# How to MUTE laptop speakers, but NOT headphones



## Zach Sawyer (Feb 9, 2008)

THE QUESTION:
- How do I mute the laptop speakers while still getting sound out of my headphones? So even if I pull my headphones out, still no sound comes out of the speakers.

FOLLOW UP:
- As a laptop user, you know that most of the time we work in quite areas such as libraries. When you accidentally pull the headphones jack out, your music blasts causing a lot of unnecessary disturbance.

TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Dell Inspiron 5150, Windows XP, SigmaTel Audio C-Major.

IS IT POSSIBLE:
- YES. It was for the past 3 years until a few days a go. I say this because I used to achieve this by checking the 1 PC spk Mute checkbox under ADVANCED in the Volume Control panel. I recently had to reinstall the SigmaTel driver and now when I check the 1 PC spk Mute checkbox, It mutes EVERYTHING including the headphones.

WHAT I'VE TRIED:
- Rolling back SigmaTel driver: not possible since the original was uninstalled.
- Installing the SigmaTel driver from the dell website
- Installing the SigmaTel driver from the drivers CD
- Searching the net. Most results suggested checking the PC spk Mute checkbox, but as mentioned earlier, now it mutes my headphones as well.


Any suggestions are welcome and very much appreciated. Thank you.

Zach

PS: I accidentally posted this in the Windows/NT/XP section so I apologize for reposting.


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

Have you tried the keyboard shortcut as listed in the Inspiron 5150 Owner's manual? Don't have any other suggestions beyond that.


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## Zach Sawyer (Feb 9, 2008)

cwwozniak said:


> Have you tried the keyboard shortcut as listed in the Inspiron 5150 Owner's manual? Don't have any other suggestions beyond that.


I wish it was that simple. Thanks for the insight.

Does the 1PC Spk Mute checkbox mute both the speakers and headphones of your dell notebook, or only the speakers? Go ahead try it. It is under the Advanced button underneath Volume Control in the volume control panel.


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

Zach Sawyer said:


> of your dell notebook,


Have a number of Dell Desktops at work but no Dell Notebooks at work or home. I found the Inspiron 5150 Owner's manual as a PDF file on the Dell web site. I had noticed that you did not have any replies to your original post after 6 hours and was also curious if it was actually possible to mute the internal speakers while keeping the headphone jack active.


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## Zach Sawyer (Feb 9, 2008)

Well,  No luck so far. I find it a bit strange that this problem is not more common and talked about. It is very annoying!


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