Speakers won't work with laptop

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I normally use my laptop with only a mouse, but right now I have it hooked up
to a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and speakers. The mouse, keyoard, and monitor
work. The speakers don't. The sound still comes from the laptop instead.

I use headphones a lot, and those work fine. When plugged in, the laptop
speakers turn off and all sound comes through the headphones. I'm using
powered speakers at the moment, and I have them plugged into the other sound
jack. They are plugged in properly and turned on. They work on my desktop, so
the speakers are fine. Nothing is set to mute or anything. In Sounds and
Audio Devices, I chose Desktop Speakers, which is what I'm using.

My laptop ignores them as if they don't exist. The sound still works just
fine, but it comes from the laptop instead of the speakers.

I have never used this particular sound jack, so it might be broken, but I
hope not. Is there anything else it could be? If it IS broken, can I unplug
my speakers from the power and put them in the headphone jack?
 
I use headphones a lot, and those work fine. When plugged in, the laptop
speakers turn off and all sound comes through the headphones. I'm using
powered speakers at the moment, and I have them plugged into the other
sound
jack.
Click to expand...

What other sound jack? Does your laptop have two outputs (unlikely) or two
inputs (more likely)?

Why not use the headphone jack for the speakers?

-John O
 
bkwormlisa said:
I normally use my laptop with only a mouse, but right now I have it
hooked up
to a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and speakers. The mouse, keyoard, and
monitor
work. The speakers don't. The sound still comes from the laptop
instead.

I use headphones a lot, and those work fine. When plugged in, the
laptop
speakers turn off and all sound comes through the headphones. I'm
using
powered speakers at the moment, and I have them plugged into the
other sound
jack. They are plugged in properly and turned on. They work on my
desktop, so
the speakers are fine. Nothing is set to mute or anything. In Sounds
and
Audio Devices, I chose Desktop Speakers, which is what I'm using.

My laptop ignores them as if they don't exist. The sound still works
just
fine, but it comes from the laptop instead of the speakers.

I have never used this particular sound jack, so it might be broken,
but I
hope not. Is there anything else it could be? If it IS broken, can I
unplug
my speakers from the power and put them in the headphone jack?
Click to expand...

My laptop has two mini-plug jacks. One is for headphones/speakers and
the other is for a microphone. If you look closely at the jacks, there
should be an embossed symbol next to each. The speaker jack has a
symbol that looks like headphones, the mic jack looks, unsurprisingly,
like a microphone. You cannot use the mic jack for speakers.

Brian Bygland
 
Okay, that was it. My Microsoft Help said that one was for powered and the
other for unpowered, and plugging powered into the headphone jack would
damage it. Thanks.
 
Back
Top