Octane III headphone jack not working?

[mikesaa309]

Hi,

So I've been playing around with audio drivers trying to get Dolby home theater installed as I have the Asus U7 external sound card though have given up with that though for some reason my headphone jack doesn't work. Though maybe the drivers were the cause so I reinstalled the ones from PC specialist and still nothing. I've also notice the red light isn't on either?? Weirdly all other ports work and If I plug headphones into the SPDIF jack I think it's called, the sound is directed to the headphones though i can't figure out if the audio is as good as when I worked with the proper headphone jack.

No errors are coming up with device manager or anything and it's like it's come away from the mobo as nothing it happening no sound and reltek doesn't recognise it's been plugged in either. I haven't dropped the laptop or anything. Could this be a driver issue?

 

[ubuysa]

I gather from your post that the headphone jack has worked in the past? If you're certain that no physical damage can have occurred then it's most likely a software problem of some sort.

If it were mine I'd take a disk image of the system disk so that you had an easy way to get back to where you are now, then I'd do a clean reinstall of Windows and all the drivers (if it's Windows 10 let Windows Update find all the drivers) and see whether the headphone jack worked in that pristine software state. If it doesn't work then you can be fairly sure it's a hardware issue.

 

[mikesaa309]

May be worth a try though would mean sorting everything out like games and software etc. So clean install I'll leave as last resort. I also brought a Asus U7 external sound card and that still works with headphones so can use that as a work around. I tried uninstalling both the reltek drivers and SBX drivers and weirdly that red light came back on but head phones still not working. As soon as I install the drivers again the red light no longer comes on which is a bit odd. I'm using drivers found in the downloads section on PCSpecialist.

 

[Scott]

The red light only comes on briefly for me during boot up. It's normal for it to go off when not in use. I'm guessing that the drivers not being installed/configured is the reason for it staying on during your test.

Have you tried a different set of headphones?

 

[mikesaa309]

Always seems to be on until it stopped working. Haven't tried any other headphones though I don't think headphones are the issue as it's not even detecting something is plugged in which is a mechanical switch which detects it. Also the headphones I'm using work fine if I use the external U7 sound card and also works fine if I plug it into the SPDIF jack instead of the headphone jack on the laptop.

 

[Scott]

Always seems to be on until it stopped working. Haven't tried any other headphones though I don't think headphones are the issue as it's not even detecting something is plugged in which is a mechanical switch which detects it. Also the headphones I'm using work fine if I use the external U7 sound card and also works fine if I plug it into the SPDIF jack instead of the headphone jack on the laptop.

Grass roots though, always check everything

It shouldn't be a mechanical switch, the port should detect the connection of the headphones due to the impedance. I'll double check mine when I get home but I'm almost positive my light goes out soon after POST.

 

[ubuysa]

May be worth a try though would mean sorting everything out like games and software etc. So clean install I'll leave as last resort. I also brought a Asus U7 external sound card and that still works with headphones so can use that as a work around. I tried uninstalling both the reltek drivers and SBX drivers and weirdly that red light came back on but head phones still not working. As soon as I install the drivers again the red light no longer comes on which is a bit odd. I'm using drivers found in the downloads section on PCSpecialist.

You missed the point about taking a disk image first. That way you can do a clean install as a test and then restore the image to get back to where you are now. No reinstalls needed.

 

[mikesaa309]

ye ik lol but like if it does fix the issue then surely if I restore the image then I'll be back to having a non working headphone jack?

 

[Scott]

You will have your answer though. You will then know there is nothing wrong with the hardware and that it is a software conflict. From there you can either choose to ignore it and re-install your previous image, or you can fix the issue by re-installing everything how you like it.

Would you not rather know than not know?

 

[mikesaa309]

Seems too much hassle just for headphone jack lol. Drivers haven't made any difference annoyingly so doubt a full OS reinstall would help. It may well be a hardware issue just dunno how I've not dropped the laptop anything.

 

[ubuysa]

ye ik lol but like if it does fix the issue then surely if I restore the image then I'll be back to having a non working headphone jack?

You will have your answer though. You will then know there is nothing wrong with the hardware and that it is a software conflict. From there you can either choose to ignore it and re-install your previous image, or you can fix the issue by re-installing everything how you like it.

Would you not rather know than not know?

Exactly. It's never wise to live with a problem, they rarely get better on their own. If this is a software or driver problem it could well be affecting other aspects of your laptop, if it's a hardware problem it could damage other components and prove potentially fatal. Either way it's important to know whether it's software or hardware.

It's your laptop though...

 

[Scott]

Maybe swearing at it will work. Or staring intently

Just had a look inside mine. No light. The only hint of light I can see is from the RGB keyboard which on mine is set to blue.

 

[Scott]

Just double checked for you with a reboot. Light comes on during boot up until Win starts loading then it flickers and turns off. It remains off, I'm guessing, until an optical device is plugged in and detected. When I plug the headphones in I get an information popup telling me so from Realtek. I have a Realtek HD Audio manager Icon in my system tray also.