Headphones not detected on windows 8.1

Hello,

I am kind of a noob, so bear with me. I just recently bought an asus laptop with windows 8.1, and ever since I started using it, I am not able to use my headphones on it. Here are some of the things I tried doing:

1) using different headphones/earphones, some with two stripes, some with three.
2) checked my playback devices, that didn't display my headphones.
3) updating the driver for the speakers from playback devices-speakers-details-driver details. They are all up to date. Also, I installed all of the windows update I found, still, nothing changed.
4) checking if my headphones show up on control panel, manage devices, audio inputs and outputs AND sound, video and game controllers. I did this because someone suggested on a different page to uninstall the driver for my device, and restarting my computer. But the device isn't even listed.
5) playing audio with the headphones not plugged in, then plugging them in to check if audio is diverted.
6) asking help from windows support, and letting one of their techs remotely access my computer and see what was wrong. They just did what I had done earlier, said that my problem was complex and asked me to pay for "advanced tools" that "guarantee a fix". However, I am not prepared to pay anything just yet.
7) This is the only "interesting" observation I made. When checking out the driver the speakers, one of the options, besides checking for updates, was "roll back driver" This didn't solve the problem, but it did display a grey icon for my headphones that said they were enabled, but not plugged in, although they were. I tried next to see if my headphones were listed under manage devices in the control panel, but they weren't. After that, I re updated my driver, and that didn't fix the problem.

None of the methods I tried above worked.

However, I would like to ask if I should try uninstalling the driver from my computer, then restarting it? I don't want to end up with a bigger problem where my speakers won't even work. Also, somebody suggested on a different page to turn off my computer, remove the battery and press the on button for a while to "release static" or something of the sort. But I don't even know how to start removing my battery.

PLEASE PLEASE somebody help meee. I ran out of options. And I am not ready to face the possibility that this might be a hardware problem. I don't even know what I would have to do about it.

Thanks in advance.
If you would like me to answer any questions that you think will help you solve this issue, please make it simple, as I am not an advanced user.