Earplugs in laptop

I am having the same issues as Dean regarding my ear plugs not being recognized in my laptop. I have followed the instructions that you gave him but I do not have Realtek HD audio manager as an option in my hardware and sound tab in control panel. Sometimes if I unplug them and plug them back in they are recognized but only for a short period of time. Now if I go to choose them as an options they are not even listed. Any help you can give to straighten me out here would be greatly appreciated!