am disappointed, you have supplied us with no information other than "my headphones don't work on Windows".

[Squidbit]

At 1/27/13 08:39 AM, deckheadtottie wrote: Squid, I am disappointed, you have supplied us with no information other than "my headphones don't work on Windows".

Windows 7, I dunno what other information to supply. I don't have a sound card and I've used headphones without any issue since I got it. I have no idea what happened to cause this, other than "I tried to plug a speaker in"

[deckheadtottie]

At 1/27/13 08:45 AM, Squidbit wrote: Windows 7, I dunno what other information to supply. I don't have a sound card and I've used headphones without any issue since I got it. I have no idea what happened to cause this, other than "I tried to plug a speaker in"

Okie dokie.

Download Speccy - Free and see if your sound card is being detected- this sound card is most likely built into the motherboard. If no devices are found, find the model and model number of your motherboard- this can be done though Speccy by clicking "Motherboard".

If the sound card is being picked up by speccy, download the new drivers. For example, if the sound card is "Realtek High Definition Audio", then a simple Google search for that name with "drivers" will yield you the result you need. If no sound card is found, Google your motherboard's details with "sound drivers" and click around until you find something useful.

If still no luck, find the instructions for your motherboard and see how the sound is connected, the cable might have become loose. Otherwise, buy a new sound card for 5 bucks (there's no need to splash out on a sound card) and plug it in to a spare PCI slot.

[Squidbit]

At 1/27/13 09:05 AM, deckheadtottie wrote:

At 1/27/13 08:45 AM, Squidbit wrote: Windows 7, I dunno what other information to supply. I don't have a sound card and I've used headphones without any issue since I got it. I have no idea what happened to cause this, other than "I tried to plug a speaker in"

Okie dokie.

Download Speccy - Free and see if your sound card is being detected- this sound card is most likely built into the motherboard. If no devices are found, find the model and model number of your motherboard- this can be done though Speccy by clicking "Motherboard".

If the sound card is being picked up by speccy, download the new drivers. For example, if the sound card is "Realtek High Definition Audio", then a simple Google search for that name with "drivers" will yield you the result you need. If no sound card is found, Google your motherboard's details with "sound drivers" and click around until you find something useful.

If still no luck, find the instructions for your motherboard and see how the sound is connected, the cable might have become loose. Otherwise, buy a new sound card for 5 bucks (there's no need to splash out on a sound card) and plug it in to a spare PCI slot.

Tried this, speccy only sees AMD High Definition Audio Device, which according to the internet is for TVs and stuff I guess. So I downloaded the drivers for my motherboard, it says it can't find an HD audio device and won't let me install them. I downloaded some realtek drivers, no effect. The 'view detailed information' button on the error it gives me when I try to unmute says there's no issue.

[Squidbit]

Kind of a small picture on NG. Link
Other links 1 2

Some real helpful options. Thanks, Windows.

[deckheadtottie]

At 1/27/13 09:43 AM, Squidbit wrote: Kind of a small picture on NG. Link
Other links 1 2

Some real helpful options. Thanks, Windows.

If this was me, giving the information provided, I would just shell-out the 5 bucks for a cheap sound card. You could try the other option of reconnecting the sound cables on the motherboard. Either way, I'm fairly sure that this is hardware problem. Your dad may have been a little "vigorous" when plugging the speakers in and knocked something loose.

You'll have to concede there isn't always a "magic_fix.exe".

[deckheadtottie]

You can try one more thing, though. If you go to Device Manager (type "Device Manager" into the search bar in the start menu), and open the tree under "Sound, video and game controllers", if there's exclamation/question next to the devices right click on them > properties > Driver, then see if updating/rolling back the driver helps.

[Squidbit]

At 1/27/13 09:50 AM, deckheadtottie wrote:

At 1/27/13 09:43 AM, Squidbit wrote: Kind of a small picture on NG. Link
Other links 1 2

Some real helpful options. Thanks, Windows.

If this was me, giving the information provided, I would just shell-out the 5 bucks for a cheap sound card. You could try the other option of reconnecting the sound cables on the motherboard. Either way, I'm fairly sure that this is hardware problem. Your dad may have been a little "vigorous" when plugging the speakers in and knocked something loose.

You'll have to concede there isn't always a "magic_fix.exe".

Gonna open it up and see right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he was drunk while he was doing this, so yeah I guess he might have knocked it loose.

[Squidbit]

Nothing. I guess I'll just buy a sound card. On the bright side, I opened up my box of extra shit from when I built my computer to see if I could find the little speaker that plugs into the motherboard (I couldn't) and I found a coupon from AMD for a free copy of Sleeping Dogs on Steam. So I guess I'll make a thread to give that away.

[CaptainQuartz]

At 1/27/13 09:56 AM, Squidbit wrote:

Gonna open it up and see right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he was drunk while he was doing this, so yeah I guess he might have knocked it loose.

First thing I've gotta ask, which you didn't specify. Are you using a USB headset? Or a 3.5MM Headset? (3.5MM is your standard iPod/CD Player )?

Also, the little speaker on the bottom of your screen at the taskbar, could you right click that, click "Playback Devices" and then post a screenshot of the window that pops up?

[Squidbit]

At 1/27/13 10:11 AM, DemonsRemorse wrote:

At 1/27/13 09:56 AM, Squidbit wrote:

Gonna open it up and see right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he was drunk while he was doing this, so yeah I guess he might have knocked it loose.

First thing I've gotta ask, which you didn't specify. Are you using a USB headset? Or a 3.5MM Headset? (3.5MM is your standard iPod/CD Player )?

Also, the little speaker on the bottom of your screen at the taskbar, could you right click that, click "Playback Devices" and then post a screenshot of the window that pops up?

3.5MM, and my computer is opened up right now, unplugged and I don't feel like hooking it back up right now. But it's a bunch of greyed out speakers, no headphones, no actual options at all. Normally it's the bunch of greyed out speakers with my headphones at the bottom.

[CaptainQuartz]

At 1/27/13 10:15 AM, Squidbit wrote:

At 1/27/13 10:11 AM, DemonsRemorse wrote:

At 1/27/13 09:56 AM, Squidbit wrote:

Gonna open it up and see right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he was drunk while he was doing this, so yeah I guess he might have knocked it loose.

First thing I've gotta ask, which you didn't specify. Are you using a USB headset? Or a 3.5MM Headset? (3.5MM is your standard iPod/CD Player )?

Also, the little speaker on the bottom of your screen at the taskbar, could you right click that, click "Playback Devices" and then post a screenshot of the window that pops up?

3.5MM, and my computer is opened up right now, unplugged and I don't feel like hooking it back up right now. But it's a bunch of greyed out speakers, no headphones, no actual options at all. Normally it's the bunch of greyed out speakers with my headphones at the bottom.

When you feel like giving it another college try, make sure your dad didn't insert some form of Audio playback device (HDMI does this a lot) and having windows change your primary source of audio output.

[Sword-of-Kings]

Did you ask your dad about what happened?

[Squidbit]

At 1/27/13 10:18 AM, DemonsRemorse wrote: When you feel like giving it another college try, make sure your dad didn't insert some form of Audio playback device (HDMI does this a lot) and having windows change your primary source of audio output.

That actually sounds like it might be the case. It was a speaker/mp3 player thing. It was also 3.5MM, though, if that matters. How would I go about fixing that?

[CaptainQuartz]

At 1/27/13 10:28 AM, Squidbit wrote:

At 1/27/13 10:18 AM, DemonsRemorse wrote: When you feel like giving it another college try, make sure your dad didn't insert some form of Audio playback device (HDMI does this a lot) and having windows change your primary source of audio output.

That actually sounds like it might be the case. It was a speaker/mp3 player thing. It was also 3.5MM, though, if that matters. How would I go about fixing that?

Bring up the window I mentioned in my previous post. By right clicking the small speaker on your windows taskbar ( by your clock) - then hit "Playback Devices."

Right clicking each option that appears should give you a window that looks like this.

Now, from here, this may be completely dependent on your system, and if you post a screenshot of the window I have uploaded I can offer some assistant, but by switching something like "Speakers" or "Headphones" to "Set to default device"

Be mindful, my right-click menu doesn't show this option because my speakers are already my default playback device.

[deckheadtottie]

At 1/27/13 10:35 AM, DemonsRemorse wrote: Be mindful, my right-click menu doesn't show this option because my speakers are already my default playback device.

Does Windows change default playback device even when that particular device is no longer plugged in? If that's the case, that is staggeringly poor design.

I change my audio output devices frequenctly and haven't had this issue of Windows 7. I did have it on XP a couple of times, though. Although for squidbits sake it would be nice if this was the solution.

[CaptainQuartz]

At 1/27/13 10:40 AM, deckheadtottie wrote:

At 1/27/13 10:35 AM, DemonsRemorse wrote: Be mindful, my right-click menu doesn't show this option because my speakers are already my default playback device.

Does Windows change default playback device even when that particular device is no longer plugged in? If that's the case, that is staggeringly poor design.

I change my audio output devices frequenctly and haven't had this issue of Windows 7. I did have it on XP a couple of times, though. Although for squidbits sake it would be nice if this was the solution.

Sometimes - but to be honest. I'm more inclined to blame drivers for this issue. Rather than windows.

I have instances where I plug in an HDMI cable to feed video and sound from my laptop, to my TV - It will switch automatically, then once I unplug the HDMI cable, it'll still be trying to feed Audio through it.

So yeah, sometimes when audio output sources are changed, you gotta go about and change shit around until it's ready.