[ZenMonkey]

Specs: Studio desktop 540
Windows vista
Realtek high definition audio

My sound has been randomly stopping and returning for about 1 month. Before, it would randomly just stop working. I would restart the computer and it would return to normal. It gradually increased to it happening more and more. Eventually (now), it completely stopped and will come on for about 5 seconds then turn off. The first time it stopped working, I re-installed the driver and it worked again. Now I try to re-install the driver and it does nothing. I've tried system restoring, other speakers etc. All to no avail. I think my sound card's broken. The realtek definition software also spams "You have just plugged a device into the audio jack" and "You have just unplugged a device into the audio jack" as a popup. Can anyone help? Thanks

 

[Blade_Jones]

Is the sound output on a PCI card?
Have you tried reseating it in another PCI slot?

 

[ZenMonkey]

No idea what that means. I'm guessing the slot the sound card is plugged into?

 

[JimE]

Yes, Blade_Jones is referring to the slot the card is plugged into. IF it's an addon sound card, you can try removing and reinserting the card (into the same slot or another), just to ensure it is seated properly.

But based on your description, I'd say the sound card/audio chipset is faulty.

 

[Blade_Jones]

If the sound jack is physically part of the motherboard and it is faulty then you can always buy a PCI sound card. They're probably like $15.00.
I'd exhaust all driver options first. Try plug and play audio drivers, try the manufacturer's drivers, try error checking (find, fix and attempt recovery of bad sectors) the hard drive, etc.
What do things like like under the device manager's "sound, video and games" tree? Any yellow exclamation marks?

 

[ZenMonkey]

I have a built in sound card, no pci. And if it matters, the volume goes up on the sound dial when it's being used. I just can't hear anything. And my driver switches between real tek and 2-high definition audio device. No idea why, why are computers so damn annoying

 

[ZenMonkey]

no yellow question marks.

 

[JimE]

Drivers can cause the "detection" error you noted above. You can try updating or reinstalling the audio drivers. Aside from that, it would be hardware related.