Realtek HD Audio Sound Comes and Goes

My sound comes and goes on my HP e9280t. Sometimes I get the realtek hd manager icon telling me that the speakers have been plugged in, and then 1 second later it tells me they have been unplugged. It can keep doing that for minutes until I finally close the message. If I go into the audio manager, sometimes it recognizes speakers and sometimes it doesn't. The 'sound troubleshooter' can't find a solution. I've also tried uninstalling the driver and re-installing the new one directly from Realtek's site. And I've tried downloading the driver directly from HP's site. Nothing has worked so far. Even when I try to set my speakers to default (when it let's me) I don't get sound. When I do get sound, it doesn't last long. After 30 minutes or so, the speakers will start to sound like static. Any ideas on what could be going on? I also tried going into the BIOS settings and changing the onboard audio from automatic to enabled.

I will try it. Thanks.

Well, I just installed the new R2.39 driver. But the same results as always.

It seems to me that the socket is faulty. Try plugging in the speakers' jack and wiggle it gently in the socket. If you keep getting the plugged-unplugged messages, then it is most likely that the socket is damaged.