Need help with audio issue

[drmike]

Hi all,

I've got a refurbished HP desktop (running an AMD Athlon Phenom II processor and Windows Vista 64-bit). The computer has a headphone jack on the front. I've noticed an issue -- if a media file is playing and then I plug in the headphones, I get no audio at all. Now, if I open the volume control in the Windows system tray and change the volume, I can hear the "ding" sound Windows makes when stopping at a new volume level -- but, still, no audio from the media file.

In order to get audio from a media file that is already playing, I have to stop the file, close it, and then reopen it. After that, I will finally hear the audio track through my headphones. This happens whether the media file is one my hard drive or is something I'm streaming (such as a YouTube video).

The audio out jack on the back of the computer exhibits the same issue.

Any ideas why this issue occurs? Any suggestions for fixes? Does it seem like a sound card issue or a software/Windows issue?

 

[kimsland]

I have seen this on User's computers as a hardware resource conflict
By leaving the jack connected to the computer and then turning it on (from a cold start) the fault should not exist

Although that may not be ideal, it may be the best alternative
You can confirm your drivers are up to date, and/or contact HP by seeing this link

I hope that helps

 

[drmike]

Thanks for the information and the link. Here's what I've done:

1) I tried a cold boot with the jack connected, but unfortunately the issue still remains.

2) I went to HP's site using the link and updated the audio driver. After that, I restarted the computer. And, unfortunately, the audio track in media files won't play unless the headphones are connected first.

Anything else I might try? Of course, the easy workaround is just to ensure that the headphones are always connected first, but ideally the audio should work no matter what order I do things in, so I'm hoping to figure out a way to fix this.

Thanks!

 

[kimsland]

I have noticed the same issue with USB or wireless headphones
If you check Device Manager: Start > Run > devmgmt.msc

Then expand your USB devices + sign
Then right click on the USB devices
Select Properties button
Select Power Management tab
Un-tick any area that says: "allow turn off"
Do this for all USB devices

Restart

 

[drmike]

The USB controllers were all set not to turn off. So, unfortunately, no luck there. (And the headphones themselves are a non-USB device., but it was worth checking for other devices I might use.)

I'd appreciate any other advice/suggestions you or anyone else might have to try to correct this issue. So far, everything else on this machine seems to run well, and so I hoping to find a fix for this. Thanks!