Computer audio way too quiet after moving to another room

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
Wasn't sure where exactly to put this, but I'm pretty sure it's an issue with Windows because of the various tests I've done.

I moved my computer to another room (to install a new HDD), and after setting everything up the headphones are way too quiet. I checked with a pair of earbuds too and they were having the same issue. So either it's an issue with a Windows setting, or an issue with my sound card. If I look at the volume bar while playing music or otherwise doing something with sound, the green bar that shows how loud whatever sound is playing is seems like it's showing normally. Windows registers the sound as normal apparently then, but what I'm hearing from my headphones is still way too quiet. I tried reinstalling my sound card drivers and that didn't help. I was going to try and see if I could get them to work normally in safe mode but I couldn't get sound to work at all in safe mode so that didn't work. All settings on everything are exactly the same as they were when the sound was working fine to my knowledge. And I don't recall doing anything with the computer that might have damaged the sound card.

Disabled the sound card and used the onboard audio and it's the exact same issue. So that would mean it is an issue with something software related in Windows right? Two completely different hardware setups with two completely different pairs of headphones are having the exact same issues. The only thing I did was move my computer to another room and install a new HDD. Also, at the higher ends of the volume, like when I have both a program and the Windows volume set to max, I can hear crackling in the audio, despite the audio still being very quiet.

Anyone have any guesses as to what is causing the problem here? I'm moving my computer back where it was at the end of the week, so that could potentially fix is somehow, but I still find it bizarre how the audio just started malfunctioning like this.
 
Solution
D
Sort by date Sort by votes
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest
Are your motherboard drivers up-to-date?

Also, have you checked all connections are securely fitted into the motherboard (Such as your sound-card and any Front Panel Connectors?)

Also, try using a different power connector to power your sound-card and see if that changes anything.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
lewisaro1

lewisaro1

Honorable
Oct 10, 2012
294
0
10,860
try use the sound from your monitor through HDMI or whatever to see if that is affected too, if it isnt then go to your audio devices, right click your headphones and make sure they are not muted or turned down
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510

I haven't done anything with mobo drivers in awhile so I really don't know. How would I go about checking that?

I took the sound card out and refitted it so it seems like it's in. And the sound card is powered by the PCI slot it's in, so I can't change power connectors really. And I also tried the onboard sound card which would also be powered by the mobo's power and it had the same issue.


I'll try to see if I can do the HDMI thing. That would mean that the sound is being controlled by my GPU I think so that would be a third sound controller.

And yeah, I've checked the settings in the audio menus a dozen times over by now and I can't detect anything wrong.

Edit: Sound coming out of the speakers by using HDMI seems to be of sufficient volume, and definitely a lot better than using either sound card I have. I hope this gives something you guys can use to help me.

Edit 2: Also while I can't use the sound cards, is there any way to get sound coming out of my headphones rather than the speakers on the monitor if I'm using HDMI from my GPU to my monitor? The monitor seems to only have a plugin for a microphone for some reason (audio in, unless I'm misinterpreting this).

Edit 3: Also one more thing I noticed. I'll use the example of listening to music. If I have the Windows volume maxed out, I have to set my music player's volume to maybe 75%-80% because any higher and the audio starts to crackle. This also didn't happen before I moved the computer, so it's most likely related. Would the setup of my power cords have anything to do with this? Because the setup is different where I have it now and a difference in the amount of power being supplied might affect audio quality?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest
If the audio through HDMI is considerably louder, this could indicate a problem with the actual audio jack itself or your headphones you are using.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510

As I said in one of my posts, I tried two pairs of headphones and they both had the same issue. I also used two sound cards that each used a different jack. And I think the chance of having two sound cards having the same issue and/or two different pairs of headphones having the same issue is pretty low.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


So we have ruled out the sound cards or headphones being the issue here. In this case, it seems that the motherboard might have developed a sudden fault. You have tried everything in windows with no success so I think this is a hardware issue tbh.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
The motherboard is pretty much brand new too :/ . And how would a faulty (but not dead) motherboard affect the sound quality of a third party sound card? Not saying it couldn't, I just don't know too much about this. If it was affecting the audio quality of a third party sound card it would seem to me that it would also be affecting the sound quality of the HDMI audio from my GPU, which it isn't, at least not to the same degree.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


I assume that you have tried different PCI-Express ports on your motherboard to install the card. Having seen your response, the motherboard probably isn't the problem here so we can rule that out as well. Keep us updated on the situation throughout the coming week.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510

I actually haven't tried that. I'll do it later to see. I don't know if it runs on PCI-E or just normal PCI and regardless I don't have many of those free so I'll probably have to remove my network card or something. I should be moving the computer back within the week and I'm going to laugh hard if the problem just magically fixes itself when that happens.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


I would give it a try, it might work. And if it resolves itself, that would be too funny! :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
So I was looking in the device viewer and noticed there was an exclamation point next to my computer icon that is listed in there, that represents my computer. I clicked troubleshoot and there are three drivers missing apparently: SM Bus Controller, Ethernet Controller, and USB Controller. The others might not really matter but the SM Bus Controller driver seems like it could be important. It's apparently part of my motherboard's chipset and controls drivers and such. Any advice on this? I guess I should try to find this even if it isn't part of this particular issue but could that driver missing be causing the issue I'm having? I didn't notice these things missing before I installed the HDD, which is when the issue started.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


You should make sure you update these drivers, it could resolve the problem. Also, did you try moving the card to a different PCI slot?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
So I updated those drivers and it didn't do anything. I also unplugged the HDD that I just put in to see if having it plugged in was doing something and that still didn't fix the issue. I haven't moved the card to another PCI slot. I don't think I have the space in my computer/free PCI slots but I'll check at some point. I don't think that would fix anything though given that the onboard soundcard is having the same issue.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


Switching the slot could work, but if it doesn't then the problem lies elsewhere.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
I moved the computer back and the issue is still there, as I thought it would be. I tried the speakers I have too and it seems the problem is still there but I guess because they have their own amplifiers or something the issue isn't as bad and I can get it to sound relatively normal. I think I'm going to go see if I can move the sound card. Maybe switch it and the network card.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


I'm thinking that if you say the green bar is showing normally, there could be a faulty component somewhere. Can you post the full specs of your PC please.

Thanks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
Switched the sound card and network card as those were the only two pci slots in the computer. It didn't start (no lights or any reaction) so I removed one and then the other until it booted, which was only with the sound card in the other slot. While booting there was a message about a bios update that I said to skip for right now. When it got to the desktop no icons were in the tray except the sound icon and I couldn't click on it. The sound issue was still there so I put the network card back in and again the computer didn't boot. Tried switching the cards again, removing both, removing one, etc and still no boot. Tried two different plugs and two power cables. Pressing the power button does nothing.

While I was doing all this removing and switching I occasionally forgot to flip the power switch on the psu to off but would that cause damage? And to the psu or motherboard? So right now I'm stuck with a paperweight it seems all because of this sound problem.

To the guy above me:
Asrock z87 extreme4
Gtx 670
I5 4670k
Gskill Ripjaws
Corsair RM750
HT Claro+
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


Firstly, I would update the BIOS to the latest version so that any optimizations or fixes are installed. And about the boot situation, Have you tried reversing the positive and negative connections from the power button to the motherboard connection point (PWR-SW)? On one of my other computers, I had a similar problem and this is how I resolved the power issue. At this stage, everything should be tried. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
So basically you're saying flip the cord going from the motherboard to the power button so the connections are the opposite of how they are now? Okay I'll try that.

Edit: What you said to do didn't do anything but I got the computer to start by clearing the cmos. So now the computer starts but the fan on the power supply isn't spinning and it seems that's causing the computer to shut off occasionally because the power supply is overheating. Is that something that can be fixed or is that something I need to RMA for? This sucks that a simple audio problem is causing so much issue. Also I don't think it was a message to update the bios, but a message saying that the date and time in the bios weren't set correctly.

Edit 2: Though apparently the fan on this PSU doesn't start to spin until it gets to 40% load, so it could be a non-issue. Though The couple of times I started it up just now it did just shut off a couple times too, as if the PSU was having an issue, so it could be something. I'll have to monitor it. Would be great if I could get it replaced and still keep the one I have so I could just instantly replace it if it needed to be replaced.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sakonosolo

Reputable
May 29, 2014
11
0
4,510
Well I'll be damned if I know what happened but the issue seems to have resolved itself. The two PCI cards I have are currently in their switched positions and I'm just going to leave them there is fear of messing things up again, but I don't know if that solved it or how it even would have solved it. Initially after moving the computer back and doing all the switching of cards, a lot of icons were missing from the taskbar in the bottom right corner of the computer screen and I couldn't click on the volume icon to do anything with it. After a few computer restarts the icons came back and the volume icon started working again and the sound was back to normal with no sign of the issue I've been having for the past week. It took a little bit of work to get the network card working (and I initially thought that the PCI slot might have been faulty) but both cards are right now working as they should.

I hate computers.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deleted member 1359562

Guest


What a relief! If this seems to be a permanent fix then we can all celebrate! :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom