Windows 7 issue with sound

[timbo59]

I posted elsewhere on here a couple of weeks ago regarding sound issues I was having with my system. I purchased the computer via CraigsList and all is fine with it bar one thing – I haven’t been able to get the sound working on it. I don’t think it’s an issue of being sold a faulty unit – the guy selling it was the father of the owner, who has been overseas for a year and the dad simply wanted to clear it out to make some room.

Initially I thought it was a sound card issue, and swapped cards around and did virtually everything I could think of to make it work. Nothing. Then I went backwards and forwards trying to find if there was any program ob board that was muting the sound. Nothing. I looked at the device manager, which said that all was okay. I downloaded the latest drivers. I reinstalled Windows. I tried using the headphone jack, another set of speakers. I did everything to try and isolate and locate the issue. ! I still could not get it to work. With all of this I still had not even figured out whether it was a software or hardware issue. Needless to say, it’s been a very frustrating time. The only saving grace was that I finally managed to coax some sound out of the motherboard’s RCA jack, so at least I can hear something when I’m using the computer – just not from the soundcard.

A couple of days ago I finally made some headway – purely by accident. I was working my way through each of the jacks again, testing out some idea or other with the speakers on, when I realized that the volume was low on the PC and clicked on the slider to move it up. As soon as I did that I heard the tell-tale ‘ding’ of the Windows sound. Further checking showed that the sound card would play everything related to the onboard Windows system sounds – so the card is working –within limit. It just won’t play anything else, music, CD or DVD sound, internet, etc.

So I’m guessing that somewhere within Windows 7 there’s something that needs to be switched over – I’m just not seeing it. It may be something really simply, it may be down to the fact that I’m still pretty new to Windows 7 as against XP.

Why I should have inherited the problem though is one of the things that has both puzzled me and helped contribute to the confusion. The former owner has been in touch with me through his father, and said that all was okay before he left to go overseas. The one odd thing was that when I picked it up the father had the case open to show the interior of the computer, and said that at one stage he noticed that the sound card was loose and he had to reseat it. Maybe turning the unit off and on with the card loose threw off some settings? That’s why I reinstalled Windows and the drivers, but it made no difference.

I should also add that the one thing that clearly seems to show that a problem exists somewhere is that when I click on the volume mixer while playing a sound file you can clearly see that the Digital Audio is registering the sound – which is obviously why I’m getting sound through the onboard jack. But if I try switching over to the slider for the sound card, no sound shows at all.

If someone could shed some light on this I’d really appreciate it, as the whole issue has been driving me nuts trying to solve it.

Thanks

Motherboard – ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
Sound - Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS
RAM - Corsair XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB)
DVD - Lite-on DVDRW LH-20A1L SCSI
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Power - Cooler Master Real Power Pro RS-750-ACAA-A1 750W
OS – Windows 7 Ultimate (64)

 

[salvage-this]

having the sound card come out unexpectedly could very well be the problem.

Just to clear this up a bit, do you have the audio jack in the onboard audio or the sound card?

 

[timbo59]

At the moment? I currently have it plugged into the on board audio in order to at least get some sound. Obviously when I'm doing my tinkering around trying to solve the sound card issue I take it out. I should point out that my speaker system comes with two jacks, an RCA style plug which is what I use to get sound out of the on board audio, and a conventional jack which is what I plug into the sound card - or at least did in my last computer. I did wonder if there might be issues with the jack, which is why I tried using another speaker system, and also the headphones. Neither of them made any difference. I should also add that I don't have anything elaborate speaker-wise, just a 2/1 setup. As I said as well, the speakers ARE working via the soundcard when I plug them in (and disconnect the other jack from the onboard sound) - but I'm being limited to system sounds.

I should also add that I was in error earlier when I suggested that it plays ALL system sounds. That was an assumption that was incorrect. I've since discovered that it will ONLY make a sound if I click on the two sliders associated with the speakers, the one marked 'speakers' and the other marked 'SPDIF out'. The sliders for 'headphones' and 'digital audio' don't make a hint of a sound if I click on the slider with the pointer.

Does of any of this make sense?

 

[johnb35]

You need to make sure that you have selected the correct audio output device. Go into the audio properties in the control panel and select if you want to use the onboard audio or the dedicated sound card.

 

[timbo59]

got it!

Thanks, that did the trick!

I know I went in there initially, to no effect. But I hadn't thought to go back there after I reinstalled Windows and the drivers. Now everything's hunky dory!

I'm guessing that the sound card coming loose must have thrown off the settings with various restarts and must have put the on board audio back on as default.

Much appreciated.

 

[timbo59]

follow up.

Here's a quick afterthought.

If the sound-card had been overridden by the on board audio, why was it sounding off with a ping every time I clicked on the associated slider as mentioned earlier? That really threw me off and made me think it was at least partially 'on'. No big deal, as obviously everything is now up and running - I was just curious.