Sound getting louder and quieter!

Question

I've been having problems with the audio on my Dimension 8400 over the past couple of days. Basically whenever I play music it will get louder and quieter several times through the song without me touching a thing. I know it's not the files and it's nothing to do with my music player cos it's doing it in both WMP and winamp.

Luckily my brother has exactly the same Dell pc as me so I tried plugging his speakers (and subwoofer) into my pc and the problem continued. Therefore I really don't think there's anything wrong with the speakers. I don't have the problem when I listen through my headphones.

It's really annoying and I wanna get it fixed asap. Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing it? Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

By the way, my speakers/subwoofer is called "Home Theater Speaker System" model 5650 (the ones that came with my pc).

spiderbyter · Answer

I have the exact same problem. It's been going on for weeks. I did everything I could think of. I installed new drivers and finally bought a new sound card. It was been fine for a week but now the same thing is happening.

The only thing I can think of is that I recently installed a new graphics card (ATI RADEON X1900 XTX) and a gig of RAM (Dell brand). I researched this card beforehand and it is supposed to work with my Dimension 8400. So I think it is a hardware thing... maybe not.

If anyone has a fix or some advice I'd appreciate it.

fireberd · Answer

Sounds like a dirty or bad speaker jack on the sound card, since the headphones are OK. Also, try the "line out" and see if it does it on that.

Plug the headphones into the speaker out jack and see if it still happens. If it does, wiggle the hadphone plug to see if it makes it happen.

Unfortunately, you didn't list what type of sound you have - on board or a separate SoundBlaster Card, but if it is the speaker jack, plugging in and out several times may "clean" it. If not, it may need to be sprayed with contact cleaner but you need to be careful when doing that and have the power off when you do it. Otherwise, if the jack is bad it's not a user repairable item.

john_b_2k6 · Answer

hi,

thanks for your reply.

I wasn't sure which one the "speaker out" jack was so i tried it in all the jacks (yellow one, black one and a green one). Here's what I found:

> The problem I had of sound getting louder and quieter did not happen at all on any 3

> when I plugged my headphones into the black one it was quiter than when I listened through the green one.

> the yellow one seemed to play up a bit when using headphones. If i push the headphone connection part of the way (but not fully in) it plays sound out of both ears, however when pushed in fully sound only comes out of the left ear.

I'm not sure if any of this is significant, i'm no expert when it comes to PCs lol

fireberd · Answer

The green jack is the 'speaker' jack. The black is the 'line out', which can also be used for another speaker. Since it didn't happen with the headphones, it would appear the sound card is OK. May be dirty jacks on the speaker's connection. Clean the jack with some alcohol and see if that takes care of it.

john_b_2k6 · Answer

i don't think there's a problem with the speaker connection as i've tried connecting my brother's speakers (using all his wires/connections etc..) as well and had exactly the same problem. Message Edited by john_b_2k6 on 10-16-2006 09:41 PM

fireberd · Answer

Since the headphones, apparently, work OK and the sound doesn't vary, that pretty much eliminates the sound card and you are back to the speakers or the speaker plugs.

Plug the speaker into the headphone jack and see if they do it there, too, since the headphone output is also apparently OK.

Freddyj · Answer

Same problem here as well.

I have a Dimension 8400 with the standard Dell speaker setup (center, 2 front sides, 2 rear sides, subwoofer) that came with my computer, and an Audigy 2ZS sound blaster card.

Have checked all external connections and reloaded the driver for the sound card. No change. Problem appears to have begun when I recently added a scanner.

Is this a Dell design flaw? Has Dell issued any sort of statement about it?

Freddyj · Answer

Okay!! I just got off a 2-hour chat session with Dell. We determined that the problem lies in the speakers themselves (most likely the amp in the subwoofer). Try plugging your computer's speakers into something like a boom box and see if you still have the problem (I did).

Dell is replacing the speakers for me. I also have model 5650, just like you...

freddyj

Freddyj · Answer

The FINAL verdict...

Not only is the problem in the speakers themselves, but I have since determined that it's in the center speaker unit (not the subwoofer amp). Upon receiveing my new speakers from Dell, I hooked up the new subwoofer, but the problem was still there. That left only the center speakers, as the side speakers have no control over the rest of the speaker set-up. When I changed the center speaker unit out, the problem was gone.

Good Luck...
freddyj

john_b_2k6 · Answer

Yes! that makes sense. When you said in your first post that the problem was in the subwoofer I found that hard to believe as I tried it with my brother's subwoofer and still had exactly the same problem. I didn't believe it was a problem with the speaker's at all cos I swapped all the speakers with my bro's and the problem still occured. However one thing I didn't try was changing the center speaker unit so it would make perfect sense for it to be that! Thanks so much for investigating and posting your verdict!!

Freddyj · Answer

No problem! I seem to still be working fine for now... freddyj

john_b_2k6 · Answer

yea i just swapped my centre speaker unit with my brother's and it's been fine for 2 days now!

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Sound getting louder and quieter!

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