computer guru's

[4AU4LIFE]

I'm computer illiterate to say the least. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
Is it possible for your sound card to go bad? If so, is it very difficult to change?
I can still hear and play CD's with no problem. However, when I click on a video link or Youtube or something like that, I don't hear anything. I have my speakers turned all the way up and can hear them hissing but that's it.
I have go into the 'Sounds' section of my computer and it appears to be setup. I haven't changed any settings on it since I've had my PC. It is a Compaq Presario and running standard Windows XP.
TIA

 

[sptrader]

here is Youtube's audio help section-

http://tinyurl.com/3asfvp

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I followed the directions mentioned. I've been in that area of my puter already and have all volumes turned to max and mutes turned off. Still nothing.
Thanks for the lead though.
I'll keep plugging away.

 

[Benelli90]

Hey 92.

I would recommend the following:
- Grab a set of headphones and plug into the speaker output. This will isolate it to a speaker or card issue
- If still no sound then identify whether the sound device is on the motherboard or an add-on card. The easiest way to determine this is to see if the output is located in the "slot" locations at the (typically) bottom of the case or near other motherboard drives such as modem, network, keyboard, mouse, etc.
- If the port is on the motherboard then you may need to go into the PC BIOS to verify whether the device is active. This is performed as soon as you power on the box by pressing "F2" or "Del" typically. DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE, JUST LOOK FOR "ADD ON DEVICES" AND VERIFY THAT THE CARD IS ACTIVE
- If the sound port is an add-on card then it will more than likely have a management interface in windows. That being said, one sure-fire way to help correct the problem is to download the latest version of drivers from the vendor.

- If all of this fails, new add-on audio cards can be purchased for ~$30.00 for a basic model.

Just PST me if you have any questions or need some help, and good luck!

Stephen

 

[netfreak]

is it only when playing stuff in a web browser? try using a different browser. might be a codec problem. if audio files play on the computer then i think its unlikely a sound card hardware problem.

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

First, what version/build of Windows are you on?

- For Vista Right Click on "My Computer" on the desktop select "Properties"
- For down-level just tell us the gist (9x, 2000, XP, XP SP1, etc...)


Now, let's start bottom up- What is your audio hardware?

- Goto Start Menu ---> Run ---> Type "Devmgmt.msc"
- Goto "Sound, Video, Game Controllers"
- Let us know what audio hardware you are on
- Right click on properties, tell us the device driver so we can see if you are using a third party driver or the Windows class driver and get a gist for your basic configuration (AC97', HD Audio, etc...).


Now let's test basic Windows audio configuration before getting ahead of ourselves:

- Goto Start Menu ---> Run ---> Type "MMSYS.CPL"
- This opens the mmdev control panel
- For Vista or down-level, Goto the 'Sounds' Tab. It looks like this on XP and like this on Vista.
- Attempt to preview/test playback of an audio clip.
- Did you hear anything?
- Let us know if it works. You said already that you have audio via the CD via your speaker output jack on the back of your PC, which means that you at least have half the battle won with a working output path to a working set of speakers.
-If Windows desktop audio works as well per the above test, then the Windows Audio Service (audsrv) is dispatching user mode calls from PlaySound down to the driver which is a good end to end test.


Did you hear anything? If not, check volume as per below and do it again...

- Goto Start Menu ---> Run ---> Type "SNDVOL.EXE"
- This opens Windows Master Volume Control
- Verify level and mute status.
- If on Vista, check per application volume mixing
- Goto Start Menu ---> Run ---> Type "SNDVOL.EXE -m"
- This opens Windows Master Volume Control in Per Application Mode
- Verify the volume and mute status for that specific application


Let us know how that turns out and we'll go from there.