My laptop isn't recognising my headphones

I asked for help on the Microsoft forum and got a solution.

Using Device Manager to scan for new hardware, automatically update drivers by searching the computer for updated drivers, and using Windows Update to look for updated drivers failed to help.


Using the hyperlinks provided by people on the Microsoft forum, the different methods mentioned failed to work for me. However it was suggested that I download software designed to find updates to installed drivers. I have 3 such software installed.

• Driver Booster
• Driver Talent
• Driver Fix

Driver Booster found me some updated audio drivers but that didn't solve the problem. Driver Talent couldn't find me any updated audio drivers. Driver Fix found me 4 audio drivers and one of them solved the problem.


Out of the 4 audio drivers Driver Fix suggested, one installer failed to run giving a blank error message. Two were designed for other computer manufacturers (HP and Gigabyte) so it shouldn't be run on my (Acer) computer (one failed to install anything and the other one corrupted my audio driver so I had to use device manager to rollback the driver). And another one was both an Intel and Realtek driver combined in one. In my case it was called Audio_Realtek_10.29.0.4479_W10x64 or Realtek Audio Effects Component 01/02/2020 which you can download here. Although the file and driver identifies as Realtek in the file and folder name in Windows Explorer, it also contains files to do with Intel HD Audio Smart Sound Technology.


After installing this driver, my computer then started to recognise my headphones after I plugged it in. It looks like my computer manufacturer (Acer) is providing a faulty or outdated driver on their (Acer) website. I will contact them about this so they can update their website.


The problem is solved now.

Someone on the Acer forum said this.

Thanks for the report back. The problem is more likely related to a rapidfire major Win10 update. They happen about every six months and are almost completely new Windows versions that can affect relatively stable manufacturer drivers. Make sure System Protection is turned on inside your Control Panel restore point application because oftentimes the next major Win10 update doesn't yet have any stable drivers and must be uninstalled and temporarily blocked by Microsoft's update hide tool until a future update fixes the issue. Jack E/NJ

To which I replied

Another thing that's important to note with System Restore, as that by default Windows allocates 1% of your hard drive to be used for System Restore snapshots. Given how large each snapshot is in Windows 10, I recommend that this is increased to 3%, as with 1% of a 1TB hard drive, only one System Restore snapshot will be able to be saved at any one time. It's always good to have multiple System Restore snapshots to refer back to.