If you may’t listen to any audio after inserting a headphone jack into your PC, your computer may not be recognizing it. In other cases, your headphones might not work even after your computer successfully recognizes them.
Regardless, the troubleshooting steps you need to go through are the same. To fix the Headphone Jack not working on the PC, first,check for connection issuesand ensure theheadphone is the default audio device.
If it doesn’t help,run the audio troubleshooter, update or reinstall your audio driversandcheck application settings.
I will assume that you have already tried minor fixes, like checking the volume or restarting your computer.
Now, let’s move on to the actual fixes.
Check for Connection or Device Issues
To be able to properly troubleshoot this issue, the first step is to figure out if the issue is with the headphone or your system. Check your device and connections using the methods below to do so.
Set Headphone to the Default Audio Device
It is also possible that your computer is using some other device as the default audio device. My computer often changes the default device to the monitor’s audio channel when I switch between my headphone and speaker.
So, go through the sound settings and ensure the correct device is set as default using the steps below.
If your device shows Not plugged in or is not there at all, yourcomputer hasn’t recognizedit yet. Try out the solutions below before performing this method in such cases.
Enable Audio Ports in BIOS
It is possible to disable the audio ports on your PC through theBIOS or UEFIsettings. Soenter your motherboard BIOSand ensure that such options are enabled.
You will usually find the options underChipset ConfigurationorSouth Bridge Configurationon theAdvancedtab. If you may’t find them, check your motherboard’s BIOS guide or user manual for additional help.
ensure tosave and exit the BIOSto apply the changes.
Run Audio Troubleshooter
Windows comes with a dedicated troubleshooting utility for audio issues, which you may access through your system settings. It will automatically scan for and fix most software-based audio issues, so try running it as well. For that,
If you encounter an error while running the troubleshooter, check out ourWindows Troubleshooter Not Workingguide to help you out.
Update Audio and Chipset Driver
Your system uses audio andchipset driversto operate the audio ports and other audio functionalities. Any issues in the driver software can cause audio issues.
You should always have thelatest driversto prevent such issues. You canupdate your driverby performing amanual Windows update. To do so,
Reinstall Headphone or Audio Driver
If no new driver updates are available, manually uninstall it through theDevice Managerand reinstall it to resolve audio issues.
It’s best toinstall the latest audio driverfrom the official website in your case. Here’s what you may do:
If the driver doesn’t work, try installing a previous driver version the same way.
Check Application Settings
Sometimes audio issues can also occur due to improper application settings or bugs in the app. If you are trying to use the headphone with an applicationlike Discord, try running checking it with other apps.
If the headphone works on other applications, go through theoriginal app’s audio settingsand ensure everything is alright. You may also need touninstall the appand then reinstall it.
If it doesn’t help, go through the app’s official forums and see if you may find anything that helps.
