I feel like this question has been asked a million times as I see a number of threads dating back to at least 2010 discussing this type of problem, but nothing I have found so far seems to help. I have a HP Pavilion g6-2392nr laptop running Windows 8.1, and Lubuntu 13.10. I have no sound problems in Lubunu, I can use my headset, both mic and headphones, and everything is absolutely perfect. However, when I am in Windows I am unable to use headphones or a headset. I can see that Windows detects when the device is plugged in, as in Playback Device I can see the status of the "Communication Headphones" change from Ready to Default Communications Device when I plug them in. When I try to test them I can see the indicator showing that it is generating sound but I hear nothing. I have tried this with 3 different headsets and headphones and none of them work (and all work just peachy under linux).
I have tried removing the IDT audio driver, but when I restart it is reinstalled and does not work. I have tried removing it and updating it with the version on the HP website, but this does not work either. I have even tried a newer release of the IDT audio driver for emerging markets, as it was released about a year after the current version recommended for my laptop but it also does not fix the problem. Some have suggested this might be a hardware problem but as it works in linux I cannot see this being the case.
Has anyone run across another suggestion for fixing this problem? It seems to be so extremely common that it is difficult to read all of the proposed solutions.
Added info: I should also mention that the internal mic works fine, as do the speakers and HDMI sound output. It is just headphones and headsets that are a problem.
