How come the headphones on my computer work, but not the headphones?

[sskeleton10]

see before the speakers were working fine then a week a go i noticed the speakers wouldnt work. i tested them by pluggling my ipod into the jack and pklugging them into an electric outlet and they worked, i heard music from my ipod.
i plugged the electric outlet, and a jack to the back of my computer, and i cant hear no sound. do i have to reinstall something. please help

 

[PudgyChicken]

The first thing to check is whether or not your volume is actually turned up and not muted. Once you've checked that we can move on to something a little more complicated.

 

[sskeleton10]

The first thing to check is whether or not your volume is actually turned up and not muted. Once you've checked that we can move on to something a little more complicated.

the volume is not muted, a lot of timees when i click volume(as an icon on bottom right), a things pops up and says which of these you want to trouble shoot. when i click speakers, it says that the peripheral does not appear to be plugged in,check the connection,proceed to next step to finish. remember the headphones do work on my computer. as i got this straight, the speakers need to be plugged into the back of the computer and into an electric outlet,right? i tried plugging in a lamp where i plugged into the speaker electric outlet and it was working, so i doubt its the electric outlet problem. i tried plugging it in to all sixjacks on back of computer, and front jack as well, but nothing happened.
i am ready to move on to something more complicated

 

[PudgyChicken]

It seems like you might need to reinstall your audio drivers. In order to do this you need to go to your computer manufacturer's website and find the page for your model of computer. Usually this can be found in the support section. Under downloads you need to select your OS and then download the audio drivers for your device. This will download an installer which you need to run. That should be a fairly straightforward process, after which you will probably need to restart your computer.

As far as audio jacks are concerned, you need to make sure your speakers are plugged into the correct jack, which is usually the pale green one. Most manufacturers put a little animation of a headphone next to the correct jack so that you know you're plugging into the right one.

Hope this helps!