J
J. P. Gilliver (John)
My blind friend has an Aspire with - I presume - RealTek sound hardware,
since when he plugs in headphones, a thing pops up saying words to the
effect of "you've plugged something in - what is it? I think it's
headphones".
Unfortunately, the geniuses at RealTek have chosen to go their own way
with the design and layout of this popup, such that its parts - even the
"OK" button - do not "play nice" with his access software (Window-Eyes).
Despite that, he has learnt what keystrokes are necessary to tell it
"yes, you idiot, I've plugged in headphones".
However, it does seem very fragile, and can result in sound being
disabled altogether (no, not muted in the tray icon, or the Alt-Fx [7
IIRR] effect). Windows and applications (e. g. WinAmp) think they are
playing sounds, but no sound comes out (either the internal speakers or
headphones if connected). Obviously this makes the PC useless to my
friend, as his speech access comes out via that.
Can't say _for sure_ what triggers this, but leaving 'phones in at
shutdown _might_ be one thing; it seemed this evening that letting
Belarc Advisor start to update itself might have triggered it, odd
though that sounds. "It" being the sudden cessation of sound output;
screen output may be continuing.
I as a sighted person - based on recent things tried in another thread -
can make sound come back thus: go into device manager, expand sound
whatevers (the speaker icon) (there are seven or eight of them: legacy,
RealTek, ATP or something like that, a couple of bluetooth ones, etc.),
uninstall the ones where that's an option (3 out of the 7 or 8, which
includes the RealTek), and tell it to scan for new hardware. It then
puts them back, with the sound working.
I tried disabling - rather than uninstalling - the RealTek component,
but that just killed sound (restoring it when it is re-enabled).
I think the _main_ reason for the fancy popup (yes I know there are
other reasons, like offering you different equaliser settings like Hall,
Rock etc.) is to cater for people who plug things into the wrong holes
(probably mainly mic. and speakers). Is it possible to "freeze" it so
that it just behaves like s dumb system, i. e. sound from internal
speakers unless 'phones are plugged in, in which case through those
instead? My friend knows which is the right socket.
since when he plugs in headphones, a thing pops up saying words to the
effect of "you've plugged something in - what is it? I think it's
headphones".
Unfortunately, the geniuses at RealTek have chosen to go their own way
with the design and layout of this popup, such that its parts - even the
"OK" button - do not "play nice" with his access software (Window-Eyes).
Despite that, he has learnt what keystrokes are necessary to tell it
"yes, you idiot, I've plugged in headphones".
However, it does seem very fragile, and can result in sound being
disabled altogether (no, not muted in the tray icon, or the Alt-Fx [7
IIRR] effect). Windows and applications (e. g. WinAmp) think they are
playing sounds, but no sound comes out (either the internal speakers or
headphones if connected). Obviously this makes the PC useless to my
friend, as his speech access comes out via that.
Can't say _for sure_ what triggers this, but leaving 'phones in at
shutdown _might_ be one thing; it seemed this evening that letting
Belarc Advisor start to update itself might have triggered it, odd
though that sounds. "It" being the sudden cessation of sound output;
screen output may be continuing.
I as a sighted person - based on recent things tried in another thread -
can make sound come back thus: go into device manager, expand sound
whatevers (the speaker icon) (there are seven or eight of them: legacy,
RealTek, ATP or something like that, a couple of bluetooth ones, etc.),
uninstall the ones where that's an option (3 out of the 7 or 8, which
includes the RealTek), and tell it to scan for new hardware. It then
puts them back, with the sound working.
I tried disabling - rather than uninstalling - the RealTek component,
but that just killed sound (restoring it when it is re-enabled).
I think the _main_ reason for the fancy popup (yes I know there are
other reasons, like offering you different equaliser settings like Hall,
Rock etc.) is to cater for people who plug things into the wrong holes
(probably mainly mic. and speakers). Is it possible to "freeze" it so
that it just behaves like s dumb system, i. e. sound from internal
speakers unless 'phones are plugged in, in which case through those
instead? My friend knows which is the right socket.