Windows 10: I have to disable laptop's speaker, but keep the headphones operational, but "sound" menu...

Hello everyone!
I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read through all of this! I think it might be better to post the context for the problem if that's okay.

I own an Acer Aspire 792g with Windows 10.
Some time ago I had an issue with a buzzing and then very loud crackling noise coming from the laptop, which I have finally been able to identify as a damaged speaker. The problem was difficult enough to diagnose because the crackling would spontaneously appear even when there was no audio played, or when it was muted, or when I was using headphones, which I was almost all the time.

Eventually, however, I discovered that it is in fact the speaker. The issue has to be somehow connected to the temperature because the crackling would only appear when the laptop was used in a warm room and only after some time of it being used, but the warmer it was - the sooner the noises would appear. Anyway, I discovered that disabling the speakers hardware in my "hardware and sound" menu in the control panel completely eliminated the noises. Of course, it turns off the sound as well, but it did stop the speaker from crackling. But I encountered another issue.

As it turned out, the "sound" menu always shows the same device being the one that is presently being used, regardless of whether I'm using speakers or plugging in any headphones, it always shows as the same piece of hardware. So when I would disable the speakers, then even after plugging in the headphones the sound still wouldn't play - because now they'd show as being disabled. And of course, enabling them would soon bring back the crackling noises from the now unused speaker.

I read that the Realtek audio manager menu has the option of splitting the devices into separate positions on the list. However, my laptop appears to be one of the few which doesn't support the advanced Realtek drivers which offer that option. I wasn't able to separate the headphones and the speakers on my laptop via Realtek menu, regardless of the version of the driver that I used. I just don't have the access to the "advanced" settings.

On a hunch, I decided to check if using the Microsoft HD Audio drivers would offer some solutions and to try them out, I had to switch the driver for the speakers in the device manager. To do that, I had to look for them on the list of all available drivers, some of which apparently aren't the right ones for my laptop at least that's what the message in the menu warned about. I selected the Microsoft's HD Audio driver version 10.0.186... from 2019. To my surprise, it worked. The sound was there, while the headphones and speakers now appeared as two separate devices in my audio menu. I disabled the speakers, left the headphones alone, now I have the audio in my headphones and there's no buzzing and crackling from the speaker whatsoever!

That alone is a huge win for me. However, naturally, there are downsides. The volume is lower, not devastatingly lower, but somewhat lower. But more importantly, once ever 10, 20, 30 minutes there's a single popping sound in my headphones. To put it mildly, they don't sound very healthy
Preferably I'd avoid using a driver which might not be the best fit for my hardware, but installing the recommended Realtek driver will again merge my headphones and speakers into one position on the list, thus preventing me from stopping the buzzing and effectively making the laptop unusable during the summer.

So my question is this:
Is there any way to keep the speakers disabled and headphones enabled without sacrificing the sound quality that comes from using audio drivers other than Realtek?

A huge thank you in advance to anyone who decides to help out! If you need any additional info, please let me know.

Cheers, everyone!

:)

 

All sound playing through speakers instead of headphones

Hi Luke,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

It's unfortunate that you are facing this issue. Let me assist you to resolve the issue.

Share this information to assist you better.

• What is the make and model of the computer?
• Which update caused this issue. Share the KB number.

I understand that the audio is playing through speakers in your Windows 10 laptop

Follow the steps and check if it helps.

Method :

I would also suggest you to make your headphone as the default device when it is plugged in.

This may happen when you have the external speakers set to default.

Perform the task mentioned below to set headphones as default:

1. On the start screen of windows 10 press the ‘Windows key + X’ key on the keyboard and then click on control panel and then Hardware and sound option.

2. Click in Sound, then a new window will open up.

3. In the new windows click on the tab "Playback" and right click in the window and click on Show Disabled devices.

4. Now check if headphones are listed there and right click on it and choose enable.

5. Highlight that headphones and click on "Set as Default".

Hope this helps, keep us posted.

 

No sound from headphones but speakers work.

No Its Just A Speaker

 

Disable speakers and keep headphone jack enabled?


I'm not sure if this will do what you want, but type sound into the search bar, click on change sound card settings, right click the speakers and select disable, then select the headphones and at the bottom click Default. That should disable the speakers and use the headphones for all sounds.