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Microphone jack won't work

Anonymous
2020-07-17T17:42:25+00:00

So I'm currently using an earphone for my pc and I plugged it into the headphone jack to listen. But when I tried plugging another earphone in the mic jack, the pc doesn't pick up any sounds at all, both front and rear audio jacks. I tried going to settings and properties of devices to check the problem but I can't seem to catch it, I also tried downloading realtek driver to see if it makes a difference but it didn't.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-18T01:28:50+00:00

    Apologies Virak, I believe I misunderstood your original question. I thought you were trying to use two sets of headphones, not headphones and a mic.

    There are two types of 3.5mm jacks that headphones will commonly use: Tip-Ring-Sleve (TRS) and Tip-Ring-Ring-Sleve (TRRS.) Here is a picture for reference:

    Does the jack on your headphones look like TRS or TRRS? More than likely it will look like TRRS, as the extra Ring is used for the microphone. This type of jack has to be used with a port that is compatible, which used to be common on cell phones until manufacturers started removing the port on newer devices.

    Your computer will typically only accept TRS jacks and therefore will have separate ports for the headphones and microphone. You can buy a TRRS to TRS adapter on Amazon, just make sure it's 3.5mm on BOTH ends and that it has one port (where you would plug in the head phones) and two jacks (where you would plug into your computer.)

    With a USB headset you would not have any of these issues as it would use a completely separate driver that supports both the headphone and microphone capabilities.

    Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any questions :)

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  1. Pallav Chakraborty 1,360 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-07-17T18:02:19+00:00

    Did you try a different microphone? 

    Go to Settings->Privacy->Microphone and make sure microphone access is turned on.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-18T01:01:58+00:00

    Thank you for the solution, the 3.5mm Headphone Splitter could possibly help me but I was just wondering that my pc already has a mic jack and a headphone jack, both front and rear (4 total), does buying a splitter makes a difference? And another question sir, if I were to happen to have a USB headset, is it usable for both mic and speaker?

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-18T00:29:19+00:00

    I have already checked the settings for that and yes sir, it was turned on.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-17T18:09:12+00:00

    Hello Virak,

    The mic jack cannot be used for headphones, at least not with a stock Realtek driver. Additionally, Windows does not support outputting audio to two devices as the same time. There are third party software that will allow this functionality, however, if your headphones are listed as "Speakers/Headphones" then it's unlikely that those tools will work. If the device is listed that way, the Realtek driver treats both audio jacks as a single device and automatically switches from the Speakers (rear audio jack) to the Headphones (front audio jack.) It will not allow both to be used at the same time. However, you can buy a "3.5mm Headphone Splitter" (they cost about $6 USD on Amazon) that will split the one audio jack into two jacks. I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions :)

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