Problem with PC Speakers - No Sound

Ms_Chocaholic

Hi
I wonder if some techie people out there may be able to help with my problem please.

Before I go on to explain, I'd be grateful if you could please word your replies simply without using too many techie words otherwise I won't know what you're talking about :eek:

Have a Dell PC (XP) and my speakers have stopped working in the past few weeks. I have dropped them a few times so it may be that :rolleyes: but before I go out and buy some more I need to be certain that it's not something on the PC. I've checked all the cables, unplugged them and plugged them back in ... when connecting cables back to PC I get a slight buzz sound from the speakers - does that mean they're working and the problems with the PC or have they had it.

Anyway, I've tried looking about to try and solve my problem. When I click on Control Panel and Sounds and Audio Devices, under the Volume tab, it states SB Audigy Audio (C880) but the device volume setting is on low and is in pale writing (can't be altered), the same can be said for the speaker settings underneath.

Any help anyone can give me would be much appreciated.

Regards and thank you

Ms C xx

C_Ronaldo

Have you plugged them back into the right socket on the pc,

Ms_Chocaholic

Yes I'm sure we have ... the bits are colour coded so we can't really go wrong but I'll check again tomorrow.

Is there anything else it could be?

Thanks xx

BigMan

Are you able to click the advance tab below the volume slider?

If so, click on it and make sure all levels are high and the mute box is not ticked.

Have you got another device you could plug the speakers in to?

e.g. old cassete player, TV (with an adaptor)

C_Ronaldo

Im sure you've checked it but there isnt a volume or on/off switch on the speakers

esbo

If they make a noise when you plug them it it the speakers are probably OK. Do you have andthing else you can plug them into?? They should work with things like a personal stereo etc... Also if you hae some personal stereo head phones they you can plug them and see if they work. It seems odd that the volume control cannot be altered etc, it seems it hae been disabled in some way.
I was looking through sounds and audio properties, on the hardware tab there is a list of devices, one of them will probably be SB Audigy Audio (C880), (mine is different). anyway if you click that and then select properties then on the general tab at the bottom there is a device usage select option, make sure it says 'use this device (enable)'. You have to then restart the computer for it to take effect.
That looks like the kind of thing which might disable the volume control, but I have not tried it yet as I would have to restart.

esbo

Actually I tried that and it does disable the volume as you described, you probaly won't
have to restart either, I think that was because I had made a change to something else.

Ms_Chocaholic

Thank you for all your help.

I've got some good news and some bad news.

I've just been into the sounds section of control panel and must have accidentally uninstalled it. My blood pressure must have gone through the roof at this stage !!!

Anyway, found the disc and managed to install it again and I have some sound - that's the good news, bad news to follow.

The sound only comes out of one speaker now; I've checked the balance and it's all in the middle. The speaker that is working is connected to the PC via the speaker that doesn't work which is quite strange.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

Thank you.

Ms C x

fwor

Are you sure that you have "chained" the speakers back together in the correct order?

With some types of speaker, one of the plugs is mono (only 2 contacts) while the other is stereo (3 contacts). If yours is like that the stereo one should plug into the PC. Others may have stereo plugs on both, but the "slave" speaker will only have two of the contacts used.

austin

try this..

click on Start > Control Panel > Performance & Maintenence > System.

a new window will open. click on the Hardware tab at the top. then click Device Manager.

look for your sound device (speakers) in the list, if its marked with a yellow question mark, then theres a problem with the drivers.

re-install the drivers. it should automatically do this over the net.

Ms_Chocaholic

Thank you for your replies.

It's all good news now, no bad news :j

Got a prompt to download SP3 and when restarted computer, both speakers are now working. Following download I didn't alter anything at all in the sound settings so don't know what had made them work but I'm so happy they are now

Thank you for all your help here, you are all wonderful :T

Regars

Ms C x