Sound playing though both headphones and speakers (help)

[Roselillya]

Hello everyone, my Girlfriend is having some computer problems. Whenever she plugs in her headphones to her laptop (Windows XP) The sound continues to plays through the speakers (as well as the headphones). Does anyone know whats up or if there are any possible solutions we can try to get the audio only playing only though the headphones? Thanks in advance.

[Whyt Lindow]

Hmm, what a curious occurrence...

Well we can start with some potential fixes I suppose, you'll have to give me some info on whether they work or not and you'll have to bear with me a little since I haven't used WinXP in a while I might be a little off with locations.

Solution 1
I'd recommend rebooting the laptop and starting everything fresh. When you've done that test the audio. If the problem persists, move on to solution 2. (I'm well aware the whole switch it on and off again is a bit patronising, but it can work in some cases. Especially if your like me and don't reboot your system for weeks.)

Solution 2
Make your way to the control panel and find your audio settings, if the laptop has a high definition audio chipset, then you'll be looking for realtek most likely but if not then look in the standard audio settings. Check the settings, look for check boxes and buttons that can edit the default device and keep an eye out for other settings what may handle audio priorities.

Solution 3
If all else fails, reinstall the drivers for your sound device. Not sure how easy WinXP drivers are to find nowadays but it could help.

Try all of those, and tell us the results if possible.

Hope it helps!

[Opal Maiden]

I have this problem sometimes too.

When I want to listen to music on my laptop sometimes mine wont have sound either.

I thought it might be the headphones that were the issue but it couldn't be that since they work on my psp.

[Whyt Lindow]

One good way to circumvent these issues is to get one of those USB HD audio things. They have both a mic and headphone socket on them and they override the system audio.

They do work as I know a couple of people that had some issues with sound and these have cleared it right up.

Here's a link to one of them: Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dynamode-Channel-USB-Sound-Card/dp/B003QADH9C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345199178&sr=8-2)

[Opal Maiden]

Does it have to be a 2.0 port?