WIN7 gurus?

[RodKirby]

Hi Guys,

LOML wants to use headphones with our Win7 laptop - reasonable request.

I always thought Headphones automatically disabled "normal" speakers when plugged in - not so

In spite of much googling -and- many tries, I can't even "see" the headphones. Tried both direct plugin and via a dock.

Laptop is the latest and all S/W, fixes all right up to date.

Can anyone help, please?

[LCHIEN]

on my laptops, use of the headphone jack disables the speakers.
But I don't have Win 7. But then, I think its a hardware thing. Not software.

[JoeyGee]

First basic question...did you try a second, known good pair of headphones? Does this set of headphones work in other devices? At first glance, sounds like a hardware, not a software issue.

[BobSch]

If the speakers stay on it's definitely a hardware problem. On every computer I've worked on the switch is built right into the phone jack.

[mpc]

Are you sure you are plugging the headphones into a real headphone jack? Many computers have a microphone input jack and a "line in" or "line out" jack. "Line out" is the audio from the computer at 0 to 1.0 volt levels to feed to a stereo or other device - a low level, low power, signal.

I've never seen a laptop computer that worked this way but many desktop computers with advanced motherboard audio chips can re-configure the various sound jacks. Mine can be microphone in, line in, and stereo line out... or all three can be outputs to become 5.1 surround sound output. The switching is done via software that came with the motherboard, specific to the audio chip.

What is the make/model of the laptop?

mpc

[alpha]

MPC may be on the right track. Go to your control panel and see if you have an "Audio Manager" app such as "Realtek HD Audio Manager." It should allow you to change your configuration.

[Cochese]

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...2-dbba5d9a1138

Win 7 gives a lot more options for audio setup, including 5.1, multiple speaker options, etc. if the above doesn't work, I'll take a look at my machine later to walk you through a possible fix.

[unknown poster]

Sometimes I have to do this because I have a bunch of audio devices:

Right click the speaker icon next to the clock.
Choose Playback Devices.
Right click each of the icons in that list and choose Test.
When you figure out which icon makes sound come out of the headphones, right click it and set it as the default device.

[RodKirby]

Sometimes I have to do this because I have a bunch of audio devices:

Right click the speaker icon next to the clock.
Choose Playback Devices.
Right click each of the icons in that list and choose Test.
When you figure out which icon makes sound come out of the headphones, right click it and set it as the default device.

BINGO

Many thanks - all OK now.