I was just enjoying the SDMB and listening to a playlist on Winamp, when all of a sudden the volume dropped pretty low, mid-song. I turned the volume knob on my speaker up and didn’t think anything else of it, until the volume finally cut out entirely (after a different song finished).
Now my computer is not producing any sound at all: no mp3s or CDs play in Winamp or Windows Media Player, I can’t hear the Windows start-up music or the “Hello” and “Goodbye” from AOL, no sound from my pinball game or even the “Big Pimpin” MIDI that plays over http://www.realultimatepower.net .
When I turn the volume knob on the speaker all the way up, I hear the hiss get louder, which leads me to believe it is the sound card that gave up on me rather than the speakers. Also, I plugged headphones into the jack in the speaker, and nothing came out of those either.
Does it sound like I need a new sound card, or perhaps I have a different problem? How much do sound cards cost, and what should I be looking for?
If it helps, I have a Dell Dimension that is a couple weeks away from its three-year anniversary, and it’s been acting wonkier and more unknowable over the last few months (lots of error messages, “blue screens of doom,” etc.) My Canon Bubblejet printer died on me in the last month (also coming up to three years), and so did my Visioneer OneTouch scanner (which can’t be much more than one year old). I have yet to replace any of this stuff, as I was hoping I’ll find decent sales the day after Thanksgiving. Now that I have no sound, I might be in more of a hurry.
Argh! Any advice or suggestions about any of this are welcome.
Help with diagnosis: plug your headphones directly into the Line Out port of your soundcard (where your computer speakers are connected to) to see if it’s a speaker or computer problem.
No sound means it’s either the soundcard physically or some settings were altered/turned off. Check the Hardware manager to see if all your hardware is working. A yellow exclamation point next to an audio device would suggest driver problems.
Make sure the sound wasn’t accidently muted in Windows Volume Control (or your Soundcard Volume Control if it came with one).
Well, it does sound like your soundcard is kaput. Make sure to check in the control panel settings, and that isn’t turned off.
As for getting a new soundcard, a new Soundblaster Live! 5.1 will run you $30 at newegg.com. That is what I have, and it works pretty well for me. Or you could go even cheaper, and get a Soundblaster 128 PCI, for $20. Either of these cards should be at least as good as what is in your 3-year old Dell.
After checking the outputs directly with headphones, the next thing to try is to remove and reseat the card. If it still doesn’t work, try a different card for test purposes or try the card in a different computer.
If the card does appear to have fail, you should make some effort to find out why. Some possible causes:
The cable or stereo connected to it is bad.
To much heat generated near the soundcard or too much heat in general. Try putting the new one in a spot further away from the CPU. Check the case temp.
The PS of the computer is failing and not putting out enough power. Constant inadequate power can cause components to fail prematurely.
Any of these causes would eventually ruin a new card as well.
From your OP where you say that the volume all of a sudden dropped with you touching anything, I’d hazard that your card is kaput as well. Is this an onboard sound card or add-in?
For $30 I’d say that it’s almost not worth troubleshooting. Get yourself a new card. Being the stubborn geek that I am I would probably try all the steps that the other posters have mentioned first though. For some people it’s not worth that effort – they’d rather jam to their tunes than be elbow deep in printed circuits and driver versions.
If it makes a difference, the little microphone that clips onto the monitor stopped working well over a year ago, and I’ve tried other mics in that jack and they didn’t work either. This never bothered me too much since I rarely talk or sing into my computer, but was that probably an early warning of a sound card problem?
Everyone, thanks for your advice. I can’t seem to download any drivers for it (Creative Sound Blaster Audio PCI), so the more I think about it, the more I think I’m gonna just have to replace it.
Hotkey software? BrentLumkin had this problem a few months ago. See his thread. His left shift key had somehow gotten to send out the same scan code as his custom mute key on his Gateway keyboard. I walked him through uninstalling the software and it cured his problem.
Does anything show up on your screen when you press a certain key? Of course, this kind of software can be set to not show anything on screen when hotkeys are pressed.
I took a look, but I don’t think I have any Hotkey software. I have a very simple stock Dell keyboard with no programmable keys. I appreciate it, though.
There’s apparently a bug with 2.X of WinAmp that’ll have it keep resetting those volumes: I had it happen with 2.7X, but it dissapared when I upgraded to 2.82. Or, use a different player: if the problem dissapears, you know your culprit.