Lenovo G510 ignores 3.5mm headphones

[Darkcyprus]

I have to have the headphones plugged into the audio jack BEFORE I start the laptop up just so that it sees them, if I for whatever reason disconnect the headphones while the laptop is on, it will switch to speakers and will refuse to detect the headphones again.

This is what I see:

The only way to get the laptop to detect them again is by restarting while the jack is plugged.
I've tried deleting the audio drivers, but Windows did NOT reinstall them upon restart, so I had to install them again via backup.

 

[anwaypasible]

did you use any of those 'deep uninstaller' programs to get rid of the drivers before reinstalling them?
tried a different version of the drivers yet?

if it isn't a software problem, then it sounds as if there's an electricity problem with the sensing circuit.
as if there's not enough electricity after the computer is booted up all the way to execute the switching between the speakers & headphones.

there might be some small drain from the rest of the motherboard even though there isn't enough for the circuit to work.
your motherboard might be dieing faster than it is supposed to.
if you can't get the software portion to work, might wanna get it to an electrical repair shop.
but, i wonder if the operating system has any files associated with the switching between speakers & headphones that work in combination with the audio drivers.
(because then you'd be trying new drivers all day into the night & it won't help until the operating system files are fixed)

 

[Darkcyprus]

I only used Driver Magician, and I don't know of any alternate versions of the IDT drivers. I did try disabling/enabling the sound card via Device Manager but that didn't work.

I highly doubt that it's a dying motherboard as I had bought this laptop less than a month ago.

I think it's still warranted, though. I hope.

 

[anwaypasible]

i don't know why you doubt the truth.
but simply because the laptop is brand new doesn't guarantee there aren't any problems.
they could of tested the laptop with a different power supply at the factory that let the problem slip by.
or maybe it isn't your power supply, but the quality of the electricity at your electrical outlet.

 

[Darkcyprus]

This is a used laptop, it's been tested before the sale, and (according to the store) nothing was wrong with it.

I did insist on installing a new version of Windows, which forced me to reinstall some drivers, namely the Radeon M230's. I believe this might be a driver/software issue.

 

[Mellon Head]

It could very well be a driver issue, but it could also be a damaged audio jack. When you are in the audio control panel where the headset is not detected, have you tried to jiggle the headset plug in the jack to see if it is detected? Not too hard. Just enough to move it a little back and forth.

With drivers... Driver Magician is not the greatest program to use. Often it can install the wrong drivers for your hardware, or else out of date drivers at best. It's better to let Windows find drivers for your equipment if you can't find them directly from the manufacturer.

Try going to Control Panel>Device Manager, and find the audio card. Try the update driver function from there, not Windows Update, and see if that works. Your other alternative is to get the proper drivers from your laptop manufacturer's website and install those.

 

[Darkcyprus]

Okie dokie, I just tried updating the drivers, said that the latest are installed. So I tried that second thing you said: Check if it's damaged, I unplug, it switches to speakers, I plug back in and switches to headphones again.

I tried again, but with as little force as possible to make sure. Wiggle it around. Back and forth. Solid as a rock, and connected.

Apparently it just fixed itself. Thanks Mellon!

 

[Mellon Head]

Glad you got it working. Maybe there was some dust in there or something.

 

[Darkcyprus]

Bad news: It broke again after a reboot.

I don't know what to do; I tried to install the latest driver from lenovo.com, but the setup freezes on this:

Quick edit: It's working again. I dunno what's up with this thing anymore. I think I need to install this driver still, just to be sure.