Help! My computer is too quiet!

November 16, 2006 4:58 PM

I took my computer into work today and the IT guy got rid of all of my unnecessary files and basically did a good dusting and cleaning.

I have checked the "sounds" section in Windows and nothing is muted. The speakers are on, and they make noise when I touch the speaker input on the back of my computer, so I know they work. Is there something he could have deleted or changed? Any ideas?

posted by WaterSprite to Computers & Internet (20 answers total)

Quiet or silent?
posted by oxford blue at 5:00 PM on November 16, 2006

Response by poster: Totally silent. It's driving me nuts.
posted by WaterSprite at 5:04 PM on November 16, 2006

"Sounds" is for windows system sounds (like "beep, wrong button" sort of thing). What you want are the audio properties.
posted by pompomtom at 5:12 PM on November 16, 2006

Sounds like he either could have replaced some loud internal fans for much quieter ones, or in cleaning out dust inside he could have disabled (or broken) said fans.

If the latter is true then there is the potential of your machine overheating and it could definitely cause some problems.
posted by purephase at 5:13 PM on November 16, 2006

Also, you say he dusted the inside, so he may have knocked the sound card loose, or not put it back in exactly correctly. Try pulling it out, cleaning the socket, and putting the card back in. Or ask your IT guy to do it.

My 2c.
posted by jourman2 at 5:19 PM on November 16, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks. The D&C reference was to the cleaning up of files. He opened it in front of me to show me where to put the new memory card, but didn't touch anything else, so I'll lug it back tomorrow and see if maybe something got loose.
posted by WaterSprite at 5:24 PM on November 16, 2006

Response by poster: Oh, and I did check the audio properties. Thanks so much!
posted by WaterSprite at 5:24 PM on November 16, 2006

I've read the question a good 3-4 times now and I haven't yet figured out what problem you're trying to solve. What should be making sound that isn't?
posted by mendel at 6:11 PM on November 16, 2006

Response by poster: Hi mendel - nothing is making a sound. I am getting NOTHING out of my speakers.
posted by WaterSprite at 6:23 PM on November 16, 2006

I've read the question a good 3-4 times now and I haven't yet figured out what problem you're trying to solve. What should be making sound that isn't?

Go to your start menu, click run and type:

sndrec32 %windir%\media\chord.wav

A little sound program should pop up, hit the play button. Does it make any noise?
posted by delmoi at 6:29 PM on November 16, 2006

Oh, and I did check the audio properties. Thanks so much!

And what were the results?

Try going to Start --> Control Panel --> System --> Hardware tab --> Device Manager.
Look under the Sound, video, and game controllers tab or some "sound" variation thereof. Do you see anything out of the ordinary? Particularly, a device with the evil yellow question mark. What exactly do you see for devices installed when you expand the tab?

Secondly: try downloading Belarc Advisor and run it. Look for the Multimedia heading. Do you see anything? If so, what?

Basically, trying to determine if he accidentally installed your audio drivers. Sometimes in our zeal to remove crap-ware, bloated audio software+driver combos get caught up in the mix.
posted by jmd82 at 6:49 PM on November 16, 2006

Response by poster: Go to your start menu, click run and type:

sndrec32 %windir%\media\chord.wav
No, no noise
posted by WaterSprite at 7:36 PM on November 16, 2006

First, open something that generates noise - maybe a youtube video or myspace page. Then go to Control Panels->Sounds and Audio Devices->Audio (tab), and click the dropdown beneath 'Sound Playback:default device'. If there's more than one device listed, choose whatever wasn't selected before.

Also, make sure the speakers are connected to the right port / plug them into different jacks. Some sound hardware can remap input/outputs..
posted by unmake at 7:38 PM on November 16, 2006

Please check (and double check) that the speaker cable is plugged into the proper jack. I make this mistake 3 times out of 5. Plug it into the other jacks and test it each time.
posted by disclaimer at 7:39 PM on November 16, 2006

yeah, what unmake said.
posted by disclaimer at 7:40 PM on November 16, 2006

Try going to the Control Panel, and then Sounds and Audio Devices. Click the Audio tab, and see what is selected as Default device in the Sound playback box. If there are multiple choices in the drop down, try a different choice, select okay, and try the command line delmoi suggested again.

That, and are you really, really, really sure you have the wires connected properly :P
posted by Chuckles at 8:53 PM on November 16, 2006

Or what unmake said.. Argh!!
posted by Chuckles at 8:53 PM on November 16, 2006

I'll third or fourth that.... there are usually at least three audio jacks on most soundcards, and determining which one is correct can be difficult. That's far and away the most likely cause... you're most likely plugging your speakers into the microphone jack.
posted by Malor at 9:05 PM on November 16, 2006

Here's my sound test (Win XP)...

Control Panel --> get to the Sounds and Audio Device Properties

Under Program Events: select a sound (e.g. Asterisk) and hit the play button.

If the play button is grayed out, you have a sound card problem.

If the play button is enabled, and when you click it nothing happens, you probably have a speaker problem, either the connection (wrong jack) or the speakers themselves.
posted by tremolo1970 at 9:51 PM on November 16, 2006

Check system properties/Hardware/device manager and look under sounds. Find the item that has a name like blah blah blah DEVICE.

Just the other day I let Windows Update put an updated driver in for my sound card. It updated it to a Marcel Marceau revision, it seems, since my sound ceased. Running windows update and downloading all the new hardware drivers certainly sounds like something your IT d00d might have done.

Using the "roll back driver" option to go back to the old one resolved my issue.
posted by phearlez at 10:49 AM on November 17, 2006