So I've been having issues ever since I got this laptop 2 years ago with the headphone jack. Every once in a while I'll try updating drivers which don't seem to work, try downloading older drivers to see if they work, but nothing ever fixes it.

A couple issues happen. For one, the computer does not detect headphones when it is plugged in and will refuse to play volume into them. The other happens when I plug in a headset with a microphone. It does recognize it as a pair of headphones but will not play audio out, so I can only use it as a microphone. Lastly- when I do have a microphone plugged in, I have the worst feedback ever. Anytime the HDD fires up (which is most of the time on this laptop) the sound of the HDD is somehow translated into my microphone so that whoever is on the receiving end can always hear my HDD and it is usually louder than my actual audio.

HELP ME! I've tried everything I know to do.