Sound Problems And Simple Solutions

Transcript

S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am Page 69 S 580 / 1 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions Follow the Steps in this Article to Troubleshoot Sound Problems Yourself One day your computer is happily playing sounds, music files and audio CDs, and the next day it isn’t. Clearly something has changed, but what? More importantly, how can you track down the cause and put it right? In this article, we’ll explore the common causes of sound problems on your PC and how you can solve them yourself. Windows All By Alan Harvey I Make Sure You have a Volume Control Icon on Your Taskbar................................................ S 580 / 2 I First Check if Your Master Volume Control is Turned Up........................................................ S 580 / 3 I Recording Problems? Check Your Microphone or Input Level............................... S 580 / 6 I Checklist: Look for the ‘Obvious’ Causes!........ S 580 / 8 This article shows you how to: ... Ensure that your taskbar has a volume icon ... Check master volume and other volume levels ... Find and repair problems with your computer's audio hardware PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 69 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am S 580 / 2 Page 70 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions Make Sure You have a Volume Control Icon on Your Taskbar There should be a volume icon in the tray On the far right of your taskbar there’s an area known as the ‘tray’ which contains a few small icons and the clock. Among the icons that appear in the tray, there should be one that controls the sound volume of your computer. In Windows XP, this icon looks like a little grey megaphone pointing more-or-less towards you; in other versions of Windows it’s a yellow loudspeaker facing to the right. The screenshot below shows how this icon should look in Windows XP (on the left) and other Windows versions (on the right). Perhaps the problem you’re having – and the reason you’ve turned to this article – is that you’ve lost this volume control icon and can’t adjust the volume of sounds on your computer? Make sure you can see this icon Even if that’s not the problem, it’s important to make sure this icon is shown, because it provides the first step in tracking down the cause of most sound-related problems. If you don’t see this volume icon, follow these steps to display it: 1. Open the Control Panel by choosing Start > Control Panel in Windows XP or Start > Settings > Control Panel in other versions of Windows. 2. This step varies according to which version of Windows you use. In Windows XP, click on Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices, then on Sounds and Audio Devices. In Windows 2000 and Windows Me, double-click the icon labelled Sounds and Multimedia. In 70 PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am Page 71 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions S 580 / 3 Windows 98 and 95, double-click the icon labelled Multimedia. 3. Once again, things vary slightly in different versions of Windows. In Windows XP, tick the box labelled Place volume icon in the taskbar. In other versions of Windows, tick the box labelled Show volume control on the taskbar. 4. Click OK and the missing volume icon should reappear in the tray. If the box you were supposed to tick in step 3 appears ‘greyed out’ and can’t be ticked, this means there’s a problem with the hardware device in your PC that generates sound. In this case, click Cancel to close the dialog in front of you and skip ahead to the topic ‘Checking for Problems with Your Computer’s Audio Hardware’ later in this article (see page 10). First Check Your Master Volume is Turned Up One of the most common reasons for a lack of sound in Windows is that the computer’s master volume has been turned down or the sound has been muted. Here’s how to check the master volume: The master volume may be too low 1. Move the mouse to the volume icon in the tray and click it once. 2. The little volume control panel pictured in the next screenshot will appear just above your mouse. PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 71 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am S 580 / 4 Page 72 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions 3. Make sure there’s no tick in the box labelled Mute. (If there is, click it to remove the tick.) Drag the slider upwards to increase the volume 4. Make sure the volume slider isn’t right at the bottom: if it looks as though it might be low enough to make sounds inaudible, or very quiet, click-and-drag the slider upwards. 5. When you’ve finished using this little volume panel, click once on the desktop to make it disappear. Now Make Sure all the Individual Volume Controls are Raised Other volume controls may be muted In the previous topic we looked at how to check the computer’s master volume control, but this is just one of several volume controls that manage different aspects of your computer’s sound. If the master volume control isn’t muted and its volume slider is raised, but you still can’t hear sounds, the next step is to check these individual volume controls. Follow these steps: 1. Move your mouse to the volume icon in the tray as you did in the previous set of steps, but this time double-click the volume icon. 2. You’ll now see a large window like the one pictured in the next screenshot. This window is split into several sections, side by side, each containing a separate volume control. 72 PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am Page 73 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions 3. The controls you see in this window will vary according to your own computer. There are two sections you definitely will see, however. One is the Master Volume section at the extreme left (which may be headed Play Control in some versions of Windows), and this is a copy of the same control we saw in the previous topic. You’ll also see a section headed Wave which controls the volume of the majority of sounds you hear in Windows. The master volume should be fine because we checked that in the previous topic. Work your way through the other sections in the window checking two things: first, that the Mute box at the bottom isn’t ticked (removing the tick if you see one); and second, that the sliders are raised at least a couple of notches from the bottom. S 580 / 5 Look at all Mute boxes and sliders If you found that one of the Mute boxes was ticked, or that a slider was right at the bottom, and you’ve corrected this, try playing a sound file or an audio CD to see if the missing sound has returned. (Of course, as you follow later steps in this article, carry out the same test after changing something to see if the problem has been solved.) 4. Depending on your computer’s hardware, you may not be seeing all the available volume sections in this window. To find out which other volume controls are available, open the Options menu at the top of the window and click Properties. This displays a dialog like the one pictured in the screenshot on the next page. 5. In the lower half of this Properties dialog you’ll see a number of items with checkboxes beside them. Anything that has a tick beside it is currently being shown in the volume controls window; items without a tick are not PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 Tick any boxes that may be relevant 73 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am S 580 / 6 Page 74 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions being shown. Have a look down this list for items without a tick beside them: if anything looks as though it may relate to the problem you’re having, tick the box beside it. (Needless to say, it’s hard to be sure whether or not something relates to your problem. However, if you’re not getting any sound from audio CDs, for example, and you can see an item relating to CDs, that’s certainly worth ticking.) Tick the box beside any item that may relate to your sound problem Un-mute controls and check volume levels 6. After ticking off the items you want, click OK. You’ll now be returned to the volume controls window where you’ll now see additional sections for the items you ticked. As before, make sure these are not muted and that their sliders are at least a little way from the bottom. 7. When you’ve finished with the volume controls window, close it by clicking the ‘x’ button in its top right corner. Recording Problems? Check Your Microphone or Input Level Check which input device is selected 74 The two previous topics dealt with problems in playing sounds, but perhaps you’re having a problem recording? If so, there are similar controls that set the input levels of the device you’re recording from, as well as an option to PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am Page 75 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions S 580 / 7 choose whether to record from a microphone or something different, and it’s possible that these haven’t been set correctly. Here’s how to check: 1. Double-click the volume icon in the tray to display the volume controls window. 2. Open the Options menu and choose Properties. 3. In the Properties dialog select the Recording option in the section at the top. The lower section now lists the various recording inputs you can use, such as Microphone and Line In. Make sure the input you’re trying to use has a tick beside it and then click OK. 4. You’ll now be back at the main volume controls window, and the sections will show the controls for the items that were ticked in the Properties dialog, as shown in the following screenshot. 5. Find the section that corresponds to the input you’re trying to use, such as the Microphone section, and check two things: first, ensure there’s a tick in the Select box at the bottom, which tells Windows this is the input device it should record from; second, make sure the volume slider in that section is raised. Look at the controls for the item you’re recording Be sure to tick the Select box for the input device you want to use PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 75 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am S 580 / 8 Page 76 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions Check the Volume and Mute Settings in Windows Media Player If you’re using the Windows Media Player program to play audio files, an audio CD or a movie, and you’re not hearing any sound, the cause could be Windows Media Player’s own settings. (This is particularly likely to be the case if you are hearing other sounds from Windows, such as the sounds that play when you minimise or maximise a window, empty the Recycle Bin , start or shutdown Windows, and so on.) Media Player’s volume controls are deceptive At the bottom of the Windows Media Player window you’ll see the controls pictured in the next screenshot, which include a Mute button (for turning off the sound entirely) and a volume slider. An oddity of Media Player that catches a lot of people out is that the volume slider can look as though it’s raised when the volume is actually muted. As a result, you could look at these controls and think: ‘Well the volume is definitely up so that’s not the problem!’. The Mute button and volume slider In fact, in Windows Media Player, that probably is the problem. Grab the little circular volume slider with the mouse and jiggle it left and right a couple of times, finally leaving it at what looks like a reasonable volume. This has the effect of ‘un-muting’ Windows Media Player if it was muted, and you will probably now be able to hear sound from the file, CD or movie you were playing. Checklist: Look for the ‘Obvious’ Causes! In any troubleshooting routine, there is always a set of ‘obvious’ causes – many of them seeming so obvious that we ignore them, assuming they 76 PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am Page 77 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions S 580 / 9 couldn’t possibly be to blame. Usually, of course, it’s one of those things that are to blame, and we kick ourselves for spending hours looking at complex solutions before noticing the obvious mistake! Before you go too far, run through this short checklist to make sure you can tick off the basics: I Are your speakers plugged into the socket(s) at the rear of your PC (and firmly plugged in)? I Make sure the speakers are plugged into the speaker socket on your PC, not a microphone or line-in socket. (Similarly, if you’re trying to record sound, make sure the output device or microphone is plugged into the correct socket.) I Make sure the speakers are plugged into a working power socket and are switched on. (If one of the speakers has a power lamp, make sure it’s lit.) I If there’s a volume knob on one of the speakers, make sure it’s turned up. I Try plugging a working set of headphones into the speaker socket: if you hear sound through the headphones, this indicates that the PC is generating sound properly but the speakers are faulty. I Try restarting the computer in case this is a temporary problem that will clear itself automatically with a restart. Check your connections and switches! Fuzzy sound or buzzing from the speakers? In many cases, this is caused by placing the speakers too close to a strong magnetic field such as your computer’s monitor or a mobile phone, or by having the speaker cables too close to electric cables. Another possible cause is having a microphone (or similar input device) PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 77 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am S 580 / 10 Page 78 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions connected and switched on, picking up background hum and amplifying it through your speakers. How To Check Your Audio Hardware for Problems... and Fix Them! It could be a missing or faulty driver If the preceding topics in this article haven’t led to a solution, it’s possible that the hardware device responsible for generating sound is causing the problem. More specifically, it’s rarely the device itself that’s faulty: a software program known as a ‘driver’ is installed on your PC to help the device do its job, and it’s more likely to be this driver program that has the problem. To check this, follow these steps: 1. Find the icon for My Computer (which may be on your Start menu or desktop in Windows XP, and will be on your desktop in other versions of Windows). Right-click the My Computer icon and choose Properties. 2. If you use Windows XP or Windows 2000 select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button. If you use a different version of Windows select the Device Manager tab. 3. Look down the list in this window to find Sound, video and game controllers. If you see a + sign to the left of this item, click the + sign and that section of the list will open to show its contents, as illustrated in the next screenshot. Click the + sign beside Sound, video and game controllers 78 PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am Page 79 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions S 580 / 11 4. The items listed below ‘Sound, video and game controllers’ will all have little loudspeaker icons like the volume control icon we’ve been using in the tray. Look carefully at each of these icons: have any of them got a yellow exclamation mark or a red cross over it? 5. If you see a red cross covering one of the loudspeaker icons, double-click that item. This opens a new dialog containing details of the item. (If you see a yellow exclamation mark, skip to step 7 below.) 6. Follow this step if you saw a red cross and double-clicked the item in step 5. If you use Windows XP or 2000 and you see a button marked Enable Device this indicates that the device has been ‘disabled’ (switched off): click the Enable Device button to switch it back on. If you use an earlier version of Windows and you see a box marked Disable in this hardware profile with a tick in it, remove the tick. Next, click OK. A message may now ask you to restart your computer: if so, click Yes to allow your computer to restart. If you don’t see this message, you should restart your computer anyway. After the computer restarts, check to see whether the sound problem is now fixed. Red cross? Try to enable the device 7. Follow this step if you saw a yellow exclamation mark over an item in step 4. The exclamation mark means that Windows is trying to use the device but is unable to do so, perhaps because the driver program for the device isn’t installed or has a problem. Follow the remaining steps to attempt to solve the problem. Yellow exclamation mark? Try to reinstall the device 8. On a piece of paper, make a careful note of the item that has the exclamation mark beside Make a careful note of its name! PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06 79 S580.qxd 4/5/06 9:40 am S 580 / 12 Page 80 Sound Problems and Simple Solutions it. You may need to know its name later, so be sure to write down this item’s name precisely. 9. Select the item with the yellow exclamation mark by clicking it once (making absolutely sure that you select the correct item) and press the Delete key on your keyboard. 10. A message will ask if you’re sure you want to remove this device from your system. Click OK. (If there’s another device in the ‘Sound, video and game controllers’ section that also has a yellow exclamation mark, make a careful note of its name too, then select and delete that in the same way.) 80 Windows should try to install the device again 11. After doing this, restart your computer. As Windows restarts, it should ‘find’ the device you’ve just removed, realise it doesn’t appear in the list of hardware, and reinstall it automatically. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that Windows will manage to do this, or that the device will work correctly afterwards, although it shouldn’t make matters any worse. You may need to download and install the latest version of the device’s driver If you followed the steps above to attempt to reenable the device (in step 6) or reinstall it (in steps 7_11) and had no luck, you should be able to find a new driver program by visiting the website of the device’s manufacturer. You’ll need to know the make and name of the device in order to find the manufacturer’s website and identify the correct driver: this is why you made a careful note of these details before deleting the device! (If you didn’t delete the device, you can return to Device Manager by following the first few steps on the previous page to find the name of the device with the red cross besides it name.) PC Knowledge for Seniors Update 4 July / August 06