[SOLVED] Windows 11 startup sound only plays when headphones are plugged in

[berkologie]

Dear All,

I have a weird problem with my desktop computer. I recently clean installed Windows 11 and everything is up-to-date.
Windows 11 startup sound is only played while headphones are plugged in. Otherwise, I don't hear anything or maybe it's not playing at all.
All settings are done for the startup sound to play but no chance. Has anyone encountered such an issue?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Ralston18]

Right click the small speaker icon usually located in the lower right screen corner.

In the the pop-up menu select Sounds.

In the Sound Window that opens to to the SoundsTab.

Below Program Events is the "Play Windows Startup sound" box selected?

 

[berkologie]

Right click the small speaker icon usually located in the lower right screen corner.

In the the pop-up menu select Sounds.

In the Sound Window that opens to to the SoundsTab.

Below Program Events is the "Play Windows Startup sound" box selected?

Hello Ralston,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, it is currently set enabled.

My problem is that I hear the startup sound through the headphones if they are plugged in. If they are not plugged in, the startup sound does not play (while using monitor speakers).

 

[Colif]

in settings/system/Sound
under advanced, click on More sound settings
is the monitor speakers showing as enabled here?
Are they defaults?

 

[berkologie]

in settings/system/Sound
under advanced, click on More sound settings
is the monitor speakers showing as enabled here?
Are they defaults?

Hello Colif,

Yes, it is enabled and set as default. Kindly see it below.

Screenshot by Lightshot (prnt.sc)

 

[Colif]

I assume display plugged in via hdmi I guess? I assume they work all the other times.

i wish google search was useful, I would pay for one that was just semi intelligent and offered more search options... but I digress. Search results weren't helping.

i wonder if its because the speakers on screen don't turn on until GPU has. it might be a driver thing. I hardly ever hear mine as I don't turn speakers on until after PC, so I only hear it if I turn PC on within 90 minutes of last using speakers, as they turn selves off after that.

Where do you plug headphones in? on PC or monitor?

 

[berkologie]

I assume display plugged in via hdmi I guess? i wonder if its because the speakers on screen don't turn on until GPU has.

It is connected via DisplayPort but I think you may have a point. Because the sound device is named as AMD High Definition Audio Device.
If that's the case, I hear the startup sound through headphones because they are analog (plugged into front panel mic in + speaker out). Could it be? It makes sense.

 

[Colif]

Do you have a choice for anything else on the monitor?

displayport cables can carry sound, but I don't know which of those choices I would pick They all appear the same.

Do you normally hear sound from display?

mine show as hdmi although I am using DP cable. I don't have any speakers on monitor though, so there is that.

Does monitor have speakers? not all do.

 

[berkologie]

Yes, it has great quality speakers which I use daily.

Screenshot by Lightshot (prnt.sc)

 

[Colif]

Okay, so its not the lack of speakers.

Back to thinking its because of startup order. analog works, digital is unknown.

Because the sound device is named as AMD High Definition Audio Device.

that connection used if you send audio over DP or HDMI on Radeon cards and AMD motherboards.

 

[Colif]

The sound output is through my monitor, connected by DisplayPort. If I connect the headphones to the PC, it is perfectly audible, but not through the monitor. Does it have to do with the graphics card or the sound output?

link

found someone else but no clue if they found an answer.

What GPU is it? have you got latest drivers?

 

[berkologie]

Mine is Radeon RX 590 and I have the up-to-date drivers for both chipset and GPU.

I think below is the answer though.

Back to thinking its because of startup order. analog works, digital is unknown.

 

[Colif]

Yeah, but I like to have proof. I know its not just you, as that quote above shows. But its not common enough to have been fixed.

You could leave a bug fix request on the windows 11 feedback app. They won't ever fix it if they don't know about it.

 

[berkologie]

Colif, I found the source of this issue and solution while testing.

It is caused by the login screen. I removed my password, now desktop loads without lock screen (it is displayed, but past automatically) and plays startup sound! 😬

Not sure if it is a bug or something on purpose.

 

[Colif]

i get a start up noise and I use the pin logon method
So it might still be something to do with the order at startup.

glad you worked out a fix though.

I would leave feedback on the app like I suggested. if it is a bug, they can fix it. It doesn't sound intentional to me.