Volume Problem

[cabinetman]

Wifey's computer (HP desktop) volume was barely audible. Did the driver upgrade thing. Nada. Bought and installed new sound card and did the driver thing. Nada. Went into "my computer">"controls", and everything is up. Still nada. Any suggestions?
.

[Uncle Cracker]

This may not be your problem, C-Man, but my computer has many different volume controls that often seem to work independently of each other, including the one in the media center, the master volume, another mysterious "sound processing console" that I cannot ever find when I want to, and the hardware volume control on the speaker system, plus I have seen others within individual software applications. I always assumed most of them were simply controlling the same master levels, but I discovered that this is not always the case, and that sometimes when one is turned down, the others can be turned all the way up without bringing up the sound. I would think that there would have to be a method to all of it, but I'm darned if I can figure out what it is. All I can suggest is that you look around in there, and turn up every control you can find. Hopefully you will turn over the right rock...

[cabinetman]

All I can suggest is that you look around in there, and turn up every control you can find. Hopefully you will turn over the right rock...

Thanks for the suggestion. Been there, did that. Even changed out the speakers. Should I call the Geek Squad? This may be one of those things in life that we just have to deal with, like death and taxes.

[BobSch]

Are you sure the speakers are getting power? Occasionally the wall-wart will fall out of the outlet.

DAHIKT

[cabinetman]

Are you sure the speakers are getting power? Occasionally the wall-wart will fall out of the outlet.

DAHIKT

I'm on my third set of speakers. One consideration I thought of is it possible that a separate amplifier is needed? When I first had this problem, new drivers helped a little, but not enough to make a difference. When I changed the sound card I don't remember any instructions other than "plugging them in".
.

[RayintheUK]

Assuming Windows XP or similar, go to Control Panel and double-click on "Sounds and Audio Devices." In the resulting "Sounds and Audio Devices Properties" tabbed dialog box, check in the "Audio" tab for what is the default output device - sometimes that's all it is.

Alternatively, in the "Volume" tab, which I'm sure you've already been to (the master mute is there), there's an "Advanced" button in the Speaker Settings - look to see that the correct type is selected. Sometimes, if you've got four speakers, selecting "Quad" produces the symptoms you describe, because the driver is not appropriate.

Ray.

[JSUPreston]

I agree with Bob on this one. Make sure that you have powered speakers and that the wall wart is plugged in. Also, with the newer computers, they have 5.1 and 6.1 surround sound. Make sure you're plugged into the front channel.

Also, make sure that you don't have headphones plugged into another jack.

[Alex Franke]

I agree with the others. Make sure it's plugged into the right place. Depending upon the age of the sound card & speakers, the color-codings might be misleading.

Also, if all else fails, I'd suggest calling HP before Geek Squad if there's a tech support line -- you're probably more likely to get a free answer there...

[radhak]

This may or may-not be your problem, but : once I had similar problems and found after a long time that the volume in one application had been turned way down, and it was impacting even when that app was not open.

Don't remember exactly now, but I think it was RealPlayer - I rarely used it, and LOML had used it once, so I was forever tinkering with my other, regular apps (itunes / Windows Media Player / Quick Time) with no success .

You might want to run all the audio-applications on your machine and check their volume controls.

And to allow myself a quick rant - how i dislike that realplayer; insidiously starts as a service and never goes away. i uninstall it, but some or the other website needs it and LOML has to access that website , which installs it again.

[DonHo]

Is she having the problem when playing cds on the computer? If the problem is only happening on one or two webpages, check to see if there is volume controls on the webpage. I know that some of the webpages I use have volume controls on them.

DonHo

[alpha]

If you have a sound card that replaces the on-motherboard sound, you may have to go into the bios and disable the on-motherboard sound.

Bob