Subject: Laptop Headphone Jack Output Not Working After Sudden Power Off (Microphone Works) Hello,

[souhib]

Subject: Laptop Headphone Jack Output Not Working After Sudden Power Off (Microphone Works)

Hello,

I am using an HP Laptop running Windows 10. Recently, my laptop shut down unexpectedly. After turning it back on, the external headphone jack stopped outputting any sound, even though it was working perfectly right before the sudden shutdown.

Here is the exact state of my laptop and the symptoms:
1. The Internal Speakers work completely fine when I switch the output to them.
2. When I plug in my headset, the microphone works perfectly, but no sound comes out of the headphones.
3. My laptop uses a Conexant audio chip with DTS Studio Sound. After the reboot, DTS showed an error saying "A Conexant audio device could not be found, this app will exit."
4. The audio device has now completely disappeared from the Device Manager under "Sound, video and game controllers".

What I have tried so far (with no success):
* Uninstalled the audio driver and restarted the laptop.
* Downloaded and installed the official audio driver using my serial number from the HP website.
* Tried forcing the Windows "High Definition Audio Device" / Generic driver.
* Checked Windows Audio Services (services.msc) and tried troubleshooting tools.
* Performed a hard reset by holding the power button for 60 seconds to drain static electricity.

Since the microphone works through the same jack, the physical port seems fine, but the system or the hardware controller seems locked or unable to route the audio output. I cannot afford any external USB adapters at the moment, so I need a software or BIOS-based solution.

Could you please help me wake up the audio output channel or fix this controller issue?

Thank you!

[Deep_World]

Hi  @souhib,
 
Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Thanks for reaching out!

I Understand your concern about  the headset that was working properly before the shutdown, don’t worry let me help you with this. 

Could you kindly share the  model number?

Also could you kindly confirm the below details : 

1. When you plug in the headset, does Windows detect it under Sound Settings - Output Devices?
2. Does the issue occur with all headphones/headsets, or have you only tested one headset?
3. Is there any device listed under Device Manager - Other Devices with a yellow exclamation mark?
4. After the Conexant device disappeared, do you see High Definition Audio Controller listed under System Devices in Device Manager?
5. Could you kindly share a photo of: 
   Device Manager (expanded "Sound, video and game controllers" section)
   Device Manager (expanded "System devices" section)
   Sound Settings showing available output devices

In the meantime, kindly try the below steps and confirm : 

Step 1: Show Hidden Audio Devices

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Click View - Show hidden devices.
3. Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
4. Check whether any Conexant, Realtek, or Audio devices appear grayed out.
5. If found, right-click and select Enable Device or Uninstall, then restart the PC.

Step 2: Hardware Diagnostics

1. Power off the notebook.
2. Turn it on and repeatedly press F2.
3. Launch HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI.
4. Run: Audio Test and next System Board Test
5. Note any failure IDs or error codes and share them with us.

Step 3: Hardware Detection

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Click Action - Scan for hardware changes.
3. If the audio controller does not return, check whether an Unknown Device appears.

Since the Conexant audio device completely disappeared and DTS can no longer detect the audio chipset, this could indicate either:

• A driver/controller corruption caused by the sudden shutdown, or
• The audio controller is no longer being properly detected by the system firmware.

Kindly share the exact HP model number and the requested photo.

I hope this helps.