[SOLVED] Earbuds only working when plugged in for the first time

MechaManDan

Distinguished
Jun 12, 2015
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Excuse the weird title, it's hard to really describe what's going on without explaining the whole thing. Also I wasn't sure if this should go in Computer Peripherals or Consumer Electronics so if I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong forum. If a mod wants to move/delete this post that's totally fine.

When I plug my earbuds in for the first time, the sound is a little weird (a little tin-y) but they work. When I unplug them and plug them back in a second time, the stop working completely. When I plug them in from the 2nd time onward, my computer doesn't even detect that I put anything in. And they don't start working again unless I restart my computer, which then it would again only work once and sound weird. I think it's a driver issue, but I've been looking all over the place and can find nothing that can help it. I know the earbuds work fine because I've tested them in other things, it's JUST my computer that this happens to. And I was using the same model before on the same computer without issues so I really have no idea. So I was wondering if any of you had any idea what I could do because I really don't want to be restarting my computer whenever I want to use my earbuds haha.

My computer is a Lenovo Y520 and the earbuds I'm using are Panasonic RP-TCM125.
 
Solution
There could be a chance the metal on the jack is not giving a good connection, which would mean new headphones are required. Do you have this "tin-y" effect in any other devices you may use the headphones on?

The detection comes from the software and hardware of the laptop itself and I don't believe it would be coming from the laptop. I believe your issue is with the headphones themselves hardware wise. However, there could be a chance that you need updates to your audio drivers if the headphones don't do it on other devices too though.
There could be a chance the metal on the jack is not giving a good connection, which would mean new headphones are required. Do you have this "tin-y" effect in any other devices you may use the headphones on?

The detection comes from the software and hardware of the laptop itself and I don't believe it would be coming from the laptop. I believe your issue is with the headphones themselves hardware wise. However, there could be a chance that you need updates to your audio drivers if the headphones don't do it on other devices too though.
 
Solution
There could be a chance the metal on the jack is not giving a good connection, which would mean new headphones are required. Do you have this "tin-y" effect in any other devices you may use the headphones on?

The detection comes from the software and hardware of the laptop itself and I don't believe it would be coming from the laptop. I believe your issue is with the headphones themselves hardware wise. However, there could be a chance that you need updates to your audio drivers if the headphones don't do it on other devices too though.
The headphones work totally fine on my phone which is the only other thing I can really test them on, so I don't think it's the headphones themselves. I'll use them on something else I can find to be sure though.
 
Yeah, that whole auto detection feature some computers have was always something I thought to be faulty. If they still work on another device I would see if there's a way to bypass or disable those features that try and auto detect whats being plugged in headphone wise just as a temporary solution to get them working again. Aside from that i'm lost myself on what it could be.