I'm using an Acer desktop with Realtek HD Audio, and going through a frustrating problem. I unplugged the headphone jack to connect it to my Ipod, and the audio has been working just fine. When I unplugged the cable from my Ipod and put it back in the audio jack in the back of the computer, it stopped working. I made sure it's the right jack, checked to make sure the speakers were okay, and tried using other jacks. The volume is up and not on mute, and it still isn't working. I don't understand it.

The operating system is Windows Vista. Aspire desktop.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance :-D

Just to be clear, are you plugging it into the back or the front of the tower? Have you also checked in the Sound preferences to make sure "speakers" is set as the default? You can access the Sound preferences in the control panel.

Are the speakers self powered?