Windows 8.1 Laptop sound not playing through speakers

Question

My Dell Latitude 6520 is facing the following problem: sound will only play through connected headphones; no audio through speakers, once the headphones are disconnected. I have uninstalled and re-installed the sound card driver multiple times with no result. As a side note, this laptop model has been affected by the sensor in the headphones plug; people are reporting this issue, that is, although the headphones are disconnected, the sensor will detect them, disabling playback through the speakers. I gave up until today, once it happened something strange. In a Skype call, audio was playing through the speakers, although the headphone was connected! How could this magic occur? This lead to a few statements: - speakers are not damaged, they work - some configuration in the computer is spoiled, although in the sound properties->playback, the speakers are correctly set as the default playback device.... I wonder how could skype bypass eventually the headphone sensor or why Skype can successfully use the speakers while the system cannot. Any help appreciated

Answer 1

You can try "wiggling" the headphone jack to trick the sensor into think the headphone insert is gone. Depending on your specific build model of Dell Latitude 6520, you can replace just the headphone jack circuit board or worst case, have the entire motherboard replaced.

The link I referenced provides all the troubleshooting steps and ways to confirm if the sensor is the issue. The document is too long to paraphrase here.