New Laptop Sucks!! No volume

I travel so I watch movies on my laptop. My old laptop was a bag of shit, but it had volume. It died and I bought a great new machine. I cannot hear a thing. Outside of a new soundcard....Any geeks have advice for a nitwit??


Thanks

did you buy a laptop or a net book?

there is a difference...

might want to go to the website and update drivers as a start.

google the brand and model and see if anyone else is having the same issue... most times there is a quick fix or something you are overlooking..

Netbooks generally have pretty lousy volume. I never use one without a headset.

But if the sound is breaking or is low try to return it. Hardware problems with sound on a laptop or netbook would be expensive to fix.

Do you have sounds whatsoever? Like the beeps when you do something wrong? You can go into the control panel and check to see if your soundcard is disabled. Also check to see your sound isn't muted. AND (yeah... long list) try to get sound using a plug-in headset. If you get sound with headset and not speakers, it could be a volume issue or bad speakers. If you get no sound at all, then you may have bad hardware, bad drivers, and/or bad karma...

What model is it, and how long ago did you purchase it?

It is a brand new laptop from Toshiba. I have sound and it is turned up all the way, it is just hard to hear movies from DVD for some reason.

Many times there are 2 volume setting. One for the OS and one for the application. Make sure both are set higher.

It is a brand new laptop from Toshiba. I have sound and it is turned up all the way, it is just hard to hear movies from DVD for some reason. Originally Posted by Nitwitboy

If the system sounds work and are the correct volume, its not a hardware problem.

Using built in speakers, headphones, or exterinal speakers?

Try using headphones. If the sound is OK, you may need powered exterinal speakers.

Also, check the volume control in the app you are using to play the movie. Media Player, for example has its own volume control.

How does the control for wave look in the volume control setting? Double-click the speaker icon on the lower right hand of the screen to get there.

It also could be your DVD player software. Try downloading and using a different DVD player and see if that works better.

I travel so I watch movies on my laptop. My old laptop was a bag of shit, but it had volume. It died and I bought a great new machine. I cannot hear a thing. Outside of a new soundcard....Any geeks have advice for a nitwit??


Thanks Originally Posted by Nitwitboy

The issue is due to new onboard audio controllers and their ability to support HD audio. When using the pair of built-in speakers, they only output a portion of their wattage capability. You have two options at this point.

1.) Use VLC player to watch your DVD's, it will allow you to go beyond 100% and double the audio output using a software amplifier, its free.

2.) Use SRS Audio Sandbox to adjust audio of native applications, it works the same way, but its a trial package.

This should solve your problems.

One more thing to try - make sure the audio setting in your media player is set to <stereo> or <stereo surround>. If it's set to something like <Digital/DTS 5.1>, you may only be getting front left and right channels and not the center channel.

It is a brand new laptop from Toshiba. I have sound and it is turned up all the way, it is just hard to hear movies from DVD for some reason. Originally Posted by Nitwitboy

Try this. Go to the Toshiba website and update your BIOS and audio drivers. Update any driver that looks DVD related.

Did you ever get it working?