- Aug 24, 2015
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OK, here's my latest cause of frustration (It has been going on ever since I got this computer; it is not a new development and I am not sure what started it in the first place):
The sound is very quirky. Its an HP 6300 Tower and it only has one pretty awful speaker behind the front vent grate. Despite the fact that it sucks, I need it to work.
I am running Windows 7 x64, btw.
On the front panel there are two audio jacks. One's label is a picture of headphones and the other is a picture of headphones and a microphone. I believe there are 2 ports in the back, also, but nothing is plugged in to them as they are very hard to reach.
Normally, after starting the computer I have normal audio. Terrible quality but I'm lucky this computer has a speaker at all. I have a set of mini tweakers that I use when I need decent sound, provided they are charged. I plug them in to the jack with the picture of the headphones and they work fine. But there are a couple of triggers that just totally mess up my sound.
If I am using the built-in speaker and I attempt to mute the sound suing my keyboard button it will mute it but it is impossible to turn back on. The volume controls don't show it as being muted and even show the noise jumping up and down as if it weren't muted. But there is no sound. And it is also impossible to mute the volume when it is in this state. I tried it to see if it somehow made the speaker work instead of thinking it should be muted, but all it does is let me click on the speaker icon with no change.
You know how usually if you click on the speaker the system tray will show a volume icon with a red bar across it to signify mute? It won't show that, thus I cannot toggle the sound on and off. If I need sound at that point, I need to plug in speakers. I have to plug them into the jack with only the headphones on it. But they work. Unfortunately, battery life is a factor so at some point I need to unplug them.
That is the second thing that triggers this sound issue. Even if the internal speaker is working fine but I want better sound quality for a movie or something once I plug in the speakers and then unplug them, it goes back to this "no sound" mode. I have tried using my headphones also (corded). Same thing happens, the sound is fine until I plug in the headphones, then it sounds fine THROUGH the headphones, but as soon as I unplug them there is no sound coming from the internal speaker.
I have to restart the computer to get it to work again, but it does work again - every time, which makes me think it is a driver or software problem as opposed to hardware because it resets just fine. I have checked the default devices set up under playback devices. I have made sure they are configured reasonably with only stereo set up instead of surround sound or something. (OK, I suppose it is TWO small speakers on the front of the computer since it is set up as stereo - but they are right next to each other so I am not seeing how having two matters).
Also, the majority of the time, even when the sound is working properly, the system try icon shows it being muted and I can't get that to go away. I have seen other posts of people with the same problem but haven't found an answer that works.
I tried updating the drivers and disabling and re-enabling my audio devices. Device manager shows 2 audio devices "High Definition Audio Device" and "Intel Display Audio." I am not great with hardware so I don't know why there are two devices listed or what each of them does.
I'm sorry this post is so long, I just didn't want to leave anything out that I thought might be helpful. If you have any ideas please let me know...
Also, the port on the front with the picture of the headset and mic doesn't seem to notice that there is a mic plugged in when I plug in my headphones (they have a mic). Is that a completely separate issue?
The sound is very quirky. Its an HP 6300 Tower and it only has one pretty awful speaker behind the front vent grate. Despite the fact that it sucks, I need it to work.
I am running Windows 7 x64, btw.
On the front panel there are two audio jacks. One's label is a picture of headphones and the other is a picture of headphones and a microphone. I believe there are 2 ports in the back, also, but nothing is plugged in to them as they are very hard to reach.
Normally, after starting the computer I have normal audio. Terrible quality but I'm lucky this computer has a speaker at all. I have a set of mini tweakers that I use when I need decent sound, provided they are charged. I plug them in to the jack with the picture of the headphones and they work fine. But there are a couple of triggers that just totally mess up my sound.
If I am using the built-in speaker and I attempt to mute the sound suing my keyboard button it will mute it but it is impossible to turn back on. The volume controls don't show it as being muted and even show the noise jumping up and down as if it weren't muted. But there is no sound. And it is also impossible to mute the volume when it is in this state. I tried it to see if it somehow made the speaker work instead of thinking it should be muted, but all it does is let me click on the speaker icon with no change.
You know how usually if you click on the speaker the system tray will show a volume icon with a red bar across it to signify mute? It won't show that, thus I cannot toggle the sound on and off. If I need sound at that point, I need to plug in speakers. I have to plug them into the jack with only the headphones on it. But they work. Unfortunately, battery life is a factor so at some point I need to unplug them.
That is the second thing that triggers this sound issue. Even if the internal speaker is working fine but I want better sound quality for a movie or something once I plug in the speakers and then unplug them, it goes back to this "no sound" mode. I have tried using my headphones also (corded). Same thing happens, the sound is fine until I plug in the headphones, then it sounds fine THROUGH the headphones, but as soon as I unplug them there is no sound coming from the internal speaker.
I have to restart the computer to get it to work again, but it does work again - every time, which makes me think it is a driver or software problem as opposed to hardware because it resets just fine. I have checked the default devices set up under playback devices. I have made sure they are configured reasonably with only stereo set up instead of surround sound or something. (OK, I suppose it is TWO small speakers on the front of the computer since it is set up as stereo - but they are right next to each other so I am not seeing how having two matters).
Also, the majority of the time, even when the sound is working properly, the system try icon shows it being muted and I can't get that to go away. I have seen other posts of people with the same problem but haven't found an answer that works.
I tried updating the drivers and disabling and re-enabling my audio devices. Device manager shows 2 audio devices "High Definition Audio Device" and "Intel Display Audio." I am not great with hardware so I don't know why there are two devices listed or what each of them does.
I'm sorry this post is so long, I just didn't want to leave anything out that I thought might be helpful. If you have any ideas please let me know...
Also, the port on the front with the picture of the headset and mic doesn't seem to notice that there is a mic plugged in when I plug in my headphones (they have a mic). Is that a completely separate issue?
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