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Today, my set of external speakers for my laptop (HP ENVY m6) stopped working suddenly after I unplugged them to move the laptop and then plugged them back in.

The speakers will play audio from other devices (so they're not defective), and now I can't hear audio from anything else plugged into that jack, like headphones.

I have a dual boot of Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.04 on this laptop, and the jack doesn't work on either OS.

Is the jack faulty? If so, what can I do to get external audio working again?

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  • Have you ever disassembled the laptop? Does plugging a device into the headphone jack still mute the laptop speakers?
    – Steven
    Jun 9, 2015 at 22:25
  • I have never opened the laptop or modified any of its hardware. The laptop speakers still mute when a device is plugged into the jack.
    – user421250
    Jun 9, 2015 at 22:45

2 Answers 2

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The fact that it is a problem in both Windows and Ubuntu suggest that it is hardware at fault.

I would guess that there is some kind of switch inside your jack to detect if it is plugged in. Here is a related thread:

How does a sound card determine if headphones are plugged in?

The switch may have malfunctioned and over time it heals itself.

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  • Over time it always heals itself? Or over time it might heal itself? Aug 28, 2015 at 2:21
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This may happen when you have the external speakers set to default. We need to set the headphones as default.

Perform the task mentioned below to set headphones as default:

  • On the start screen of windows 8 press the ‘Windows key + X’ key on the keyboard and then click on control panel and then Hardware and sound option.
  • Click in Sound, then a new window will open up.
  • In the new windows click on the tab "Playback" and right click in the window and click on Show Disabled devices.
  • Now check if headphones are listed there and right click on it and choose enable.
  • Highlight that headphones and click on "Set as Default".

Or Try this:

  • Step 1. Go to the Tiles menu and type "Troubleshooting"
  • Step 2. Click on Troubleshooting
  • Step 3. Click on Troubleshoot audio playback in Hardware and Sound option
  • Step 4. Click Next
  • Step 5. Choose Headphones and Windows will automatically detect the problem
  • Step 6. Click on "Apply, fix" button

Last we can try is Solution from HP: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-PC-Sound-and-Audio/Audio-Not-Working-After-Windows-8-1-Update/td-p/3057191

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