Problem with Volume

LukinFan

Okay, all of a sudden yesterday my computer started acting a little screwy. I go to play a song and I can only hear it for the first few seconds- if even that- and only out of only one speaker. It does this on Windows Media player and itunes.

I've already checked the back of the computer and everything is plugged in correctly. Anyone ever have this happen to them before?

melva02

I know you're smarter than this, but did you also check that your soundcard settings aren't turned down?

Here's how I would start troubleshooting:

check soundcard output by plugging in headphones or a different set of speakers (also gives an idea whether speakers are bad)

check possible software problems...are youtube videos and other browser sounds quiet too?

check possible settings problems...if you plug into the headphone jack on the cd drive, is that quiet?

Melissa

Edit:
OK I just reread and caught that it's not just quiet, it cuts out. So the headphones in the soundcard thing is unlikely to help. What about the others? Browser sound, soundcard settings, cd drive?

LukinFan

melva02 wrote:

I know you're smarter than this, but did you also check that your soundcard settings aren't turned down?

Here's how I would start troubleshooting:

check soundcard output by plugging in headphones or a different set of speakers (also gives an idea whether speakers are bad)

check possible software problems...are youtube videos and other browser sounds quiet too?

check possible settings problems...if you plug into the headphone jack on the cd drive, is that quiet?

Melissa

Edit:
OK I just reread and caught that it's not just quiet, it cuts out. So the headphones in the soundcard thing is unlikely to help. What about the others? Browser sound, soundcard settings, cd drive?

Hey Melissa, thanks for the response. Yeah, it's really weird, I didn't mess with anything yesterday, it just started happening. And my computer seems like it's taking longer to start up too.

And yeah, it's everything to do with sound- videos on youtube play fine, but the sound does the same thing- it plays for a few seconds, sometimes up to about 30 seconds and then the sound cuts out. It even crackles a little bit before it cuts out. It even does this as the sound of Windows is starting up.

I only know how to do the basics on the computer- how do I check the Browser sound, soundcard settings, and cd drive as you suggested. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

thanks!

melva02

Hey. Here's what I would do, then I'd consider the results of these tests while trying to figure it out.

1. See whether the soundcard (jack at the back of the computer) sounds good with headphones. Just follow the speaker wire to the back of the computer, unplug it, and plug headphones into the same jack. What does it sound like through the headphones?

How old is this computer? Is the speaker jack on the back in a place with a bunch of other plugs, like the power plug and some USB ports? (That means it's on the motherboard, built into the computer.) Or is it down at the other end where there are metal slots and some of them have plugs in them? (That means it's in a PCI or other expansion slot and easy to replace.)

2. You already checked the sound from the browser by playing a youtube video, and found that the problem is systemic, not confined to one program. In my opinion this is probably easier to fix. To check the soundcard settings, you need to get into its program. Is there an icon near the clock that looks like a speaker or anything similar? Double-click on that to get to the volume control. Make sure everything is set to a good level and not muted, except you DO want the microphone muted. You might need to click Options > Properties to get all the different volume controls to show up.

Then try Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio. What shows up will vary based on your sound card, but just look through all the settings and make sure nothing looks weird. For example, mine has a tab called Audio on which it tells which playback device (soundcard) to use for different things. If the default device for playback doesn't show the name of your soundcard (i.e. the name that's in all the other boxes - or check the dropdown to see if there's more than one choice), that could be it.

Also, on mine there's a speaker settings area with an advanced button. If you have that, click it, and try turning down the hardware acceleration and sample rate conversion quality. If your computer is starting to fail, it might not have enough processing power to handle the usual audio settings.

Whatever your audio controls look like, just click through every tab and button to see if you're missing anything.

3. To check your cd drive, put a cd in it and let it play in whatever software you have (iTunes, winamp, Windows Media Player, etc). Make sure it is playing the cd, not just playing the files if they're already on your hard drive (iTunes might try to pull something like this). Plug headphones into the jack on the front panel of the cd drive and see what it sounds like from there.

If you report back on this stuff maybe we can narrow it down. Also, what kind of computer is this? It should have a model number on it somewhere, or you can go to the manufacturer's website and type in the serial number (product id, whatever) to find out.

Have you switched to a new version of iTunes in the past few weeks? It seems to get more resource-intensive with every release. Just when you think your computer's fast enough, they add more "features".

The last thing you might try is googling <test real clock speed> and comparing it to the clock speed your computer claims when you start it up (you might need to press F2 or F10 or something to see the detailed startup screens). I don't know how to do that off the top of my head.

Melissa

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Could be the cable itself, or cold solder on the amp's circuit board inside the speakers.

Sounds like a voltage issue to me rather than software.

LukinFan

cool- thanks everyone. I'll give this a shot when I get home tonight.

mini_tb

LukinFan wrote:

Okay, all of a sudden yesterday my computer started acting a little screwy. I go to play a song and I can only hear it for the first few seconds- if even that- and only out of only one speaker. It does this on Windows Media player and itunes.

I've already checked the back of the computer and everything is plugged in correctly. Anyone ever have this happen to them before?

This sounds similar to a problem my dad's computer had a year or 2 ago. It would have perfectly fine audio for some stuff and then absolutely no audio for some stuff, and just about everything in between - cutting in and out, horribly muffled sound, etc... It was usually no audio or crappy audio.

The old man is quite computer illiterate, and he was able to fix it himself with a little help from Dell. If none of the stuff mentioned before works, let me know, and I will ask my dad what the heck he did to fix his computer.

TheDecline13

its either the sound card or the speakers.

thats my bet

LukinFan

ledvedder77 wrote:

The old man is quite computer illiterate, and he was able to fix it himself with a little help from Dell. If none of the stuff mentioned before works, let me know, and I will ask my dad what the heck he did to fix his computer.

Cool, thanks. I'll get back to you probably tonight when I get home from work.

TheDecline13 wrote:

its either the sound card or the speakers.

thats my bet

It's not the speakers, I've tested them out on another computer and they work fine :( My computer-tech friend came over last night and played around with it and he also thinks that I need a new soundcard. I'm gonna try what Melissa wrote first and pray that something works

LukinFan

it turns out that I needed a new soundcard. My buddy got me one for like $15 and it works great now! Thanks again to everyone for their help!!!!