Sound issue

[kzkz]

I am running an HP desktop with Vista. The speakers only will output one channel, both speakers play, but when playing anything, it will only play the background music really really loud and the voice almost undetectable. I thought the speakers were going so today I swapped them out and even plugged directly into the front plug area for the headphones and it still did it.

I've looked through all of the settings under sound that I could think of, but can't see why it would do this.

Any clues?

[ruirib]

Have you tried changing the settings in the sound mixer? http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-W...er-41882.shtml

[kzkz]

Interesting. Where do I find the Sound Mixer? Didn't see it under the Control Panel | Sounds area.

[ruirib]

Do you have the speaker icon in the Windows tray area? That's where. If you click it, it will have a Mixed link at the bottom of the dialog that pops up.

[alell]

I'm running Win7, but I believe Vista is about the same: right click on the speaker icon on the bottom right or look more carefully at CP/Sounds. If you still don't find it, try updating your drivers.

[kzkz]

I found the Sound Mixer, but everything looks right. Guess I'll look at the drivers. Been working for years, then months ago, it started acting up.

[ruirib]

Have you tried changing the mixed settings to give different importance to different sound sources and see the effect that has?

[kzkz]

Everything shows as 100%

[ruirib]

Try decreasing the vaue of the sound you say it is too loud and see if it helps.

[kzkz]

I'm not sure how to do that because it's the same sound source, just a different channel.

[ruirib]

Do you have any other sound app that could be causing this?

[kzkz]

The sound is going through "SoundTek HD Audio Manager".

[ruirib]

I suppose that's the software that comes with your sound hardware? Was there any change in settings that could cause this?
Do you have the latest sound drivers and Soundtek HD Manager version?

[kzkz]

I'm not sure how to do that because it's the same sound source, just a different channel.
Looking now for my install CDs. Will try also to contact the Realtek web support. Yes, that was the program that came with the system.
No idea why it's doing this or what might have caused it.

[ruirib]

Hope they can provide help.