Speakers / Microphone messing up.

Ok.. so basically I have a new problem, just started a few days ago.

Pretty much what happens, is I will be sitting around doing random things on the computer, doesn't have to be anything specific, and then all of the sudden Realtek registers that I have reconnected my speakers.

I get a message like this, as I normally would if I connect my microphone or speakers or anything else audio related:


Now, generally I wouldn't care much about this.. but when this happens, my microphone breaks until I reboot my computer, which pisses me off. No sound will come out of the microphone what so ever, I have tried reconnecting it, restarting applications, trying different speaker-to-computer wires, etc. It's not my microphone either because I've tried different mics.

This is pretty frequent too, it happens like 3-4 times a day, and rebooting that much to get my mic working again every time just pisses me off.

Things to note:

*I am using the built in Mobo sound card

*My speakers are made by Creative.. not sure what model number, but I know they aren't sold anymore and they are a few years old.

*I am on Windows XP Pro with SP2

I have not tried updating sound drivers yet, but I'm not sure that would fix the problem.. this randomly started happening out of no where, I haven't installed or uninstalled anything, just out of the blue.

If anyone has any suggestions or knowledge on this anything helps, thanks. I can try to provide any more information if needed.

Sad to say, it could be a mobo hardware problem. AFAIK the hardware detects the presence or absence of the speakers and/or microphone by whether or not the input circuit is "open" (nothing connected) or has a load on it. If an intermittent hardware fault occurs, such as a bad solder joint or a bad chip/component, the system may detect it as an "open", followed by a load, and thus thinks something has been reconnected.
The fastest way to check would be to replace the motherboard. (Could be caused by voltage fluctuation in the power supply too.)

Try the microphone in the socket at the rear of the PC and see if the problem persists.

Might want to update to SP3. It's been long enough that you should have updated by now.

Might also try updated RealTek drivers.

may sound odd, but do the speakers ever fail? or "pop"? If so, it may be a speaker malfunction, like a loose wire inside the speaker(s) and/or mic.

I've tried the mic port in the back of the computer, that doesn't help at all. I don't get why it messes up my microphone.

The speakers do mess up when I move the sub woofer because I had it pressed up against the wall for so long that it screwed up the connectors to the speakers themselves, but just adjusting them fixes that.

I was suspecting my mobo being a problem here, but I'm really not sure.. I don't have a sound card anymore so I can't try that out, and I don't have any other power supplies lying around to test either.

Soon I will go ahead and update my drivers when I can, I hope it isn't the mobo, cause my Vista 64 bit OEM is tied to it so to speak, and I don't want to waste the 180$ even though I still don't use it, not being able to use it at all would blow.

If the front- or back panel don't make any difference it could also be your microphone connector. If both the front- and back panel do the same, it can't be that can it? There's a high chance it's the connector of your microphone struggling for connection, and it disconnects and then reconnects every now and then causing your RealTek thing to pop up ( I have the same system and I love it ). Try using another mic.

Well it's the speakers doing the reconnect thing, but the microphone get's the consequences of that happening.

I've tried different speaker wires and different microphones so yeah.. think that is ruled out.

Are you sure it's the speakers that are re-connecting? If the microphone re-connects and you tell it it's the speakers, it will re-map the mic input as a speaker output and then the mic won't work.
Your screen cap shows that the system thinks it's the mic input (cause "mic in" is checked)

Yeah, cause I unplugged the microphone to give you guys an example, didn't want to go all the way back to use the speaker plug to do it.

It also happens when the mic isn't plugged in, so I am 100% positive it's my speakers, cause my music also cuts off for like 3 seconds too - in the small time that it is ''reconnecting''.

Well.... that's too bad Looks more & more like mobo problem.

Perhaps this explains why Vista kept getting Video Hardware errors all the time after a while, Rahja said it was a PCI-E X16 lane error, that or the BIOS.

I am leaning towards a mobo problem too.. meh, guess I'll get a new one if that is the case, at least I can get a full ATX one then.

Driver update still pending, will update you once that is done.

I am trying to remember, did you update the BIOs on ths MB trying to get Vista to work? If it is, have you reinstalled the drivers since then?

Edit: duplicat post due to slow response.

Well if something is causing your mic to stop working completely i doubt its just a poor contact since that wouldnt require a re-boot to fix.

Is there anything in your Event Viewer about services crashing?

Also i had that control panel with my onboard sound and it gave me endless problems with mic boosts but i just compeltely removed all drivers and installed some default AC97 drivers without the bundle of crap that my motherboard CD insisted on and ive had no problems since.