Default volume level of sound device suddenly decreased

[bmanrockz]

I have a creative sound blaster 24-bit external sound card that used to run well with my creative 5.1 speakers on the vista sp1 laptop.

I have another desktop that i just completed building and decided to plug in the same there. This one runs XP SP3.

When i did, the speakers started giving out a very high pitch sound and the sound card power-on indicator turned off.

So i shut down the desktop and plugged the card back into the laptop.

Now, the default sound level has suddenly gone down. I normally played my music at the following volume levels:

Hardware Volume Level (the dial on the speaker): 5
Media player volume level: 30
Windows sound level: 100 (max)

Now i have to max out my hardware volume level, and media player volume level to get the same response as before.

The speakers seem find as they are giving me the same output as before. The device drivers also seem to be configured properly and i re-configured the device again anyway. But there is no change. Please help. What do i check?

Thanks a million.

[bmanrockz]

ok...weirdest thing...i disconnected the device and reconnected it to the USB hub and it starts working as before!!!!

I am like totally lost. This is freaky!

[Maxforu]

Check the volume control of the player you are using as well as the main volume control on the computer itself, both need to be turned up for it to work.

[T.J.]

Check control panel -- sounds and audio devices.
Make sure that all the volume options are all the way up. There are several different ones, including speaker volume. However, there are few laptops out there that just have terrible speakers that are very hard to hear, and there's nothing to be done about it.

[RoninBlade]

If you have Creative soundcards, make sure that you don't have Creative's MP3 codec installed.

I've had these symptoms in the past, as well as speed fluctuations, and it was related to Windows Media Player using Creative's codec.

To check, go to Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices->Hardware.

Select "Audio Codecs" and click "Properties."

On the "Properties" tab, remove all MP3 codecs except "Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec."

Reboot and enjoy

[Fabian]

first thing to check is whether your audio driver is actually working. This might be due to the wrong configuration of your driver or incompatibility with the os/ service pack that you have. I would suggest that you uninstall and install the audio driver again. Be careful not to download any spyware or malware while doing so.

[Zane]

If your sound card has a line-level output, there is no software solution possible. Just as software cannot increase the size of a monitor, it cannot change the way the output of a sound card works. If different mixing software sets the gain of the card extremely high in an effort to give louder sound, the output of the card will just be driven into distortion.

However, if it is a line-out you're using, there are some hardware possibilities beyond my first suggestion:

Sensitive headphones with a high impedance will work comfortably from a line out. My 2000 Ohm Sennheisers run straight from the line out on my system, but they are quite expensive phones.

Some sound cards have an amplifier on the card, with jumpers to set whether it is used, governing whether the output is line out or speaker/phones out. If you haven't already checked for this possibility, you could check the specification of the card, either online or if you have an instruction booklet. Or examine the card to see if it has a block of six pins with two jumpers, labelled LINE/SPK.

[bmanrockz]

Thanks for all your replies guys, but please read the second post...it got solved by just disconnecting and reconnecting the external sound card!...freaky, but true!...gave me quite a scare!

I am thinking that the mobo on the desktop is not grounded correctly...