Intending to unify some conflicting messages in this long-time thread:
— The issue has nothing to do with heating.
— It has nothing to do with Acer computers.
— It has nothing to do with laptops.
Those all show up a lot because they just happen to be common: lots of people use Acer laptops, and most laptop-users are fairly concerned about the considerable heat their laptops generate.
This problem belongs to Realtek. It could belong to the very good-looking but possibly bimbo Realtek HD Audio Manager.
Unfortunately, I have to debunk a few "solutions". Although you folk who went to the Sound Manager's Audio/I-O > Analog > [wrench icon] > Connector Settings, and made various changes there, were doing the right thing, for those it worked for: you were just lucky. Worse, it might not work for you in the future.
It seems the root of the problem is right there, possibly in the programming of the graphical user interface (GUI) that you are all responding to. It might or might not work. Or it might work on Wednesday but not next Sunday.
To get this far, I am comparing results on a 32-bit XP and a 64-bit XP on the same
desktop self-built box. That means they are effectively 2 different computers, and they use different programs, different Realtek drivers, and different tweaking—but the speakers and headphones are the same. (Everything is totally up to date, including all MS and Realtek solutions.)
The headphones are plugged into the
FRONT. Actually I think they might work in the rear—I don't know—but I want them to work from the front of the case.
The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H rev 1.1, but we already know that the motherboard is a victim here; not a culprit.
In my tests, the speakers always work. In fact, they work when they are not SUPPOSED to work, when they should automatically mute while the headphones work.
The headphones usually don't produce sound. Sometimes they do, however, and so far I have not been able to get any clear take on just when they do work. (And, yes, I am experimenting with more than one set of headphones, to be sure it is not merely a hardware plugin problem.) Once I gave up for awhile and returned later to discover the headphones had decided to work all by themselves. I am recording every variable, but the situation seems virtually random, and I haven't got anything reproduceable yet.
Certainly the "solutions" suggested in this thread do work—sometimes. But it seems as though what really happens is that "just any old fiddling" with settings might induce Realtek to do its thing. Trouble is, you haven't really got a solution there—and that's why the thread has become 2 years old now. Keep pressing buttons, and sooner or later it will work—for awhile.
I'd be very happy if Realtek would put a Dev on this. We've all paid Realtek money. It would be nice if Realtek acknowledged that, and came out with a nice new Realtek HD Audio Manager with a brand new program for alternating headphones out/speakers out/both/mute.
Thank you, Realtek. Be nice to us and we'll buy from you again next time.
solution to the sound jack problem
Linear Mode
