Since installing Ubuntu 12.04 on my Dell Vostro 3750 I have had issues with no sound coming through my headphones.
I thought that I had resolved the issue in a previous blog post but recently the problem has resurfaced. I tired reverting to my original /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output-headphones.conf file but this did not work.
It might have some bearing on the issue that I am dual booting with Windows 7 – but I am not sure that this is necessarily the problem.
When I run alsamixer (from the terminal) my speaker volume becomes muted when I plug in my headphones.
The headphone column state does not change at all.
My first stop when looking at this issue again was the Ubuntu Sound Troubleshooting Page. I looked at a few items after step 9 but I tried evrything up to step 9 to no avail. I mention this as I do not know if these steps impacted the current fix that I am using.
This bug report contains the fix that currently works for me. Open a Terminal and issue the following commands:
sudo nano /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output- headphones.conf
Comment out the following line as shown:
[Jack_InputDevice] #required-any = any
Save the file and then issue this command to restart pulseaudio:
pulseaudio -k
So far I have had no issues with this fix and I have rebooted and plugged and un-plugged my headphones – sound switches between the headphones and speaker just fine again.
Michael Lane's Technology Blog 
Alas, finally a solution that works, thank you very much
man, this fix is sooooo great. i can’t thank you enough for this. works on mint maya 12 64bit too :).
Thank you so much for documenting this. It helped me find the solution for the same headphone jack problem on an XPS 13 model 9360, running Debian (which I’m documenting here, because there’s no obvious place to put it, but Google will find it.)
I ended up changing the file `/usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths` , where I changed the line under ` [Element Headset Mic]` from `switch=mute` to `switch=unmute`.
Glad that this helped, and thanks for documenting your solution Forrest š
Hi, Mike,
What result should I expect from the first command, for, the result I got from executing it left me with no way to type or even copy and paste the second command. And please, what do you mean when you say, “comment out”? “Comment out the following lines as shown. Where, how do I comment them?
It’s a pity there’s no option for attachment here, else I could show you what I am talking about.
Thanks for any help you can render!
The first command opens the /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/paths/analog-output-
headphones.conf file in nano (a basic text editor).
Once the analog-output-headphones.conf file is open in nano I commented out a line. This is done by typing # at the start of the line.
So the line
required-any = any
is changed to
#required-any = any
This disables that command.
To save the file press Ctrl + X. Nano will then ask you if you want to save the file. Press Y to save the file.
pulseaudio -k restarts pulse audio on your computer and allows the change that we made to take effect.
Hi, Mike,
How do I save the file? Is there a command to save the file? is crlt x, shift y, enter
Then type pulseaudio -k after that?