Windows 10 saying speakers "Not Plugged In"

Hello, I upgraded to Windows 10 fairly recently. Shortly after that I bought a GTX 1070 and put it in my machine. I also swapped one of my monitors from DVI to HDMI with the switch. As soon as I turned on my PC I had all sorts of system crashes and my speakers stopped working, always coming up as "Not Plugged In" even though they were. I finally had to reinstall Windows 10 and that has solved every issue except the speakers. Windows continues to tell me that they are not plugged in when they are. They are analog and I plug them into the correct lime green port. I plugged them into my phone and they worked fine. Windows has no problems detecting my USB headset as well.

I have tried:

• Multiple driver updates, rollbacks, uninstalls, reinstalls
• Messed with every setting I could in the Realtek HD Audio Manager
• Plugged speakers into both audio jacks on my machine
• Double-checking that everything was plugged in properly for it on the motherboard

I am just out of ideas at this point. Any help would be appreciated. At this point I'm wondering if the motherboard's sound card just broke or that the HDMI cable screwed it up.

Since HDMI can carry video and audio, maybe you need to disable high definition audio to route the sound back to your analog speakers? I meant to say HDMI audio....

How Do I Enable or Disable HDMI Audio in Windows If I Am Using an HDMI Connection Between My Nvidia Video Card or Motherboard and My Monitor?

Answer / Solution

The latest Nvidia GeForce drivers allow you to enable or disable HDMI Audio through the Nvidia Control Panel. You may want to use this for several reasons. First, this option will allow you to use headphones or speakers connected to either the onboard audio panel or your front panel, even though you are using the SPDIF pass-through audio connector, by simply turning the HDMI audio to disabled. Likewise, you can switch back to the SPDIF pass-through when finished with your headphones or speakers by switching the HDMI audio to enabled. Second, this option is available for each monitor or TV you have attached, so you can enable or disable the HDMI Audio to each monitor or TV you are using. Third, this will help solve conflicts between using a onboard sound and HDMI pass-through audio. Finally, this option is located in a very convenient location to quickly change settings to suit your audio needs. To use this option, Ensure that you are using a video card or motherboard with an onboard video that supports the use of an HDMI. For a list of EVGA video cards and motherboard onboard video controllers that support HDMI, please see: http://www.evga.com/support/faq/?f=57989 Begin with your system off. Detach all monitors and TV's from the video card or the onboard video controller. If you do not wish to use the SPDIF to HDMI pass-through, then skip this step. If you do wish to use the SPDIF - HDMI pass-through, then please see this FAQ for instructions on installing the SPDIF cables to your motherboard: http://www.evga.com/support/faq/?f=58021 Depending on your video card or onboard video controller, locate either the direct HDMI outlet or a supported DVI to HDMI adapter. If using the DVI to HDMI adapter, carefully attach the adapter to the video card, and hand-tighten the screws to secure the adapter. After locating the adapter-type, plug in an HDMI cable to the graphics card or the onboard video controller, then plug in the other end of the cable to an HDMI-compliant monitor or TV. Ensure that the only monitor or TV attached to the video card is the one using the HDMI cable. Turn the computer on, and watch to see if the monitor or TV displays picture. If not, check to make sure that the cable connections are secure and that the monitor or TV is set to the proper signal - HDMI. After booting into Windows, download the latest drivers for your graphics card(s) or your onboard video controller. For EVGA products go here: http://www.evga.com/support/drivers/ For all other other Nvidia based cards and motherboards: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us Upon completing the driver installation, Windows may ask you to reboot. If it does, follow the prompt and reboot. In the Windows Sound settings, make sure your TV or monitor is selected as the Primary Output Device and has a green checkmark on the icon, then either start a new audio file or restart your currently playing audio file to verify your sound is working.

I appreciate the help but this didn't seem to help. All it appeared to have me do was verify that HDMI was installed properly? I went into the Nvidia control panel as well to ensure audio over HDMI was off. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding something in the instructions.

Citizen Krang said:

I appreciate the help but this didn't seem to help. All it appeared to have me do was verify that HDMI was installed properly? I went into the Nvidia control panel as well to ensure audio over HDMI was off. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding something in the instructions.

If Count Mike's suggestion doesn't work then an easy solution would be for you to go back to a DVI connection. You'll get the same quality minus the headache that the HDMI switch-over has caused you.

I am posting this problem as a reply to this older thread as it comes close to my problem. I am struggling with a (not so very new) desktop computer with a Gigabyte H61M- S2PV board running at W10 x64. Everything works fine, besides of the on board sound Realtek ALC 887. The latest Realtek driver (6.0.1.7553, according to Gigabyte) for W10 x64 has been installed, the device manager confirms that sound should be OK and the on board sound is enabled in the UEFI. However there is no sound.



The reason for this seems to be that the Realtek console / driver refuses to acknowledge that (analoge) sound devises such as loudspeakers have been connected to the output busses. The problem shows up in quite a few threads on several forums, but I could not find a working solution. Reinstalling the driver and even reinstalling W10 does not solve the problem. Furthermore I could not find any mechanical problems such as wiring breaches. For the rear connections this can
be excluded anyway, as the output busses are directly soldered to the board.
Does anyone know the problem and have a solution other than discarding the Gigabyte board?

Kind regards,
Dave