Front Audio jack not working in Windows 10 Fix

The front jack on your computer cabinet is very useful as you can directly plug in your favorite headphone in a jiff. But what if you notice that the front jack is not working? Don’t worry. There are some pretty easy fixes available to sort out the issue quickly. All you have to do is follow our instructions on your machine.

Workarounds–

1. Try putting in another headphone (0r microphone) with the same port and check if that is working for you or not. If the headphone or microphone doesn’t work, there may be some issue with the port itself.

2. Restart the computer and try to plug in the headphone again.

 

Fix 1 – Set the audio device as the default

If you have multiple audio devices connected to your system, this problem may arise.

1. Press the Windows key+R to open up the “Run“.

2. After that, type “mmsys.cpl” and click on “OK“.

 

 

3. Once the Sound window opens up, go to the “Playback“* tab.

4. After that, right-click on the headphone that is connected to the front panel jack and click on “Set as default device“.

 

 

This should set the device as the default audio driver on your computer.

NOTE–

1. If you can’t see the HDMI Audio device in the Sound panel, follow these steps-

Once you have opened the Sound panel, right-click and check the options “Show Disabled Devices” and the “Show Disconnected Devices“.

 

 

2. If you are facing a problem with a microphone, follow these steps-

a. Go to the “Recording” tab.

b. Locate the microphone device. Right-click on it and click on “Set as default“.

 

 

This should fix the front panel jack issue that you are having.

 

Fix 2 – Enable the Jack detection

You have to enable the jack detection from the audio console on your system.

1. Go to the Realtek official download section and download the latest driver on your computer.

2. After that, run the installer on your computer and complete the installation process on your computer.

3. Next, type “Realtek” in the search box and click on the “Realtek HD Audio Manager“.

 

 

4. Once the Realtek window, click on the “Device Advanced settings“.

5. Now, on the right-pane, set the “Enable Jack detection when the device is plugged in” to “On“.

 

 

If you see that the settings were already set to ‘ON’ try toggling it to “Off” and check if that works for you.

 

Fix 3 – Restore default settings

Try restoring the default settings for the audio enhancements for the audio devices.

1. Right-click on the Windows icon and click on the “Run“.

2. After that, type “sysdm.cpl” and click on “OK“.

 

 

3. Once the System Configuration opens up, go to the “Hardware” tab.

4. Click on the “Device Installation Settings“.

 

 

5. After that, you need to check the “No (your device might not work as“ expected)” option.

6. Next, you have to click on “Save Changes“.

 

 

6. Open a Run window again.

7. Type “mmsys.cpl” and hit Enter thereafter.

 

 

8. When the Sound window appears, go to the “Playback” tab.

9. Double click on the audio device you are trying to use.

 

 

10. Then, click on the “Advanced” tab.

11. To restore the default settings, click on “Restore defaults“.

 

 

12. Then, go to the “Spatial Sound” (in some cases you may see the “Enhancement” tab) section.

13. Again a click on the Restore defaults” and everything will be restored to the default settings.

 

 

14. Click on “Apply” and click on “OK“.

 

 

Close all the opened windows and restart the system once. This should solve the problem.

 

Fix 4 – Update the sound card

Try updating the sound card driver on your computer.

1. Press the Windows key+R.

2. After that, type “devmgmt.msc” and click on “OK“.

 

 

3. When the Device Manager opens up, expand the “Sound, video and game controllers“.

4. After that, right-click on the audio device and click on “Update driver“.

 

 

5. After that, click on the “Search automatically for drivers“.

 

Try unplugging and plugging the audio device from the front panel jack. This should work out for you.

 

Fix  4 – Check the connection settings

If updating the audio drivers doesn’t work out for you, try checking the connection settings on your motherboard.

1. Switch off your computer. Unplug it from the power source.

2. Open the cabinet or casing from your machine.

3. Check out the connection of the motherboard and front panel jack.

Actually, you will notice some jumper wires connecting the motherboard ports with the front panel jack and the USB ports of the cabinet.

4. Make sure the jumper wires are connected properly.

Some users have suggested that reversing the face of the jack and motherboard ports have solved their issue. Check it out on your machine.

5. Put the casing back. Plug your computer into the power source.

Check if this fix works for you.

 

Fix 5 – Check for defects with the troubleshooter

If this is a software issue, you can try running the troubleshooter.

1. Press the Windows key+I keys together.

2. Then, click on the “Update & Security“.

 

 

3. On the left-hand side, click on the “Troubleshoot“.

4. Once the troubleshooter window appears on your screen, on the right-hand side, click on “Additional troubleshooters“.

 

 

5. In the list of troubleshooters, scroll down and click on the “Playing Audio“.

6. After that, click on “Run the troubleshooter“.

 

 

Let the troubleshooter run on your computer and fix the issue on your system.

This should have fixed your problem.

 

Fix 6 – Reinstall the audio driver

If this is a case of corruption of the audio driver, follow these steps.

1. At first, you have to press the Windows key+R keys together.

2. Once the Run window appears, write “devmgmt.msc” and click on “OK“.

 

 

3. You have to expand the “Sound, video and game controllers” section.

4. Now, to uninstall the particular adapter, right-click on the audio driver and then click on the “Uninstall device“.

 

 

5. Simply, click on “Yes” to confirm the uninstallation of the driver.

 

 

After that, simply restart your computer once. This will load the default driver for the Realtek Audio driver.

If the driver still isn’t there, follow these steps-

Open the Device Manager window.

a. In the Device Manager,  click on “Action“.

b. After that, click on “Scan for hardware changes“.

 

 

Fix 7 – Use the ports at the back

Every PC has some extra ports at the back of the cabinet. These ports are usually at the motherboard. So, try plugging your headphone into that jacks instead of the ones at the front.

This should fix the issue.