LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - General
User Name
Password
Linux - General This Linux forum is for general Linux questions and discussion.
If it is Linux Related and doesn't seem to fit in any other forum then this is the place.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 05-03-2015, 03:19 PM   #1
gregorian
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2006
Posts: 509

Rep: Reputation: 34
I'm unable to hear sounds on right side of headphone jack


I'm running Arch + Gnome.

Using Speaker testing in GNOME, I was able to find out the following:
  1. Left laptop speaker and right laptop speaker work.
  2. Left earphone works. Right earphone does not.
  3. The earphones work properly on other devices (phone).

How do I know if this is a hardware issue with my jack, or if there's some software problem? Thank you!
 
Old 05-03-2015, 03:30 PM   #2
metaschima
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2013
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 1,982

Rep: Reputation: 492Reputation: 492Reputation: 492Reputation: 492Reputation: 492
It is very likely to be the jack. Make sure to plug them in all the way. Also check the volumes and make sure the volume one one side is not turned all the way down.
 
Old 05-03-2015, 08:05 PM   #3
gregorian
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2006
Posts: 509

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 34
I've done both of these. Does this mean that I can never use this jack for audio again?
 
Old 05-03-2015, 08:14 PM   #4
metaschima
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2013
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 1,982

Rep: Reputation: 492Reputation: 492Reputation: 492Reputation: 492Reputation: 492
Yeah it could be the female part of the jack that is broken, I mean if the male part works on other systems.
 
Old 05-03-2015, 08:54 PM   #5
frankbell
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,272
Blog Entries: 28

Rep: Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124Reputation: 6124
Boot to a Live CD of something (Mint would be a good choice). If the headphone port doesn't work properly under that, it's almost certainly a hardware problem.

Is this laptop or a desktop? If it's a desktop, replacing the port should be a simple matter.
 
Old 05-04-2015, 07:53 AM   #6
maples
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2013
Location: IN, USA
Distribution: Arch, Debian Jessie
Posts: 814

Rep: Reputation: 265Reputation: 265Reputation: 265
Open up alsamixer in a terminal, and find the slider for the headphones. Look at the bottom of the bar where there are two letters side-by-side. If it looks like "OM" then use the arrow keys to select that slider and press the period key. It should then change to "OO".

If that is not the case, then it's likely a broken headphone jack on the laptop. If you're brave and wouldn't mind seriously messing up what's left of the headphone jack you could take it apart and see if there's any obvious broken connections (especially the solder points between the headphone jack and the motherboard) you could try to fix it yourself.

Hope this helps!
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 05-04-2015, 10:34 PM   #7
gregorian
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2006
Posts: 509

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 34
The suggestion of using alsamixer helped! I don't know why, but one of the channels was nearly zero. I have no idea what caused this since I didn't see the setting anywhere in Gnome (the balance was proper), and I was able to fix it only after installing alsa-utils (for alsamixer).
 
Old 05-05-2015, 11:28 AM   #8
dugan
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Canada
Distribution: distro hopper
Posts: 11,200

Rep: Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307
I can see now that it wasn't this, but using canned air to clean out the headphone jack very often resolves problems like this.
 
  


Reply

Tags
arch, gnome, sound


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Unable to hear sound using USB Headphone in Ubuntu 12.04 t.mraman Linux - Newbie 3 08-17-2012 10:55 AM
headphone jack problem puneet singh Linux - Laptop and Netbook 1 01-18-2011 08:34 AM
I cant get my headphone jack to work top-power Ubuntu 3 04-14-2007 12:59 AM
No sound on headphone jack kiaraho Linux - Hardware 3 02-16-2007 05:04 PM
i am unable to hear sounds from my desktop speakers. linux2cool Linux - Newbie 1 02-15-2001 03:34 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - General

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:07 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration