# Sound from both speakers and headphones



## dv1660se_owner (Feb 1, 2007)

My laptop is an HP dv1660se.

I have been unable to get my internal altec lansing speakers to turn off when I plug in my headphones. I receive sound from both my speakers and my headphones simultaneously. I sent my laptop into HP and they sent it right back saying it was fixed, but nothing had changed. After calling them about this again, they told me it was likely my headphones. They told me, "take it into a best buy or comp usa and have them get you the right headphones," which was very annoying. I had already tried plugging in at least 5 different 3.5mm plugs into both of the headphone jacks before resorting to sending it to them. All the audio plugs I tried were stereo(3 contact rings on the plug), which could mean that it will only work with a mono-plug(2 contact rings), but this is highly unlikely.

I have the latest sound drivers downloaded straight from my specific model's support page on HP.com, although I feel that this is ultimately where the problem lies.

I've tried looking through and messing around with all the advanced sound/volume settings in windows xp control panel that I can find in an effort to disable the internal speakers "manually" while leaving the headphone jacks enabled.

If I cant figure it out, I may resort to adding a little electronic switch component which I would splice into the internal speaker cable (unplugging the speaker cable from the motherboard allowed me to listen to music through just the headphones).

Please help!


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Hi,

This is caused by a sensor on the jack that tells when a 3.5 mm plug is in. If it has failed, it will not turn off the speakers when a plug is in. Essentially, you will have to get a new headphone jack. I would send it to HP again, this time with this info about what is wrong and what needs to be done.

You can always unplug the speaker from the motherboard, but depending on how you are accessing it, it might not be so easy to plug it back in if necessary. BTW, it will void the warranty.

An external sound card is always an option, just thought I would put that on the table as well. You would install it and uninstall the drivers for the onboard sound.


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## dv1660se_owner (Feb 1, 2007)

Thank you very much for the quick reply.

I'll get either hp or a certified repair center to look into that, but with hp's lousy phone support and poor track record with me it'll probably be a repair center.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Yeah, the manufacturer's can really be of little use with these issues. A local computer shop will be your best bet, stores like Best Buy and Circuit City won't want to deal with this kind of thing.


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## dv1660se_owner (Feb 1, 2007)

oh yeah, one more thing:

the fact that there are two separate (actually designed for) headphone jacks on this laptop, and that neither one causes the speakers to turn off with a plug in it, wouldnt change your diagnosis would it?


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

That would alter it a little. The sensor is not on the headphone jack itself, but there is an internal switch that detects if any of the headphones are plugged in.


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## abaker (Jun 9, 2009)

I was having the same issue, I read this post then another post about a guy with this problem running Linux, from what that guy did I figured out how to fix this in Windows too. You need to go to My computer/Hardware/Hardware Profiles/then properties In here you need to tell Windows that you have a portable computer. 
After making this change reboot and things should work the way you want them to.


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