Computer related question which I semi-desperately need help with

Factual Questions
1

This problem started about 3 weeks ago.

I get no sound out of my speakers.

none.

Everything is plugged in where it should be, and the speakers do work, when they are turned on, there is that soft popping sound that they made back when I actually got sounds out of them.

Now, nothing. Not for any games that I play, either on the 'net or on my hard drive, no sound from CD’s, nothing. My dad went through the My Computer section and couldn;t come up with anything.

I have a Gateway with a Pentium III, it’s a little over 2 years old.

So, any computer Dopers out there that might have some advice?

Thanks in advance.

2

Are any inputs muted in the mixer?
Click the speaker icon on the quick launch toolbar.
Dumb question: Are the speakers getting power?

3

Sounds like you’ve tried some other the stupid questions. Checking to make sure nothing’s muted is good, as is making sure you have power. I have a problem similar to this with my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card and the only remedy I’ve ever found is to reisntall the drivers, first looking to see if there are any updated drivers–simply because it makes more sense to load new drivers if available.

4

Perhaps theres something wrong with the sound card? Or maybe another program is using the sound and you just dont know it, I doubt it, but it’s happened to me a few times. Besides that all I can think of (besides what the others have said) is maybe something’s wrong with your speakers… eh…

5

I am an ex-Gateway tech and am very familiar with the hardware from that time period.

First, what kind of sound card is it? My guess is that is either a SoundBlaster Live! or an Ensoniq PCI 1373. You can verify that in device manager.

Also, what kind of speakers are they? Given your description of the issue, I would hazard a guess that they are either Boston Acoustics BA635 or BA735. However, I could be dead wrong :).

Anyhow, post what models of each you have. I have several ideas of what could be the issue, but would need that extra information so I could narrow down the issue for you.

Actually, here are links to the specific issues I was thinking about:
Just run through these and tell us if it works, and if not, then post what kind of sound hardware you have.

http://support.gateway.com/s/issues/134527880.shtml

http://support.gateway.com/s/issues/137434110.shtml

http://support.gateway.com/s/issues/137433711.shtml

The last article mentions the BA745 and BA7800, but it also applies to the BA635 and to the BA735 (if the BA735 is being run with the analog cable - the analog cord is the cord with the green plug going into the computer. The digital cord, IIRC, either has a black plug or a white plug going into the computer).

Finally, as a last resort, grab another set of speakers from a friend and try them. If they work, it’s a speaker issue. If they don’t, it’s a sound card issue.

critter42

6

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

Turns out the Master Volume had been turned all the way down and the Mute All box was checked.:smack: :smack: :smack:

But not by me, I swear.

Anyhoo, things are sounding and working just fine.

Thanks for your advice.

7

That’s strange. I have a 4-year-old Gateway system, and the very same thing happened to me a few days ago. I was listening to something with Winamp. I hit ctl-v intending to paste something into Notepad, and the sound stopped! After checking all the connections, I finally went to the SB sound mixer and found the master mute was active. So I disabled it and everything was fine.

One other thing I noticed: a small green rectangle the size of a single letter was now visible on my desktop. I decided to re-boot. The rectangle was no longer present.

The only odd thing that may have occurred is that I may have accidentally tried the paste into Winamp. But I tried that later and nothing unusual happened.

8

Real Player, amongst many other endearing qualities, changes the setting of the general volume control proportionally to the setting of its own.

I’ll bet that you did, but didn’t realise it.

milo, who’s been there.

9

For future reference, this should probably be one of the first things you check, not one of the last.