my wired earphones wont play audio and im on the verge of throwing it how do i fix it

Question

my wired earphones wont play audio and im on the verge of throwing it how do i fix it

Al-Wajdeen Hassan 0

im on windows 11 i keep plugging it in and out even treid to click that button it never works

John Jefferson Doyon 86,980 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-20T05:24:59.54+00:00
Hi, @Al-Wajdeen Hassan

Can you tell me a little more about the issue?

Are these 3.5 mm wired earphones or USB earphones?

When you plug them in, do they appear under Settings > System > Sound > Output?

What button did you try clicking, and do the earphones work normally on another device?

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Thanks!

1 answer

Your answer

John Jefferson Doyon 86,980 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-20T05:24:59.54+00:00

Hi, @Al-Wajdeen Hassan

Can you tell me a little more about the issue?

Are these 3.5 mm wired earphones or USB earphones?

When you plug them in, do they appear under Settings > System > Sound > Output?

What button did you try clicking, and do the earphones work normally on another device?

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Try these steps in order on Windows 11:

Check the output device first.
- Select the speaker icon on the taskbar.
- Select the arrow next to the volume slider.
- Make sure sound is going to the correct device, such as the wired headphones and not another speaker, monitor, or Bluetooth device.
Set the headphones as the default playback device.
- Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound.
- Under Output, select the wired headphones.
- If needed, open More sound settings > Playback, right-click the headphones, and select Set as default.
Make sure volume and hardware are OK.
- Check that sound is not muted.
- Turn up the Windows volume and any volume control on the headset or app.
- Check the headphone plug and cable connection.
- If available, try a different USB port.
- Unplug any other headphones or audio devices.
Turn off audio enhancements.
- Go to Start > Settings > System > Sound.
- Select the audio device being used.
- Under Advanced settings, set Audio enhancements to Off.
Run the Windows audio troubleshooter.
- Go to Start > Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters.
- In Audio, select Run.
- On Windows 11, the Get Help audio troubleshooter can also run diagnostics automatically: Run the troubleshooter in Get Help
Reinstall the audio driver.
- Open Device Manager.
- Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
- Right-click the sound device and select Uninstall device.
- If shown, select Attempt to remove the driver for this device.
- Restart the PC.
- Windows should reinstall the driver automatically.
- Save open work before restarting.
If reinstalling does not help, update the driver.
- In Device Manager, right-click the sound device.
- Select Update driver > Search automatically for drivers.
- If Windows does not find one, install the latest audio driver from the PC or sound device manufacturer, then restart.
If the headphones still do not appear at all:
- Open Device Manager.
- Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
- If the audio device is missing, select View > Show hidden devices and Action > Scan for hardware changes.

If the headphones work on other devices but still do not play audio after these steps, the issue is likely with the Windows audio driver or the PC audio hardware path.