only one wired speaker works on my HP Laptop

[Christine_70]

One of my logitech speakers quit working. It seems like the connection jack is bad. I used to have to wiggle the connection and it worked, but not anymore.

 

[SchizTech]

Does the same thing happen with a different audio source plugged in (a pair of headphones or something)? If it's the internal port that's gone bad the cost and difficulty of a repair can vary depending on the exact model and it's internal layout.

It is however possible to bypass this with a USB sound card. You'd become reliant on a little dongle sticking out of the laptop from a USB port which would give you a working audio jack though.

 

[jay32267]

If you used to have to wiggle it....I would say almost for sure that is where the problem is. You say it's a jack? Like an RCA jack?

If it's a jack...you want to get access to the back of the jack....there's a good chance you will see the problem.

 

[Christine_70]

Does the same thing happen with a different audio source plugged in (a pair of headphones or something)? If it's the internal port that's gone bad the cost and difficulty of a repair can vary depending on the exact model and it's internal layout.

It is however possible to bypass this with a USB sound card. You'd become reliant on a little dongle sticking out of the laptop from a USB port which would give you a working audio jack though.

Thank you for replying.
I'm thinking it is internal because when I plug other speakers in it does the same thing. Is it hard to change the jack? Would I be better off getting a pair of wireless speakers?

 

[Christine_70]

If you used to have to wiggle it....I would say almost for sure that is where the problem is. You say it's a jack? Like an RCA jack?

If it's a jack...you want to get access to the back of the jack....there's a good chance you will see the problem.

Thank you for replying.
It's an internal jack...on the side of the laptop. It's right nest to the microphone jack. I tried other speakers and it does the same thing, so I know it's not them.

 

[SchizTech]

Thank you for replying.
I'm thinking it is internal because when I plug other speakers in it does the same thing. Is it hard to change the jack? Would I be better off getting a pair of wireless speakers?

It's hard to answer the question of how hard it is to replace the jack because how it's connected can vary by laptop. On some systems you'll find it on a "daughter board," a smaller circuit board connected to the main board by a cable or set of pins. In that case, swapping the daughter board is relatively quick and easy. Many others though have the jack directly soldered into the main board.

Yes, there are wireless options. You can certainly use bluetooth speakers if your laptop supports bluetooth internally (most newer models do). Otherwise you can find a speaker set with it's own wireless dongle, or a usb bluetooth dongle shouldn't cost much.

Simply working around the bad jack is probably easier than attempting a repair, whether via a USB sound card or wireless or something else. The quality and reliability of wireless audio should be improving with newer generations of tech though it trails the better wired solutions on both counts. However, if you keep the speakers close by and don't move the laptop a whole lot the reliability question becomes easier to manage and the difference in quality may not be too noticeable depending on how good (and expensive) your wired set is.

 

[Christine_70]

I think I'll be better off buying the wireless speakers. Yes, I do have bluetooth on my laptop. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. Your answer has helped me decide. Thank you very much.

 

[Christine_70]

I just wanted to let you know that I finally decided to go with the dongle. Here's what I ordered:
Kinivo BTD-400 Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy USB Adapter - For Windows 10/8.1/8 / Windows 7 / Vista, Raspberry Pi, Linux

Once again, thank you for helping me.

Thank you for replying.
I'm thinking it is internal because when I plug other speakers in it does the same thing. Is it hard to change the jack? Would I be better off getting a pair of wireless speakers?

It's hard to answer the question of how hard it is to replace the jack because how it's connected can vary by laptop. On some systems you'll find it on a "daughter board," a smaller circuit board connected to the main board by a cable or set of pins. In that case, swapping the daughter board is relatively quick and easy. Many others though have the jack directly soldered into the main board.

Yes, there are wireless options. You can certainly use bluetooth speakers if your laptop supports bluetooth internally (most newer models do). Otherwise you can find a speaker set with it's own wireless dongle, or a usb bluetooth dongle shouldn't cost much.

Simply working around the bad jack is probably easier than attempting a repair, whether via a USB sound card or wireless or something else. The quality and reliability of wireless audio should be improving with newer generations of tech though it trails the better wired solutions on both counts. However, if you keep the speakers close by and don't move the laptop a whole lot the reliability question becomes easier to manage and the difference in quality may not be too noticeable depending on how good (and expensive) your wired set is.