Audio problems on my parents' pc

[mbco2001]

This one is stumping me. My parents are getting next to NO sound from their desktop speakers. Trying to troubleshoot it, I made sure all volume CTRLS were up, and not muted. Double checked the cords; note, the connection is USB. I moved the USB connection from the mobo to the USB hub, still nothing. Next, I tried using headphones on both the rear jack, and front jack - nothing. Then I used a portable walkman on the desktop speakers, and the sound was then transmitted thru the desktop speakers without any problems.

So that basically eliminates the speakers from being the problem right? I assumed so and moved on to thinking the computer was not sending "audio" to the speakers.

Now heres a twist. They were having monitor problems and for some random reason, hooked up a HDTV. They have no problems there as far as DISPLAY is concerned but I'm beginning to wonder if the PC somehow isnt trying to send sound to the TV. The TV does have a PC connection and thats what its set on. I turned the TV volume to max, still no sound.

Now heres another twist. I get sound from the speakers on those little windows "prompts". By prompt, I mean such as pressing CTRL ALT DELETE, and closing a program, the little ding you get...that comes through the speakers fine. Thats about all I can get.

I left the house with a audio driver downloading, but I wasnt going to wait on it to finish, seeing as they are on dialup, its estimated to take 1.5 hours. But to be honest, I dont think thats the problem because the speakers worked before.

The computer is a Gateway GT5220. The audio output shows "Realtek HD Audio Output". Does that mean the output is HD? Is it trying to output HD sound because the TV is HD?

There are no yellow exclamation marks in the device manager either...stumping me.

[minsonngo]

Do you have another monitor your can swap in to test your theory?

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by minsonngo

Do you have another monitor your can swap in to test your theory?

Unfortunately, I believe they tossed what the believe to be "the bad one" , out. I will take one over tomorrow if I remember. I will post back with the results. But for that to be the problem just seems a little odd...

[mattaggie]

The HDTV should have no impact on what the sound does. The PC doesnt know its and "HD" display, all it knows is resolutions. Sound does not go over a VGA connection. So unless you have a cable running from the audio out to the TV, there is no way to get sound. I agree with re-installing the audio driver. If the download takes to long at their house, you can download it from a high speed connection, save the file, put it on a CD or USB drive to install it that way.

[minsonngo]

What is the make and model of the speakers?

So the speakers are ONLY connected with a USB cord to the computer? Shouldn't there be audio cables as well?

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by minsonngo

What is the make and model of the speakers?

So the speakers are ONLY connected with a USB cord to the computer? Shouldn't there be audio cables as well?

I'm not quite sure as to the model of the speakers. Believe it or not, there is absolutely no name on them or anything whatsoever. Whatever ones came with the pc. All I can come up with from the website is :

Audio Integrated 8-Channel (7.1) High Definition Audio

Speakers Amplified stereo speakers


The monitor is indeed connected with a VGA cord...that happens to be a 90 degree angle kind.

The speakers are connected via USB, but there is a light green plug type cord (that is usually on normal speakers) that is currently in the line-out. I tried having a song play, with volumes maxed on everything, while pulling the cord out of each jack, and plugging it into another..no sound. I tried all jacks on the rear, and both on the front. I am going to take over a set of speakers and a monitor to see what happens.

Oh yeah and I am going to burn the drivers onto a cd..

[mbco2001]

Looks like it may have turned out to be the drivers. I noted that when I turned the pc on today (without using spare monitor or spare speakers) that, again, I got the windows chime in and chime out tones (windows entrance). Updated the drivers from the cd I burned, restarted, and viola, sound. We'll see how that works.

[mbco2001]

Ok, so Im back again, still on the same problem. When I thought I had it fixed, I was on my acct (on their PC) which I have basically setup for admin. They use a secondary acct that ISNT. I know when I left last weekend, the sound was playing music through the speakers and now its not. I thought maybe it had only applied the settings for the account I installed the drivers on...so I installed the drivers on the other account and restarted. Once again, I get the windows logon and logoff sounds, but not the music. I open up the realtek HD audio manager, and play with the "surround" sound settings there, where you test if the sound sounds like its in front, or behind, and those sounds played fine. But I cant get the sounds from Windows Media player to come through the speakers. What gives? I have NOT tried to logon to the ADMIN account to see if it still works there, but I will in a few. What gives? Certain sounds play, certain ones dont, thats very ODD.

[minsonngo]

Do you have the newest version of Windows Media player installed? Give that a shot.

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by minsonngo

Do you have the newest version of Windows Media player installed? Give that a shot.

I dont quite think thats the problem. Games and other stuff arent playing either. The only thing that seems to come through the speakers is the windows logon and logoff, and such stuff as the CHIME it does when you want to close a program from the task manager. I am downloading the update to windows media player now though....

I logged onto the account in which I had the sound working before, and as I stated, it still works on THAT account. Whats weird is..I went to user accounts, and MY account and the account they use, ARE BOTH ADMIN ACCOUNTS. So that throws that out the window.

I ran the driver update as I said, on both accounts. On My account it worked and on theres, it didnt. What could the difference be there? Being that both are admin accounts, if I have to, Ill just delete their account, and rename mine and then mine will just be the one they use. All I can come up with at the moment.

Oh yeah...from device manager I uninstalled the "realtek hd audio whatever" and then scanned for hardware changes, it picked it up and reinstalled... still got nothing. Maybe I should try a restart first?

[minsonngo]

Gotta be some kind of conflict or bug that is creating your issue.

Wouldn't hurt to backup their files, create a new user account for them, and then restore their files and settings on a fresh account.

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by minsonngo

Gotta be some kind of conflict or bug that is creating your issue.

Wouldn't hurt to backup their files, create a new user account for them, and then restore their files and settings on a fresh account.

I just changed my account to not have a PW. So now it just logs straight onto my acct...seems to run fine now, they havent any complaints yet...I didnt backup the files but all they had was a few music tunes as far as I know (and hope).