Latitude E7440 - Sound not coming through headphones

Hi everyone,

I have a Dell Latitude E7440 laptop running Windows 8.1. I have been having issues with no sound coming in through headphones plugged in through the headphone jack (sound will only come through the built-in laptop speakers). I have tried several fixes including:

-Setting headphones as default playback device (my laptop groups speakers and headphones together, so it is not possible to choose one over the other).

- Removing battery, holding down power key for 30 seconds, restarting

-Updating Realtek Audio driver

-Uninstalling Realtek Audio driver (and deleting files), then restarting computer so the native audio driver is used.

I have had the most success with using the native audio driver (after deleting and uninstalling Realtek). However, when I do this, I have sound coming from both the headphones and the laptop speakers. This will work for a day or two, then I will begin having no sound coming from the headphones again (despite running the native audio driver). 

I don't know if this is a hardware or a software issue. I don't think it is a hardware issue since I am able to get headphones to work some times. Does anyone have any new ideas or guidance? I am debating getting a USB adapter for my headphones, but I am not sure that would solve the problem if it is a software issue.

Thanks for the help in advance!