HP Laptop speakers don't work when docked !! HELP PLEASE

1

My HP laptop speakers work fine until I dock the laptop, then they don’t work. I am on WIndows 7 and have no other speakers attached to the dock. Does anyone know how to fix this?

On a side note…
While the laptop is undocked, I play an MP3 and as the music is playing, I dock the laptop. The sound still works. But once the laptop is rebooted while in the dock, there is no sound again. So I know it’s the OS or the dock doing something to override the laptop speakers when docked.

Under Control Panel > Sound, this is what I see:

  • Speakers (default)
  • Headphones (Not plugged in)
2

Hi tuan,

Thanks for posting here! By default, Windows 7 makes a new USB audio device the default — even if it doesn’t have any speakers attached! So if speakers are plugged into the dock you will definitely hear the audio. But if you do not have speakers, we can get the audio to play through the Laptop speakers by making it the default playback device. Here is how to configure the settings on Windows 7-:

  1. Click on Start>Control panel and select ‘Hardware and Sound’

  2. Click on ‘Sound’. This will bring up the list of available audio devices, one of which should be your USB audio device. You should be seeing something like this-:

!](https://sslproxy.getsatisfaction.com/sslproxy/SWhAdDNLMG5zdGFuVGlWenar5LbrtG5uQdJhvnMZ-SujIWTcSz2OAdpzYOSIMvO58sXbuh96upLPYRVNeksVgioLg1tGp7ShriPRHFje784i5EEdQpKQU4ft464qpoTtQXNAWAtFv7e9z6hGorZLKQ==.png)](http://plugable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/win7-sound-control-panel-default.png)

  1. This is the place where, if you’re not actually using your USB or docking station audio, you can select a different audio output (e.g. your laptop’s built-in audio) and click “Set Default” to make it the default for sound output. Windows will persist this setting.

Once you change the default audio output device to the laptop speakers, all sound will be coming through it instead of going to the Docking Station’s Audio ports.

If you need any additional information, just let us know.

Regards,
Roze

3

Hi Roze,
This solution does not apply to my problem. Please read my problem thoroughly. I DO NOT have a external USB speaker attached, therefore your solution doesn’t apply to my situation.

4

tuan,

The Plugable Docking Station UD-160-A has USB audio ports which Windows detects and makes the default device even when no speakers are plugged in to the audio ports on the Dock.

If you plug in headphones into the audio port of the Plugable Docking Station UD-160-A when you have docked, you should hear the audio.

You would have to set the laptop speakers as the default audio playback device when the Plugable Docking Station UD-160-A is plugged in, if you want audio to keep playing through your laptop speaker when it is docked.

Could you please try it out and see if it fixes the issue?

Regards,
Roze

5

Thanks Roze!! That worked!

6

tuan,

Glad to know that the issue is resolved and you got the audio playing through the laptop speakers. :slight_smile:

Please do feel free to post back here or shoot us an email at support@plugable.com if you ever need any help or information regarding any of our products. We are here to help!

Regards,
Roze