Solved "The speaker, headset or headphone is unplugged"

[EchoTango]

Help please !

Monitor with built-in speakers is connected over an HDMI cable and so the speakers cannot be actually disconnected. Strangely, the sound feature comes or goes by either a reawakening or a reboot. Speaker icon has a red X indication when it has failed and none of the Windows sounds play.

This is a 8.1 desktop that has the latest Realtek and Intel drivers installed direct from their websites.


Any ideas ?

 

[EchoTango]

More info...

Under the "Sound" tab in the Mixer and under Playback, HSG1074 has a green check and is noted as the Default Device. Under this icon is the Speakers - Realtek High Definition Audio which is showing not plugged in.

 

[fireberd]

When you use HDMI, the PC's regular audio (e.g. RealTek) is not used. The HDMI audio is from a chip in the video card.

What do you have listed in the Device Manager, Sound Section. You should have RealTek audio and whatever video device you have's audio. e.g. if you have Intel Video then you should have Intel HDMI Audio listed. If you have an AMD or NVIDIA video card then you should have AMD or NVIDIA HDMI audio. However, if you only have the generic, basic function Windows installed "High Definition Audio Codec for the HDMI then the first step is to install the correct Video driver (which will include the HDMI audio).,

 

[EchoTango]

Thanks for responding Fireberd...

This sound is on-board and not a discrete card. I seem to have two audio pieces of software, Realtek and Intel which I believe is running through a "soft" device called HSG1074. I think HSG1074 controls which port the sound plays through and I think its getting confused or the Intel program is not loading every time leaving Realtek looking for speakers. I have looked through all the options for all three pieces and have not found an HDMI option. Just to make even more interesting, when I woke up the PC to answer your post, the sound is now working fine.


I'm wondering if there is an update to HSG1074 ?

ET.

 

[fireberd]

The HSG1074 is a Hanspree TV. Is that what you are using as a monitor?

The on-board sound, RealTek, is ONLY for regular PC audio and NOT for HDMI.

The Intel is providing the HDMI audio.

 

[EchoTango]

Ah...another piece falls into place.

Yes indeed, I am using a Hanspree monitor/TV and so that's what that means ! Should I de-install the Realtek as I'm not using the regular sound ports ?

 

[CountMike]

Ah...another piece falls into place.

Yes indeed, I am using a Hanspree monitor/TV and so that's what that means ! Should I de-install the Realtek as I'm not using the regular sound ports ?

You don't need to uninstall Realtek drivers, they would be installed next time you boot anyway. What you can do (maybe ) is to turn off onboard sound in the BIOS or just disable it in Device Manager.

 

[fireberd]

I would leave the RealTek alone. It is not going to interfere with HDMI audio.

 

[EchoTango]

Thanks again....

I've deleted the RealTek driver so it can't load on start-up and I know how to restore it if I need to. So far so good, as I've booted up the PC three times now and no red "X" on the speaker icon.

If this does fix the issue, it looks like RealTek and Intel don't play well together......

 

[fireberd]

What is happening with the Red X is that the RealTek hardware is detecting that there are no speakers plugged in and it displays the Red X. If speakers are plugged in the Red X will go away. I just answered another thread for a user that had the exact same question about the Red X. On his systems if no speakers are plugged in he gets the Red X. He plugs in speakers and the Red X goes away. Proper operation.

You should re-enable the RealTek. If you ever want to record streaming audio from the Internet you need the "Stereo Mix" set as the default recording device (in the Sound Panel/Recording section). That is a function of the RealTek, as the Video's HDMI audio does not have this capability. Having RealTek enabled will not interfere (do nothing) to your HDMI audio.

 

[EchoTango]

Spoke to soon....woke up the PC and the sound is not working......again.

Since the RealTek driver is now gone this confirms the Intel software did not load. The sound mixer is gone but the device list the "High Definition Audio Device" shows as working properly. The HSG1074 Audio Display is also missing from the Device list.

I know I can re-boot and it will eventually return.

 

[fireberd]

Because you removed/uninstalled or whatever the RealTek drivers, Windows, when booted installed the generic, basic function, HD Audio Driver for the PC sound.

But that should still not have anything to do with the HDMI audio. That has to be a function of something happening with the HDMI link. Because it happens after "waking up" that says some function needs to stay on rather than go into the standby (sleep) mode.

 

[EchoTango]

Thanks again Fireberd :

I think the mixer is part of the Intel sound software as I can re-boot and get the mixer back without RealTek. I have a speaker cable currently hooked up but it makes no difference as I think the error is a generic one that Windows displays.

I'm trying to minimize all the "players" in the situation and if I can get the HDMI working, I will add the RealTek piece back in later.

So, this now looks like a Windows/Intel problem. The next think I'm going to do is to change the monitor idle time to "forever" so the monitor going to sleep too early or waking up too late is removed from the equation.

....and so it goes.

 

[CountMike]

If you are still suspecting Realtec drivers. why don't you just "kill" it in BIOS. That way there's no chance for it to interfere and drivers for it or that HD audio driver will not load at all but will still be there if needed.

 

[popeye]

Where are you plugging the HDMI into on the computer, a motherboard port or a dedicated graphics card? Either way. uninstall graphics driver then re-install, and be sure you have latest drivers.

 

[EchoTango]

I think I may have cracked this....

I'm now thinking this has something to do with conflicting sleep modes for the PC and the monitor. Typically, monitors go to sleep when the PC does. For some reason I think this monitor is going to sleep before the PC and the sound software is detecting a "no speaker connected" state. Conversely, when the PC is started, the monitor goes through a boot-up process and I suspect it's not quite "ready" in time for the PC software load, again detecting a "no speaker connected state". I've started turning the monitor on first and letting it "boot up" before hitting the power button on the PC. This would also account for why it sometimes works and sometimes not.

So far so good.

If this does works, it would seem the audio software has zero tolerance to device status nor any re-try capability.

 

[EchoTango]

I been powering up the monitor first and it seems to work. Seems the Intel audio software is not a smart as it should be.

Thanks to all who helped out !