# Earphones



## Gabriel (Apr 21, 2008)

Hi, I usually use earphones on my notebook, but for some reason they stopped working today.

I mean, I have sound, but it is coming from the notebook built-in speakers, not the earphones.
The microphone that comes with the earphones is still working.  It uses a different plug, but they are built in one piece.

I tried another earphone, and that doesn't work either.  What should I do?  I use Vista.


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## Tuffie (Apr 21, 2008)

Are you sure that theres nothing blocking the jack?

Tuffie.


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## Gabriel (Apr 21, 2008)

what could be blocking the jack?


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## cohen (Apr 21, 2008)

*Who knows...???*



Gabriel said:


> what could be blocking the jack?



Dust... a small ball of some sort... who knows....


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## Gabriel (Apr 22, 2008)

I tried opening the notebook with a screwdriver, but I was afraid to pull the base to hard.

Do you have any suggestions/tips?


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## cohen (Apr 22, 2008)

Gabriel said:


> I tried opening the notebook with a screwdriver, but I was afraid to pull the base to hard.
> 
> Do you have any suggestions/tips?



No don't open it just blow into the jack port


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## Gabriel (Apr 22, 2008)

Well, I tried blowing with my mouth but it didn't work..


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## cohen (Apr 22, 2008)

*Next thing...*

Next thing to try is reinstall sound driver.


By the way - what brand is your laptop and model number???


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## Gabriel (Apr 22, 2008)

I have already tried to update it, but I think it is trough the windows website.  I'll go check the manufacturer, but why would that affect anything?  It was working fine.

My notebook is a Gateway MT6711


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## cohen (Apr 22, 2008)

Could be that the "sound" card has died.... does it still have a warranty???


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## Gabriel (Apr 22, 2008)

Why the video card??

And the sound card seems fine.  The sound still comes out from the built-it speakers.
I don't think I still have a warranty.  In the gateway website it says:
Warranty Info: Not Available


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## cohen (Apr 22, 2008)

vk3fcll said:


> Could be that the "sound" card has died.... does it still have a warranty???





Gabriel said:


> Why the video card??
> 
> And the sound card seems fine.  The sound still comes out from the built-it speakers.
> I don't think I still have a warranty.  In the gateway website it says:
> Warranty Info: Not Available




Sorry i have been replying to video card problems threads - it's no change - sound card could have died.


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## Gabriel (Apr 22, 2008)

Even when the speakers are working?


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## cohen (Apr 22, 2008)

Gabriel said:


> Even when the speakers are working?



yes - on a school dell laptop the speakers on the laptop still work, but the sound card doesn't because the motherboard has cracked.


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## Gabriel (Apr 23, 2008)

But how can the speakers work without the sound card?  It is like if they were onboard?


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## cohen (Apr 23, 2008)

Gabriel said:


> But how can the speakers work without the sound card?  It is like if they were onboard?



not sure it just does.... 

But i would say that it has died


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## Gabriel (Apr 23, 2008)

And what would be the solution?  Should I buy a new one?

Or is there any other means to be sure that it has died?


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## Gabriel (Apr 26, 2008)

Anyone?


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## salman (Apr 26, 2008)

erm a possible solution would be to buy some USB headphones

The sound card itself probably hasn't died just maybe the part leading to the jack or maybe the jack itself.


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## oregon (Apr 26, 2008)

It could be set to output to speakers and not to headphones. To check this, go to control panel, sound. It should list your sound devices, then right click and make the headphones the default device. They will need to be plugged in.


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## sandlotje89 (Apr 26, 2008)

Oregon stole my thunder! Yeah, I had the same problem and what oregon just said is what solved the problem.


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## Gabriel (Apr 26, 2008)

It doesn't list the headphones in the playback tab.
It is weird, though, that it shows (in the recording tab) a microphone, even when there's none plugged in.  and when I do plug one in, nothing changes...


I thought about the USB earphones, but they all cost $40+.  I'd like to try to fix the problem itself first...


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## oregon (Apr 27, 2008)

That's weird, in my playback tab I have speakers, headphones, and the digital output device. 

If headphones aren't showing up there, I would think it is a motherboard problem, or something bad.


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## Gabriel (Apr 27, 2008)

Couldn't it be just the jack?

If it is the motherboard, shouldn't I be experiencing other problems too?


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## oregon (Apr 27, 2008)

No, because if the jack is faulty, the headphone icon would still show up in the list, just not be recognized as plugged in.


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## Gabriel (Apr 27, 2008)

Even if it's plug and play and needed no driver installation?


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