FL90 headphones jack not working

Hi! A few hours ago I booted my notebook and plugged in my headphones but the system did not switch to them (using the speakers instead). I tried rebooting and reinstalling the audio drivers. In the Realtek HD Sound Effect Manager Audio I/O tab there is no indication that the headphones are plugged in (the microphone indication works so it's only the output). I haven't used headphones for a few days now so I'm not sure whether it stopped working on it's own or there was a (software) cause for this (but I'd say the former is much more likely). Anyone else had this problem?

 

Is there any chance you could test a different pair of headphones?

 

it's probably just the realtek drivers..

i've had similar situations when pluggin in my speakers.. try opening the realtek sound manager, open the in/out tab, then plug in the headphones. (i've tried various drivers.. they're all the same)

 

Which OS are you running? As already asked, have you tried any other headphone or speakers? When you reinstalled the Realtek software did you completely remove it first, or just install the driver over itself? Might be worth taking it completely off through Device Manager and Add/Remove programs, then try installing it again.

 

I already tried other headphones.
I am running Windows XP SP2.
Just tried uninstalling the Realtek drivers (Add/Remove Programs - after that the driver disappeared from Device Manager), the uninstaller displayed version R1.70, then downloading the new drivers from the Realtek website (version R2.00), rebooting, installing the new drivers and rebooting again. Didn't work.
I'm afraid it might be a hardware problem

 

That doesn't sound good. It could very well be a hardware problem. About the only way to be absolutely sure would be reformat and reinstall Windows, or to test with a bootable copy of another OS that supports Realtek audio.

Does the headphone plug seem loose inside the jack? Sometimes the contact in there gets bent or breaks completely so there's no longer a snug fit. The problem with that is it's usually not covered under warranty because it's considered physical damage/wear and tear.

 

The plug does seem to hold less tightly than in the microphone jack. But I wouldn't describe it as loose.
I will try to install a fresh copy of Windows on another partition and if it doesn't work I'll see if I can get it repaired.

 

That sounds like a plan to me. The second partition is a better way of going about testing it for sure. I agree if it doesn't work from there, it's probably time for an RMA.