No sound

[Metspitzer]

I have a computer that has no sound. A week or two ago I tried to
hook up a 5.1 sound system to it. I had the settings set to 5.1 but
only the green output worked. I gave up on trying to get the speakers
to work and returned to a standard stereo setup. It worked that way
for a few days and then just quit working altogether.

I put in a turtle beach sound card and installed the drivers and I
still can't get the sound to work. I even tried using a pair of ear
buds to make sure it was not the speakers. The device manager shows
that all the drivers are working.

It is strange that a working setup would quit and then even adding a
sound card would not work also.

Suggestions please.

 

[Paul]

I have a computer that has no sound. A week or two ago I tried to
hook up a 5.1 sound system to it. I had the settings set to 5.1 but
only the green output worked. I gave up on trying to get the speakers
to work and returned to a standard stereo setup. It worked that way
for a few days and then just quit working altogether.

I put in a turtle beach sound card and installed the drivers and I
still can't get the sound to work. I even tried using a pair of ear
buds to make sure it was not the speakers. The device manager shows
that all the drivers are working.

It is strange that a working setup would quit and then even adding a
sound card would not work also.

Suggestions please.

Think carefully about any "in-game audio" software
that's been added to the computer. At least one of
those featured an echo suppressor, and also changed
the sound to a more or less permanent stereo setup.
It's possible a thing like that could screw up
the audio routing (as it functions like a filter
driver).

If you have a product like that, go to Add/Remove
and try removing it. And see if things improve or not.

I don't know of too many other "hijackers" at the moment,
but take a look through your Add/Remove, for other sources
of "audio interfering".

Paul

 

[Tim Meddick]

If you can get an application, such as Sound Recorder, or Media Player, to
"play" any recordings (i.e. the application looks like it's playing with
the progress (seek) bar moving and time display ticks forward) , then it's
got nothing to do with drivers of any other internal conflicts - The system
"thinks" it is playing the sound...

Two things come to my mind that you might want to check-out;

P.S. Whilst checking-out the sound output, DO use a pair of headphones that
are KNOWN to be working - that way if there is some problem with both PC
sound output AND your new speaker set, you can begin to rule out things.

1). Bring up the application: [sndvol32.exe] by double-clicking on the
speaker icon next to the Taskbar's clock. - From the top menus, click on
"Options" > "Properties".... First, make sure that your newly installed
sound card is selected from the top "Mixer Device"'s drop-down list!
Then, select "Playback" (just below "Mixer Device") and make sure ALL
boxes are "ticked" [checkmarked] in the lower "volume controls" area.
Click [ok] and then make sure ALL of the volume sliders are set to their
maximums and that none of the "Mute" boxes are checked!!

2). Make double-sure you have plugged your headphones/speakers into the
right output socket - it's an easy mistake to make as working in the "gloom
" round the back of the computer to get at all the sockets, the green 3.5mm
(mini-jack) [output] socket can look identical to the blue [in] socket in
low-light!!

....also,separately, you could test the speakers on something else - like a
radio or TV set....

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

I have a computer that has no sound. A week or two ago I tried to
hook up a 5.1 sound system to it. I had the settings set to 5.1 but
only the green output worked. I gave up on trying to get the speakers
to work and returned to a standard stereo setup. It worked that way
for a few days and then just quit working altogether.

I put in a turtle beach sound card and installed the drivers and I
still can't get the sound to work. I even tried using a pair of ear
buds to make sure it was not the speakers. The device manager shows
that all the drivers are working.

It is strange that a working setup would quit and then even adding a
sound card would not work also.

Suggestions please.

Computer audio can be a real pain.
It's worse when the motherboard is unknown.
If the suggestions by other don't work, then:
Make sure devices are enabled in bios.
Some MB's may require setting in bios or jumpers for additional card.
Use Device Manager to delete every instance of sound controller
from your system. Reboot, let the o/s find the new hardware,
install the correct drivers for that hardware.
Click every possible combination of audio settings.

 

[Tim Meddick]

You make some valid points - and my [first re-post] contribution was based
on the assumption that suggestions such as yours, and other similar ones,
would also be posted...

However, though my level of technical knowledge and expertise may not
approach that of yours, geometric logic, at it's most empirical, says ALL
and ANY suggested possible solutions, subsequent to my input, can be undone
and rendered inconclusive, simply by neglecting to ensure that the OBVIOUS
is dealt with, and thereby, ruled out at the very outset...!!

In other words, I thought to myself; why mention the possibility that (for
instance) the BIOS is involved? Many BIOSes automatically disable the
on-board, integral, sound-card, if the system detects an additional PCI
sound-card has also been installed! Accessing the BIOS UI at start-up,
means you can usually get to a setting enabling you to override this effect
and manually select the sound-card desired.

But the point I was trying to make was the above is all but "moot", if in
any case, you have the speakers/headphones accidentally plugged into the
auxiliary [blue] socket, rather than the correct [green] output...!!

And, similarly, if system software (applications like sndrec32.exe) are
able to 'play' audio-files then the problem is certain NOT to be a Codec
issue, of any kind, as the system assumes the sound output is functional -
a test to ascertain if software 'plays' audio, confirms the problem lies
AFTER audio decoding - e.g.; volume-levels, overlooked 'mute' function
applied to an output (such as "Wave-Out Mix"), accidentally leaving pair of
headphones plugged into alternate [front-facing] audio-sockets, etc...

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Don Phillipson]

Computer audio can be a real pain.

True: e.g. when we put a new sound card into a PC
some motherboards require that sound-on-board be
switched off in the BIOS but others (with s-o-b) do not.
This is why we need a rational flow chart. I recommend
and used (years ago) the one printed in "PC Help Desk
in a Book" (Que Pubs.)

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

But the point I was trying to make was the above is all but "moot", if
in any case, you have the speakers/headphones accidentally plugged into
the auxiliary [blue] socket, rather than the correct [green] output...!!

Yup, I agree completely.
My system has six 1/8" jacks and I often unplug everything
for one reason or another.
Since it's dark in the back of the comp, and none of the long cables
are marked or color coded, I just play a mp3 and plug things in
until I find the jacks that work.