flillia

Problem description: This is a really odd problem that's been ongoing for two years but didn't become really annoying until recently. When I first got my computer everything was fine and the speakers worked and such. One day, I plugged my headphones in. Everything worked fine. When I took my headphones out, however, the sound failed to switch back to my speakers.. as if the computer didn't realize that the headphones had been taken out. It switched back to my speakers randomly one day (and scared the crap out of me) but the next time I had to plug my headset in it stopped working again.

Additionally, my mic doesn't work unless it's a usb microphone. If I plug my mic in to the mic jack it won't even recognize that anything is there but if I use the same mic with a usb adapter it works like a charm. I have a feeling that the speakers might work if they were usb but my speakers aren't so I'll never know.

This whole thing didn't become annoying (since I don't mind wearing headsets) until recently when my adapter broke and I'm having trouble finding a new one that's decently priced.

Attempted fixes: Searched on google, asked multiple people over the years, reformatted my computer twice.

Recent changes: None, it's been like this since they day I got it

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Operating system: Windows XP Media Center Edition

System specs: Dell Dimension E510. Sound card: Creative SB X-Fi I think? There are like 8 things listed under the sound section of my device manager and I'm not sure which is the sound card

Pauldo

Are you plugging these into the front panel? If so, try the jacks in the back.

I see this problem with laptops a bit, but this is the first time I have seen it with a desktop model. The problem on laptops is that the jack that you plug the headphone (or mic) into is defective and the solution is to (for a laptop) get a usb audio card.

The Dell e510 has onboard sound. Did you upgrade to a different soundcard?

If you didn't it might be worthwhile to look into. It's get's the pain and suffering over with really quickly .

Pauldo

*Edit* I forgot that there was one guy who was able to stick his headphone jack in and wiggle it around until the speakers started working. Again this was on a laptop but it might be worth a shot.

flillia

I looked on the back and, while I could find a jack that the headphone works in, none of the jacks seem to be for the mic.. at least, I couldn't get a response out of any of them. The light blue jack in the lower left hand corner has a picture next to it of what could be a microphone (though it looks more like a rattle to me) but when I plugged it in there it didn't work.

Attached are pictures of the back.. maybe there's something I'm missing?

As for the sound card: I didn't upgrade it myself but I believe my father did when he bought the computer. I just checked the specs from when he ordered it and under sound it says Sound Blaster® X-Fi XtremeMusic (D), w/Dolby® Digital 5.1

That's not the onboard card, is it?

Is it possible that my sound card is defective (since problems with mic + speakers)? I suppose this is something I should have looked into while it was still under warranty.. oops. If it is defective, what are my options? Is the onboard card still there and if so, could I switch over to it?

Also, for a while while I owned this computer I used a stand usb microphone while keeping the headset mic plugged in for no real reason. Once, the headset microphone turned itself on (completely blowing the ears out of everyone on ventrillo). The mic continued to work until it was unplugged by mistake one day.

Edit: Sorry for the poor picture quality, it's really hard to take decent pictures of something you can hardly see yourself :)

Thanks again for your help

Attached Images

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	apt pics 078.jpg (144.6 KB, 4 views)