Laptop w/ESS Allegro Audio - No sound through external speakers

[C. Stahl]

Would appreciate any sage advice concerning a problem I'm having
connecting *external* speakers to my Gateway 400SD laptop, running
WinXP Home. Sound card is ESS Allegro PCI (WDM).

All sound works fine through unit's built-in speakers: mp3s, system
sounds, CDs, etc. all work fine. Because of the generally poor sound
quality of the speakers, I wanted to hook up a set of Boston Acoustics
BA735 (digital) speakers that I had from an older Gateway desktop. I
attempted this by hooking the external speakers into the laptop's
headphone jack, which the user's guide says will work for either
headphones or speakers. As soon as the speakers are hooked up, all
audio is muted on the built-in speakers, but there is no sound from
the externals.

Troubleshooting steps done so far:

External speakers are powered.
There is nothing set to "mute" in any of the audio settings
The Gateway website provides some support documents which indicate
that one thing to try is to ensure "digital audio" is turned on, via
the Advanced button in the Volume Control applet. When I go into this
Advanced dialog, the only option (besides a master volume control) is
to enable "S/PDIF". I don't know what this is, but I've enabled it
with no results.
I've also looked for updated drivers, but am unable to find any that
are more recent than those installed, either on the Gateway website or
ESS's.

Can anyone provide any insight as to why these speakers won't work?
Any information or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

cmstahl

 

[G.M.]

(e-mail address removed) (C. Stahl) wrote in

Would appreciate any sage advice concerning a problem I'm having
connecting *external* speakers to my Gateway 400SD laptop, running
WinXP Home. Sound card is ESS Allegro PCI (WDM).

All sound works fine through unit's built-in speakers: mp3s, system
sounds, CDs, etc. all work fine. Because of the generally poor sound
quality of the speakers, I wanted to hook up a set of Boston Acoustics
BA735 (digital) speakers that I had from an older Gateway desktop. I
attempted this by hooking the external speakers into the laptop's
headphone jack, which the user's guide says will work for either
headphones or speakers. As soon as the speakers are hooked up, all
audio is muted on the built-in speakers, but there is no sound from
the externals.

Troubleshooting steps done so far:

External speakers are powered.
There is nothing set to "mute" in any of the audio settings
The Gateway website provides some support documents which indicate
that one thing to try is to ensure "digital audio" is turned on, via
the Advanced button in the Volume Control applet. When I go into this
Advanced dialog, the only option (besides a master volume control) is
to enable "S/PDIF". I don't know what this is, but I've enabled it
with no results.
I've also looked for updated drivers, but am unable to find any that
are more recent than those installed, either on the Gateway website or
ESS's.

Can anyone provide any insight as to why these speakers won't work?
Any information or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

cmstahl

Your speakers don't work because you are trying to plug a digital input
into an analog output. Your laptop doesn't have a digital output so
there is no way you will get those speakers to work with it.

 

[Jeff S.]

Digital speakers will not work with that system or almost any of the newer
systems (not only Gateway, but most other manufacturers). You'll need to get
a set of analog speakers to use. They are quite inexpensive, even sets with
the subwoofer, so it shouldn't damage the pocket book too much. Still a
bummer to find out that the old stuff doesn't work with the new stuff.
The Bostons that you have came in many different revisions and some were
digital and some were analog. The new ones they sell are all analog - as are
most new speakers. Just look on the packaging of whatever speakers you're
going to buy - it should say...
Jeff.