Did you just get a brand new handset? Want to connect it to your PC to enjoy music and talk to friends online?
Here’s how:
Step 1) Inspect your PC to find the headphone and microphone jacks
Your PC, laptop, or tablet will have headphone/microphone jacks. Your headset has two pieces designed to fit inside these jacks. The headphone jack is colored green while the microphone jack is colored pink. Take a look at your PC and find these jacks. Some desktop PC cases have jacks on the front and back. Most laptops have just one set of jacks on the right or left side of the laptop.
Step 2) Make sure you have 3.5mm jacks
3.5mm is the standard jack size today. However, if you’re using a headset more than a decade or so old, then you may run into compatibility issues. You don’t have to break out the ruler, but make sure your jacks are approximately the right size.
Step 3) Insert your headset’s jacks into the audio ports
Put the green headset jack into the green port and the pink headset jack into the pink port.
Step 4) Test your headphones
First, let’s test your speakers. Open a song, play a YouTube video, or play anything with sound. Adjust the volume dial to make sure you can control the volume up and down.
If you can’t hear anything, double-check to make sure your jack is firmly inside the port. Then, check your PC’s system tray (the section in the bottom right corner of your desktop) and click the ‘audio’ icon to make sure the sound is actually on.
Step 5) Test your microphone
Make sure your microphone is working by opening the Windows Sound Recorder (it’s under Accessories in the Start menu). Run a recording and yell into your microphone. If it doesn’t work, move onto the ‘Troubleshooting’ section.
Troubleshooting
If you’re having trouble getting your headset to work, then try the following process:
-Right-click on the ‘audio’ icon in your system tray (Bottom right corner of your screen). Click on ‘Recording Devices’ and make sure your headset is the default recording device.
-From the same menu, move to the ‘Sounds’ category to make sure your headset is also the default audio playback device.
-Still not working? Make sure your headset isn’t muted or that the volume isn’t all the way down. Test your computer with other speakers to make sure your computer isn’t the problem. In some cases, your computer may have a sound card issue or may not have the audio drivers required to play sounds.
-To isolate the problem further, test your headset on another computer – or an iPod or phone – to make sure they’re working correctly.
-If none of the above problems work, then your best bet is to search Google for others experiencing your problem. You may need to download specific drivers for your headset or you may be using an outdated version of Windows.
