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wildernessjunkie
Reshitivest
Registered: 06/13/10
Posts: 8,118
Loc: HTTP 404 Not Found
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Help diagnose my laptop
#14502052 - 05/23/11 11:30 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Was watching a movie the other day, when the sound abruptly stopped working.
A list of what I have already done:
Updated and reinstalled the drivers Rolled back the system to a time when it was working Ran the diagnostics disk Ran the test from the Control Panel (indicates that the speakers are working, but still no sound) Reinstalled windows
None of this has resolved the issue. I'm thinking its a hardware problem. Maybe the sound card? Any computer guru types out there?
I'm working with a Dell Inspirion 1720.
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,697
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A hardware issue is possible, although it's extremely rare that a soundcard simply stops working without leaving a trace of that in the software (i.e. the device not being detected at all anymore by the operating system). My first inkling is that you may have some sort of volume/mute problem. Does your laptop have a mute switch? My aging HP laptop has a smooth bar above the keyboard with a number of touch-sensitive use to control volume, muting, w-lan etc. Maybe your machine has something similar, and you accidentally muted the sound there? Also check the mute option in the volume control, if you haven't already.
If that fails, try downloading a Linux live CD (e.g. a recent Ubuntu release), burn it (or make a bootable USB drive) and boot the machine in Linux. Linux tends to recognize most of the mainstream hardware right out of the box, including most laptop soundcards. See if you can play music or videos with sound under Linux. If you can, and it still doesn't work in Windows, then the problem is software-related. If it doesn't work in Linux either, then you're right and it's hardware-related. I put my money on the software at this point, though.
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant
Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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I'd definitely try the live cd as well... have you tried using a pair of headphones or external speakers? I suppose it's plausible something could be wrong with the laptop's internal speakers too (as opposed to the onboard sound)...
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,697
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Re: Help diagnose my laptop [Re: CosmicJoke]
#14502976 - 05/24/11 05:46 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
CosmicJoke said: have you tried using a pair of headphones or external speakers? I suppose it's plausible something could be wrong with the laptop's internal speakers too (as opposed to the onboard sound)...
Good suggestion! Try that before you try the live CD.
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5HTSynaptrip
Dopamine Enthusiast
Registered: 09/14/08
Posts: 4,360
Loc: USA
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Re: Help diagnose my laptop [Re: koraks]
#14503880 - 05/24/11 11:28 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Sometimes sound effect settings in one program will conflict with another, but to your extent it may not be the case. I have 5.1 surround sound on my desktop and had some setting enabled for room correction on my sound card, and it took me a while to figure this out, but iTunes also had a sound setting enabled that caused me to lose sound. It drove me nuts because everything checked out OK in software diagnostics.
Just an idea for ya.
-------------------- Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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wildernessjunkie
Reshitivest
Registered: 06/13/10
Posts: 8,118
Loc: HTTP 404 Not Found
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I checked the mute feature in 3 different places. (External switch, control bar, and the control panel), I also tried a set of head phones with no luck. Il try the live disk.
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant
Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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Quote:
I checked the mute feature in 3 different places. (External switch, control bar, and the control panel), I also tried a set of head phones with no luck. Il try the live disk.
I don't use Windows at this point, but from memory, go into control panel > sound > playback and select headphones and right click it and set it as your default device, also check out its properties and there should be a levels tab to control its volume and make sure the slider is up and nothing is muted there. There's also a volume mixer which I think is accessed by the task bar. Some other control panel may also have been installed with your sound drivers, so you may want to look around in the control panel for that too. If you're testing the audio with some application, you may need to restart the application after making changes to audio settings.
Anyways, report back with all results from the ubuntu live cd (internal speakers, headphones yadda)
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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