Make some noise

June 20, 2008 9:54 AM

I've just bought a second-hand Shuttle XPC computer with an Nvidia sound card. One fault is bugging me: no sound through the analogue audio outs or headphone sockets on the front or back, even when the operating system volumes are set to maximum. However, I have been told that the previous owner used the optical audio out. Is it possible that he could have disabled the analogue sound somehow? If so how might I re-enable it?
posted by skylar to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Check the BIOS and make sure the onboard sound is enabled.

IIRC (I don't have my shuttle anymore) you can also enable analog/digital out in there. But, I might be wrong.

If you didn't install the OS, you might try making sure the latest correct drivers are installed.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:09 AM on June 20

Good suggestion. Unfortunately the BIOS screen is locked with a password (aaarggh).
posted by skylar at 10:25 AM on June 20

There should be an audio control panel where you can select the output. If not, you could try to uninstall and reinstall the drivers.
posted by wongcorgi at 10:30 AM on June 20

Which XPC? I have an SB51G and you can reset the CMOS password via the JP2 jumper next to the IDE connectors.
posted by rhizome at 10:36 AM on June 20

Delete the audio device from the hardware manager and reboot it. It will reinstall the driver. That might reset any changes.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:37 AM on June 20

The BIOS password (and the rest of the BIOS) can be reset by moving a jumper. You'll have to find the documents at Shuttle's website, but it's a pretty easy process.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:38 AM on June 20

I've got an Nvidia Shuttle. If you're in Windows, there's likely an Nvidia control panel (Nforce Manager, I believe it's called) that came with the drivers. That's one place (the BIOS, I believe, is another) where the analog- and digital-out can be enabled/disabled.
posted by box at 11:29 AM on June 20

On my shuttle, the analog outlets didn't match what was marked, and I had to experiment to find which one was which.
posted by nomisxid at 8:27 AM on June 21