Headphones don't register unless I restart laptop

[HeartzOfficial]

My laptop is a HP Omen 15, Windows 10.

Whenever I use any headphone or loudspeaker through the audio port, it doesn't register and no audio will play through it unless I restart my laptop. If a video/media is playing through the laptop speakers and I connect my headphones, the video/media will continue playing but the audio will stop, so now I can't hear anything through my speakers nor my headphones. If I remove the headphones after this however, the audio will then continue to run on the laptop speakers like normal. This means that everytime my headphones accidentally disconnects or I want to switch to a loudspeaker/different headphones, I always have to restart my laptop which is frustrating.

Before you suggest any fixes, I have done the following advised from other posts and they haven't resolved my issue:

- I have used the Driver Easy Pro paid client to update ~7 audio drivers and restarted my laptop.

- I have attempted to update my Realtek drivers in the Device Manager both through "automatically searching" and "manually browsing my computer; it says that my audio drivers are all of the latest version.

- I have tried the Audio Troubleshooter but no errors were discovered.

- I have just replaced my PCB audio port at a repair service (Currys).

None of these have helped. What else is there I can do?

 

[HelloNNNewman]

Hi HeartzOfficial,

Try going the opposite way with your audio driver and rolling it back to a previous version or even the default MS driver. Others on the Internet have reported encountering the same issue with the Realtek driver not recognizing headphones (or speakers) without a restart (it's a Realtek driver issue and not MS). Uninstall the Realtek High Definition Audio Device and install the default High Definition Audio Device.

One user posted the following fix that worked for him and others:

1. Go to Windows+R and search “devmgmt.msc” to open your device manager.
2. Go to “Sound, video and game controllers” (near the bottom) and drop down the options.
3. Find “Realtek Audio” and right click on it, then press “Properties”.
4. Find the “Driver” tab, you should see “Roll Back Driver”.
5. If you can, click “Roll Back Driver” and wait for it to completely reset your driver for your Realtek Audio. (This is easily undone by going to the same place and re-installing your driver, instead of “Roll Back Driver” you will want to push “Update Driver”).
6. Once the driver is reset, try plugging in your headphones. You may want to try restarting your computer. If you have any trouble reinstalling your Realtek Audio Driver, try the DriverEasy App (it’s free) to update your driver again.

 

[HeartzOfficial]

Hi HeartzOfficial,

Try going the opposite way with your audio driver and rolling it back to a previous version or even the default MS driver. Others on the Internet have reported encountering the same issue with the Realtek driver not recognizing headphones (or speakers) without a restart (it's a Realtek driver issue and not MS). Uninstall the Realtek High Definition Audio Device and install the default High Definition Audio Device.

One user posted the following fix that worked for him and others:

1. Go to Windows+R and search “devmgmt.msc” to open your device manager.
2. Go to “Sound, video and game controllers” (near the bottom) and drop down the options.
3. Find “Realtek Audio” and right click on it, then press “Properties”.
4. Find the “Driver” tab, you should see “Roll Back Driver”.
5. If you can, click “Roll Back Driver” and wait for it to completely reset your driver for your Realtek Audio. (This is easily undone by going to the same place and re-installing your driver, instead of “Roll Back Driver” you will want to push “Update Driver”).
6. Once the driver is reset, try plugging in your headphones. You may want to try restarting your computer. If you have any trouble reinstalling your Realtek Audio Driver, try the DriverEasy App (it’s free) to update your driver again.

Heya, just finished trying this; doesn't work unfortunately. Thanks for your time though.

 

[HelloNNNewman]

Heya, just finished trying this; doesn't work unfortunately. Thanks for your time though.

ahh... nuts.