Jesus 'n Jim
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how to get sound again in your pc speakers

 

Overview

sometimes the sound on pc's/headphones/cans/earbuds goes out. here's how to get it back.

wirewound pots/potentiometers don't seem to have the noise/disconnect problems associated with carbon film pots.

carbon-film pot/potentiometer degradation symptoms

  • disconnect of a channel of audio or both channels of audio
  • intermittent connect/disconnect "noise" of audio while adjusting pot/control, the more you tweak/twiddle/frob the knob the less it makes noise, but it doesn't completely go away.

possible causes of carbon-film pot/potentiometer degradation

I don't know for sure what causes this.

  • humidity
  • time: 3-5 years old seems to be the problem in our rainy climate.
  • wear: repeated wiping of the force-applied wiper arm inside the pot/potentiometer.
  • dust gets inside between the carbon film and the wiper arm

steps to get sound back in your speakers/cans/earbuds/headphones.

  1. PC:if no sound, reinstall sound drivers (if this is a PC).
  2. ALL:sometimes volume/balance/tone/bass control knobs on speakers get dust in them (or they wear). try adjusting the volume control up and down a few times, sometimes up to 20-30 times if it's really bad/noisy. if it makes lots of static, keep trying, it will settle down once it has made a good connection.
  3. plug power (if any) into your speakers/cans/earbuds/headphones, and that the power adapter has not become ajar in the power strip due to feet or whatever.
  4. unmute the speakers/cans/earbuds/headphones
  5. set the WAVE (to max) and VOLUME CONTROL (to 2nd bar up from the bottom) in windows control panel, sound, ADVANCED. crank your speakers up all the way.
  6. go to audio tab of control panel sound applet. make sure your wave devices are the ones that are set for playback and recording. also check to see if you have multiple of them. you may have to switch one of these out and favor one.
  7. ALL:make sure your speakers/cans/heaphones/earbuds are plugged into the right socket and it's plugged in all the way. it might be the green one. you may have to try different sockets.
  8. make sure that if you are playing a cd, that the cd is free of smudges and dust and scratches. it should be pristine on the data side.
  9. play something.
  10. If you still can't hear the speakers/cans/earbuds/headphones, crank up the control panel's VOLUME CONTROL.
  11. if you still can't hear anything, try changing sockets, such as the computer's built-in sound jacks.
  12. if you have tried all the sockets but still can't hear anything, switch the audio tab of control panel sound applet's playback and recording wave devices and start again from the top.
  13. if you still don't get anything, you have bad speakers/cans/earbuds/headphones, get a new set of speakers/cans/earbuds/headphones and start over, they are probably dead.
  14. if this still doesn't work, it's time to buy a new sterso/cd player/sound card, your stereo/cd player/motherboard audio is fried.