Problem with PC headphones

[splooger]

When I plug my headphones into the back of the PC I can't hear any sound in the headphones, and sound still comes out of the speakers. When I plug them into the speakers I can hear sound though the headphones and none comes out of the speakers. The microphone seems to work when I plug it into the back of the PC. The cords are too short to plug the headphones into the speakers and the microphone into the PC at the same time. Any one know why I can't hear sound in my headphones when I plug the headphone jack into the PC? I have a soundblaster live and Logitech premium stereo headset.

[Machfive]

Double click on Volume Control, and make sure the headphone port on your soundcard isn't muted. If you can't see a headphone volume level, you may need to go into the Properties menu and check to make sure the headphone volume thingy is checked.

[splooger]

I don't see a headphone volume control anywhere. All playback options are checked in properties and none are muted.

[XPav]

Are you sure you're plugging your headphones into a headphone jack?

[Case]

When I plug my headphones into the back of the PC I can't hear any sound in the headphones, and sound still comes out of the speakers. When I plug them into the speakers I can hear sound though the headphones and none comes out of the speakers. The microphone seems to work when I plug it into the back of the PC. The cords are too short to plug the headphones into the speakers and the microphone into the PC at the same time. Any one know why I can't hear sound in my headphones when I plug the headphone jack into the PC? I have a soundblaster live and Logitech premium stereo headset.

Are you plugging the headphones into the SB Live card, or into the headphone jack near your keyboard / mouse port?

[splooger]

There are no ports labelled headphone on the back of my PC. Nor are there any with an obvious headphone icon. I've tried plugging the headphone jack on every port that it will fit on my soundblaster (by unplugging my speakers) and I can't hear anything. I can only hear sound when I plug it into my speakers.

[splooger]

I tried netmeeting for the first time (which is the reason I got the headphones in the first place) and while I could hear the person on the other end and he could hear me, I could hear my own voice repeat everything I said over the speakers, which was annoying. Also, I couldn't hear him over the headphones, only over the speakers. Can anyone help me with this problem? I think it may be related to my problem above.

[Jon R.]

You're going to have to do a little more testing on your own and give us a broader picture, or this is going to take forever. Do other headphones work in the card? For the echo, do you have Line In muted? Does the other person use speakers while having his Netmeeting set to activate the mic when spoken into?

[splooger]

You're going to have to do a little more testing on your own and give us a broader picture, or this is going to take forever. Do other headphones work in the card? For the echo, do you have Line In muted? Does the other person use speakers while having his Netmeeting set to activate the mic when spoken into?

I don't have any other headphones to test, unfortunately. I tried to mute line-in but I still get the echo. If I speak into the mic I get sound out of my speakers. The other person said he had a built in mic (not a headset) and speakers.

[Jon R.]

See, the thing is that if the other person's mic is voice activated and they have speakers, the sound of your voice from THEIR speakers is going to trip their mic and you'll hear your voice again, like an echo. If this is the case, you can ask the other person to move his speakers away from the mic a bit more and/or turn down his mic sensitivity.

Otherwise, i ran into something similar with Win98, and it was apparently caused by having Wave unmuted on the Recording side of things in volume control.

[Case]

There are no ports labelled headphone on the back of my PC. Nor are there any with an obvious headphone icon. I've tried plugging the headphone jack on every port that it will fit on my soundblaster (by unplugging my speakers) and I can't hear anything. I can only hear sound when I plug it into my speakers.

You should be able to hear something in your headphones from the line-out port (the one that the front speaker pair is connected to). Note that you may have to set the Windows sound control panel to "headphones" instead of "speakers" to get adequate volume.

[Machfive]

Note that you may have to set the Windows sound control panel to "headphones" instead of "speakers" to get adequate volume.

That shouldn't really ever be the case. Powered computer speakers and normal audio headphones require the same amount of line level, since the headphones have such tiny cones, and the speakers do their own amplification. Mere tweaking of the master volume control should be enough to make the volume acceptable; if anything, what sounds quiet on your speakers is going to sound a little louder on the headphones.

You might want to consider buying one of those nifty extension cords/volume adjuster for your headphones, so you don't have to constantly mess with volume control when you switch to the phones.

[splooger]

You should be able to hear something in your headphones from the line-out port (the one that the front speaker pair is connected to). Note that you may have to set the Windows sound control panel to "headphones" instead of "speakers" to get adequate volume.

Thanks for the suggestion, I tried that and no go :(

[splooger]

You might want to consider buying one of those nifty extension cords/volume adjuster for your headphones, so you don't have to constantly mess with volume control when you switch to the phones.

My headphones came with an on-line volume control, but what use is it if I can't get sound?

[Machfive]

You might want to consider buying one of those nifty extension cords/volume adjuster for your headphones, so you don't have to constantly mess with volume control when you switch to the phones.

My headphones came with an on-line volume control, but what use is it if I can't get sound?

Let me get this straight.

If you connect your headphones to your line-out, to the SAME port you'd normally connect your speakers, you get no sound, but if you plug those same phones into your headphone port on your speakers, you get sound?

Well paint me pink, slap my ass, and call me charlie.

[splooger]

See, the thing is that if the other person's mic is voice activated and they have speakers, the sound of your voice from THEIR speakers is going to trip their mic and you'll hear your voice again, like an echo. If this is the case, you can ask the other person to move his speakers away from the mic a bit more and/or turn down his mic sensitivity.

Otherwise, i ran into something similar with Win98, and it was apparently caused by having Wave unmuted on the Recording side of things in volume control.

Good idea Jon, didn't think of that. That may solve my echo problem and I'll mention it to the other person if it happens again. Thanks!

[splooger]

Let me get this straight.

If you connect your headphones to your line-out, to the SAME port you'd normally connect your speakers, you get no sound, but if you plug those same phones into your headphone port on your speakers, you get sound?

Well paint me pink, slap my ass, and call me charlie.

That's exactly right.

[Machfive]

Okay, I'm gonna need the specs and make/model of:

The sound card
The headphones
The speakers
And screenshots of all the windows in volume control. The main one, and the properties window. Make sure to scroll down and screenshot again if necessary.

This is beyond fucked.

[splooger]

Okay, I'm gonna need the specs and make/model of:

The sound card
The headphones
The speakers
And screenshots of all the windows in volume control. The main one, and the properties window. Make sure to scroll down and screenshot again if necessary.

This is beyond fucked.

Soundblaster value live digital
Logitech premium stereo headphones
Altec Lansing ADA 885 speakers

I don't know how to make a screenshot and then post it. If you wouldn't mind telling me how, I can try. Thanks.

[Machfive]

All you need is the Printscreen button (up thar near F12), and an imaging program. Even Microsoft Paint will work, but ideally, you'd have PSP or Photoshop LE or something.

Anyways, when the thing is on the screen, just press Alt-Printscreen, and then go to your photo software and paste it into a new file. Save as a jpeg, and upload it somewhere on the web so you can link to it here.

[splooger]

All you need is the Printscreen button (up thar near F12), and an imaging program. Even Microsoft Paint will work, but ideally, you'd have PSP or Photoshop LE or something.

Anyways, when the thing is on the screen, just press Alt-Printscreen, and then go to your photo software and paste it into a new file. Save as a jpeg, and upload it somewhere on the web so you can link to it here.

I've saved the picture as a bitmap (I don't see how to save as a JPEG. Does it matter?) Now, how do I upload it to the web?

[Machfive]

Well a bitmap like that is going to be fairly huge size wise, and most free sites that allow you to upload photos to them aren't going to even accept them.

If you have Windows XP, try opening the bitmap in Windows Picture and Fax viewer. See the icon that looks like a floppy? When you mouseover, it should say "save as JPEG" or something to that effect. Click it, save the file.

Go to a site like mypicgallery.com, and open an account. They're free for the first 15 days, and don't require any billing info.

Use their instructions to upload the pictures to their site, and then you can send people to your gallery there to view the images.

[splooger]

I've uploaded my pic to mypicgallery.com but it's not showing up on their server for some reason. Maybe it takes a lot of time?

[Erik Andersson]

I think I had the same problem once (with an sb live! value), but only in Windows. In Linux this worked without problems so your problem is probably not hardware related either. Since I only used headphones I didn't mind having to use line-out, so I don't know how to solve it other than by using Linux instead.

[splooger]

The website I uploaded to was fixed so here is the pic of my sound settings:

http://controlcenter.mypicgallery.com/

[Lunch of Kong]

Any one know why I can't hear sound in my headphones when I plug the headphone jack into the PC?

Nope, but here's a work-around for you:

Go to radio shack and buy a short headphone extension cord. Stick that into the microphone In on the back of the computer. You should now be able to plug your headphones into the front and microphone into the extension.