Windows 8: Headphones "not plugged in"

Were they always nonfunctional, or did this happen just recently? It may have been caused by a recent Windows update or something, in which case, you might look to System Restore? I don't have much experience with it, so I'm not sure whether it would help, but it's worth a shot, I'd say.

You could try installing some new updates through Windows Update.

You could also try installing old versions of the audio drivers, as well as new/different motherboard drivers.

There might be a program blocking the use/detection of your audio jacks. Try disabling some services (using msconfig.exe) and closing some programs and trying again.

I'm not sure if sound usually works or not in safe mode, but it's also something to try.

It's also possible that the device is disabled and there are multiple "headphones jacks", as detected by Windows. Assuming Windows 8 has it, right click the sound icon in the taskbar in desktop mode, and choose "Recording devices" (where I assume you checked in the first place). However, did you try right clicking inside the device list and choosing "Show Disabled Devices"? If another headphone jack shows up, try enabling it and seeing if it works.

And a shot in the dark here, but perhaps the jack is "disabled" in the BIOS, and is only respected by Windows? I've seen OS-specific BIOS settings before, so you might want to check that.

Failing all that, you could always go back to Windows 7. Windows 8 is widely considered to be a flop, anyway.

quote Chekkaa

Were they always nonfunctional, or did this happen just recently? It may have been caused by a recent Windows update or something, in which case, you might look to System Restore? I don't have much experience with it, so I'm not sure whether it would help, but it's worth a shot, I'd say.

It's been several months since I've attempted using the jacks; my last headset was a USB headset.

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You could try installing some new updates through Windows Update.

Tried that, no updates available.

You could also try installing old versions of the audio drivers, as well as new/different motherboard drivers.

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There might be a program blocking the use/detection of your audio jacks. Try disabling some services (using msconfig.exe) and closing some programs and trying again.

Nada. Already checked.

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I'm not sure if sound usually works or not in safe mode, but it's also something to try.

Sound doesn't work in safe mode.

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It's also possible that the device is disabled and there are multiple "headphones jacks", as detected by Windows. Assuming Windows 8 has it, right click the sound icon in the taskbar in desktop mode, and choose "Recording devices" (where I assume you checked in the first place). However, did you try right clicking inside the device list and choosing "Show Disabled Devices"? If another headphone jack shows up, try enabling it and seeing if it works.

The device is enabled, but is permanently in a state of "Not plugged in."

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And a shot in the dark here, but perhaps the jack is "disabled" in the BIOS, and is only respected by Windows? I've seen OS-specific BIOS settings before, so you might want to check that.

I don't have an option in the BIOS to enable or disable the jack.

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Failing all that, you could always go back to Windows 7. Windows 8 is widely considered to be a flop, anyway.

This is something I've been considering for my Windows partition for a while. I'd gotten Win8 for free from my work, so I upgraded since I didn't have much to lose. I'm only on Windows for gaming anyway; most of my stuff is done on my Slackware partition. The only thing that concerns me is this has been a problem in Windows 7 for many people too.

CMNealTan: I've already come across that link and tried it. I don't have that extra button in my audio manager:

Already tried.

That is quite odd. I can't think of any possible explanation for why it worked on Linux but not Windows due to the connector needing reseating. I'm glad you got your problem fixed, though.