RealTek Connector Retasking Greyed Out?

[bingbongbangbung]

Yes I have the shitty RealTek audio drivers, but my laptop has the speakers and 3.5mm jack sharing the same path to the sound card.

Their console is the only one afaik that lets me change that path so the sound won't go through both the speakers and headphones.

Today, it's randomly greying out even with the headphones plugged in. The only solution I know so far is to restart Windows, literally nothing else works for me. It happened twice today, earlier in the afternoon (Eastern time) and once just a few minutes ago.

Any ideas on how to solve this without restarting Windows?

Updates

+1 y

Seems that if I plug in my headphones into my laptop before waking it up from sleep, the problem goes away wtf. My specs for my PC are i5 9300H 4C/8T 2.4GHZ (4.1 Boost), GTX 1050 3GB GDDR5 1.4GHZ, 16GB DDR4 RAM 2666MHZ, 500GB SSD (2.5" M.2 SATA), Windows 10 Home x64 21H2, DirectX12 Vulkan V1.2, and MaxxWave Audio. Yes I know my entry level gaming laptop from 3 years ago is potato now, but I don't care cause it was cheap and better than my toaster Lenovo IdeaPad.

[SaoirseS]

Did you try updating or reinstalling the Realtek driver?

[bingbongbangbung]

I tried but I can't find any newer RealTek drivers anywhere online lol. And reinstalling the drivers is only a temporary workaround.

[SaoirseS]

I had a similar problem with a HP computer. I went to support on the HP website, typed in the exact model and pulled up all the available driver downloads. That’s where I found up to date Realtek audio drivers. My geek husband suggested I update the BIOS before downloading and installing the updated audio driver. Whatever wizardly is involved, it worked and I haven’t had the issue since.

[SaoirseS]

I don’t know if these options will help or will address the issue, but I found this

www.tenforums.com/.../...er-needed-your-audio.html

If none of it works, I’m fresh out of ideas. Good luck!

[bingbongbangbung]

You should NEVER update the BIOS unless as an absolute last resort since it can potentially brick your entire computer. The BIOS isn't something to be taken lightly like a simple driver update - it controls your motherboard which in turn controls everything else. My laptop is from Acer and last I checked, they do not have newer drivers for RealTek.

[SaoirseS]

Oh I know all about risks with flashing a BIOS and I agree, in most cases it’s one of those if it ain’t broke then leave it alone things. Once in a while a BIOS update or re-flash is the only solution. Just have backup power because with laptops, if there’s a power interruption while flashing, the computer becomes a paperweight. Wish I had other suggestions. Sorry.