Using HDMI port mutes audio to headphone/speaker output

I seem to have the same problem. My laptop also a inspiron 15r is hooked to a monitor through what I believe is an hdmi cable. I have tried using two different types of headphones and the sound still comes through the laptop speakers instead of the headphones. The answer posted to your question makes no sense to me. Did you resolve the problem and how did you do it?

I seem to have the same problem.

the sound still comes through the laptop speakers instead of the headphones.

Hello. If the sound is coming through your laptop speakers then you don't have the same problem. The original poster's problem was that  when he connected his laptop to his monitor via HDMI, there was no sound through the laptop's speakers..

The answer posted to your question makes no sense to me.

Elijah O's answer was to select some device other than HDMI to be the default playback device, so that audio would no longer be routed to the HDMI port. That was the correct answer. The original poster had an Inspiron 15R SE 7520. That model has Conexant audio, so the Playback devices would look like this:

If the original poster had right-clicked on "Speakers" and made it the default audio device, then the audio signal would have been routed to the laptop's speakers and the problem fixed.

the sound still comes through the laptop speakers instead of the headphones.

My laptop also a inspiron 15r

What is your operating system and the exact model of your laptop? The 15R's are:

Inspiron 5520, 5521, 5537, N5110, and SE 7520.

If yours is an Inspiron 5521, the current Realtek audio driver has a bug that affects the headphone jack. On that model you have to use an older version of the Realtek driver or else the headphone jack won't work.

Let me see if I get this straight......the sound comes out of the TV when you are using the HDMI cable.  Now, you disconnect the HDMI cable and there is 0 sound coming from laptop speakers or headphones?  If this is what is happening, I had the same exact problem.  In my situation, there was a Windows and a Dell driver fighting each other.  Go into Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and uninstall IDT audio or look in the device manager and delete the IDT audio Driver.  I took my computer in to a repair shop and they couldn't figure this out in 1 weeks time.  A friend of mine looked at it for 10 minutes and fixed it.  Hope this helps.

Let me see if I get this straight......the sound comes out of the TV when you are using the HDMI cable.  Now, you disconnect the HDMI cable and there is 0 sound coming from laptop speakers or headphones?

Hello. There seems to be some confusion in this thread, with each person talking about a different issue. Neither of the earlier posters wrote that they had no audio when the HDMI cable was dis-connected.

omegatx wrote that he or she could not get audio through the laptop's speakers while HDMI was connected ("...hooked via HDMI to an HD monitor...").

lattexpress wrote that his or her laptop "is hooked to a monitor through what I believe is an d\hdmi cable". He or she wrote that it is "the same problem" as omegatx, but then described different symptoms. However lattexpress did not say "0 sound". He or she wrote that "...the sound still comes through the laptop speakers instead of the headphones".

Thanks heaps

Hi Elijah, well, some good and bad news...  In my case, I was also trying to stop the laptop (XPS 15) from muting the sound out of its speakers / headphone port when I plugged in an HDMI cable (the TV I'm going to connect it to is so old, it doesn't have an HDMI input, so I use an HDMI to DVI cable with it, and need the sound separately fed into the TV).

Your suggestion to go into Control Panel / Sounds was perfect.  I was testing this with another TV that does have an HDMI input, and when I went there, I could see under Playback tab, two sound sources:  Speakers and "Panasonic TV".  So I went into the TV's properties there, and disabled it, and voila!  I got sound back thru the speakers.  So I figured, great, now I've figured it out.

But then I wanted to go back and enable the TV's speakers again, and can't figure out how!  They don't even show anymore in the Playback tab.

Any tips?  When the HDMI cable is plugged in, and I go to Devices, I see the TV as a PnP Generic Monitor (its driver).  Should I uninstall that and reinstall it?  I don't have any other ideas...  If I should do so, where do I find it?  Or is it that after uninstall, when I plug the HDMI cable, it will automatically go out and search the driver and find it?

I tried to Update it also.  When I clicked Update on the driver, it says Microsoft has determined it's the latest one.

Rebooting the laptop didn't help of course...

Hot diggity!  Found out how finally...  Wow.  Typical Windows setup where nothing is intuitive!

I had to right click in the Playback box, and I saw Show Disconnected Devices was checked off, but not Show Disabled Devices.  When I checked that too, then surprise, the TV showed up again, and I went into its properties and Enabled it.

Phew!

Hi ,

Thx buddy...it's really working...

when I plug in the extra monitor with the laptop all sound goes off, when I got in and disable the extra monitor as a sound device the sound comes back on  through the laptop speakers, but even when I make the speakers the default device, the sound still comes from the laptop, I cannot get my speakers to work

the sound comes back on  through the laptop speakers.... I cannot get my speakers to work

If the sound is coming through the speakers, what do you mean when you say that you can't get the speakers to work?

I am having similar issues with my Dell Inspiron 15R.

Issue:

I am getting sound only from the laptops' built in speakers.  I can get no sound from my external Creative speakers and I can not get my Bose Bluetooth speaker to play even though the computer says the Bose is connected.

1)  I have two homes and take my laptop back and forth.  Everything was working properly with the Bose at one home. I do not not have a HDMI monitor there and the Bose is my only external speaker.

2)  Now I am at my second home where I have Creative external speakers that I have connected to the laptop BUT this setup has the HDMI monitor.  The Creative speakers will not play (I know they are working because they play using my iphone) and the sound only comes from the laptops internal speakers.  I can not get my Bose Bluetooth speaker to play even though the computer says the Bose is connected.

I read through all the information on this forum and tried all the suggestions as well as running the Dell diagnostic program.  Diagnostics said the computer is broken and needs to be repaired????

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm a little late to this party, but I recognize the problem and I do have a solution.

I bought a Dell laptop and found that when I plug the into an HDMI monitor or television, the headphone jack goes dead.

I discovered that the HDMI port was set as the Default Windows sound device.

I changed it to make the headphone jack the Default sound device.

Now the sound comes out of the monitor/TV until I plug in the headphones or external speaker.  Then the sound comes out of the headphones or speaker.

To do this in Windows 10:

    Go to the Control Panel.

    Select:   Hardware and Sound

    Select:   Manage audio devices

    Select:   Speakers / Headphones

      Click:    Set Default

      Click:     OK

To do this in Windows 10:

Hello NeilFro.

This is one of the most confusing threads ever. The question the original poster asked was correctly answered by Elijah O in 2013, so I have marked his post as the "Verified Answer".

Since 2013, various people have used this thread to raise other issues which makes it very confusing to sort out. I wish  I could delete all posts in the thread except the original post, the answer given by Elijah O, and your post.

Although the path you give to get to the playback devices would not have worked for the original poster, it should be helpful for people who are using the Windows 10 operating system. Thanks for posting.