Realtek falsely detects headphones in front panel

Hello all, just ran into an odd problem and hoped you might be able to offer some insight.

I built my computer in April, and up until just recently the computer was correctly detecting whether my headphones were plugged in the front panel. Within the past few days, Realtek has stopped being able to detect that I have removed the headphones. If I turn off auto-detection in the Realtek Audio Manager, my speakers work correctly. If I turn on auto-detection, I get no sound at all unless I have my headphones plugged in the front jack.

The attached file is a screenshot of the Realtek HD Audio Manater. Although I have nothing plugged in the front jack, notice that Realtek thinks that there is.

Another bit of oddness: if I have "disable front panel jack detection" selected, but then I unselect it, I get a message that I have "just unplugged a device from the audio jack." This message occurs whether I have the headphones plugged in the front jack or not.

I have tried reinstalling the correct Realtek drivers from my motherboard manufacturer's website.

I have considered trying to reassign the jack outputs (as described in this forum's sticky) so that the mic is the headphone jack, but I hoped there might be a software solution that I have not yet considered.

Any thoughts?

Have you taken a look at the motherboard header for the FP connector?
It may be loose.

I get this message occasionally as well. I put it down to having an AC'97 front panel as opposed to an HD one.

Why, when HD (Azalia) audio has existed since 2004, are there few (if any) true HD front panels available?

p5bdkw said:

Have you taken a look at the motherboard header for the FP connector?
It may be loose.

Click to expand...

Just took the whole unit apart (the pins for the front panel header are underneath my Radeon 6950!), turned it back on, and Realtek still detects the phantom headphones.

Try this:
Open Realtek HD Audio Manager-Click Connector Settings-Disable front panel jack detection.

Cata:

Thanks for your post. I can disable jack detection, but then when I plug in headphones, I get sound from the speakers as well (thereby defeating the purpose of using headphones).

schenker said:

Cata:

Thanks for your post. I can disable jack detection, but then when I plug in headphones, I get sound from the speakers as well (thereby defeating the purpose of using headphones).

Click to expand...

Do you have the same settings?

Here are screenshots of those two windows. I took these while jack detection was DISABLED, but I have not otherwise changed any settings.

Only a true HD front panel is able to disable the speakers attached to the motherboard sockets when headphones are inserted into the headphone socket. See http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/44491-ac97-hd-audio-front-panel-layouts.html

Dwarf said:

Only a true HD front panel is able to disable the speakers attached to the motherboard sockets when headphones are inserted into the headphone socket. See http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/44491-ac97-hd-audio-front-panel-layouts.html

Click to expand...

The front panel on this case (Antec 300) has wires that lead first to an HD header, and then continue out to an AC'97 header. The HD header is connected to the appropriate HD audio connectors on the motherboard (ASRock 870 Extreme3).

Even if this is not "true HD" (which is beyond my level of tech expertise to determine), the computer would correctly shut off the speakers (connected to the back of the case) when headphones were inserted, and would correctly turn the speakers back on when the headphones were removed. Now, the only way to get the rear speakers to turn on is to DISABLE jack detection. When this happens, plugging in a headset simply replicates the sound coming from the speakers, it does not turn them off.

Same problem here on AsRock 870 Extreme 3, plus no sound at all, even when "disable front panel jack detection" ticked (which seems to be renamed to "play the same audio streams" in newer driver version).

Please update, whether or not any solution found.

The problem seems to have been with the headphone jack. I contacted the case manufacturer (Antec), who, with amazing speed, sent out a replacement panel. Since replacing, the sound has been fine.

I am having the same problem on my laptop. Same realtek hd audio and everything. Nothing here has helped. My computer recognizes my microphone as headphones as well, I have no option to disable the jack. Any other ideas you may give?

bump

schenker said:

The problem seems to have been with the headphone jack. I contacted the case manufacturer (Antec), who, with amazing speed, sent out a replacement panel. Since replacing, the sound has been fine.

Click to expand...

it's really the front panel audio jacks & the old audio cables which are not completely compliant to the HD audio standard so therefore replacing both the audio jacks & audio cables that meet the HD audio specs was the solution.

Sylveon Fetish said:

I am having the same problem on my laptop. Same realtek hd audio and everything. Nothing here has helped. My computer recognizes my microphone as headphones as well, I have no option to disable the jack. Any other ideas you may give?

Click to expand...

although your problem is a different one, try updating the realtek audio drivers. if you are using old & outdated drivers for your HP laptop, then you should remove them and install new ones.

the cable has nothing to do with it, unless you are referring to the size of the plug breaking the connector (can't be that bad).
but a need to replace the audio connector sounds probable.

there's little pins inside the connector that touch when you plug the connector in, and that tells the system there is something plugged in.
or
the pins touch when there's nothing plugged in and they stop touching when you plug something in.

either way those pcb mount audio connectors can be bought for less than $5 for 10 or 20 of 'em.

the hardest part is determining which is harder, taking the laptop apart or finding a new connector with the right number of pins & pin layout.

consider it wear & tear & it's no different than the power plug getting loose over time.
power plug replacement is nothing new & i've had to replace an audio connector on a laptop before too.

So if anyone is still having this issue I've found the solution. While windows is booted and running, unplug all audio cables from all ports, including headphones/mic, as well as any stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speakers. Then plug them in one by one (I started with my headphones and mic), and set it up in the control panel as you normally would (I make my front and rear output devices playback two different audio streams simultaneously, so that I can just plug my headphone jack into the front headphone port in order to use them, and to disable the speakers, as well so I can have speaker fill working with speakers but not with headphones. I do this by clicking "set default device" on the headphones so that when the computer detects they are plugged in, they are the default audio output). Worked perfectly for me