How to fix sound problems on a laptop?

Question

Headphones

The problem is in the quality of the connection (microphone) that my interlocutors listen to. The sound is interrupted completely, or the volume level jumps.
I can hear everyone perfectly. Add. Information: a 3.5 mm combo port (headphones + microphone) on a laptop, I stick into it by default. I tried different headsets, headphones + built-in microphone, different applications for communication (Discord, Steam voice chat), tried to change application settings (AGC, noise reduction, etc.), settings for input devices in Windows, updated audio drivers, nothing changes dramatically ...
BUT as soon as you connect the headset via USB - voila, everything works perfectly. And on the default settings.
I don't even know what to look for. It seems to me that the hardware problem of the 3.5mm port itself.

Answer 1

Most likely, you are right and the problem is really in the hardware of the 3.5 mm port. The fact is that there are two standards for a combo plug:

They differ only in the order of the 3rd and 4th contacts, and if your device does not have the same standard, then the microphone will either not receive power at all, or will be powered through the headphones. The Chinese even produce earplugs for smartphones, on the microphone suspension of which there is a standards switch that changes the order in which these contacts are connected. With it, you can choose the option in which the sound in the headphones and from the microphone is the most correct.
First, try to figure out which option of these two is used in your laptop. And then you can make an adapter that solves this problem. Or order it from the Chinese (it is shown below in the picture).