PC repair nightmare...

Qdos

WYSIWYG
I lost sound, it seemed to happen when I was using an IM client. However I'd not usually turn on my speakers unless I'd otherwise chosen to watch films or listen to music.

When it happened I'd reboot, sometimes that cured it. Temporarily. Other times it would work for hours.

If it persisted I'd mess around with the driver options. I'd strip the driver. I'd go and roll back to a generic driver. Sometimes sound would return quickly after this - other times it wouldn't.

I stripped and reloaded my IM program, paying careful attention to audio options.

Even swapped out my audio cable. Tested my speakers on my netbook to make sure they worked there. Everything checked out fine.

In short, nothing solved the problem. It would come and go with an apparent mind of it's own - I eventually scanned my file system and even did a repair installation.

Nothing changed. I began to suspect my motherboard or it's audio ports as having a developing fault. I even strapped a thermal probe onto the sound chip and threw a peak voltage tester onto the PSU.

It happened again tonight, mid IM convo. I could find no reason, as usual.

I decided to whack some headphones into the front port, obviously the quality of the audio on that port is worse - but it worked.

Fact is I was ready to spit my dummy.

My speakers are rather pricey Studio Monitors by Samson, and after I'd finished my IM convo I decided to try running them from my netbook, and they worked OK, but I wandered off to make a brew... and when I came back it slowly dawned on me there was no sound coming from the netbook.

I pulled out the audio lead, and instantly the netbooks onboard sound came to life. Tried the Samsons again. Silence. Swapped the cable. You could still hear a pin drop.

They're 100+ watts. I never turn the volume up above 20% of that as my eardrums would be minced meat. On the main speaker there's an AC power cord, a heatsink for the amplifier, and a couple of small filter switches for crossover options.

Heatsink was hot, perhaps 70°c. Too hot to touch for long. As soon as the temperature dropped below 45°c the sound would come back to life. When the sound wasn't working if I boosted everything I could muster from the audio chip then, with all 120+ watts on tap, I could just hear a tinny little bit of audio feed through the cones.

So it was an intermittent temperature related fault. Anyway, the reason for posting this is just to mention that no matter how hard you go looking for a fault, always consider the over-obvious as much as the most improbable...

The other reason is to ask whether anyone else has had Samson Resolvs do this. They're just out of their 36 months warranty, cost a lot of money, and have had very little use.

Something else to chalk up to (expensive) experience... :(
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom built machine
OS
W7 x64
CPU
Intel Q9300 2.5Ghz Quad LGA775 (Would like Q9650)
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3R (F6 Bios)
Memory
4Gb OCZ Gold 1,333Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
Palit HD4850 O/C Sonic 512Mb DDR3, Dual DViD's
Sound Card
Azalia to twin Samson 50w Studio Monitors
Monitor(s) Displays
Twin Dell (E-IPS) U2311H 23.6" Screens
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz
Hard Drives
Crucial M4 SSD, archives on twin Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX, 2TB, 7200rpm HDD's, Samsung Ritemaster CD/DVD Burner...
PSU
OCZ 600w
Case
Lian-Li PC8 acoustifoamed' aluminium tower
Cooling
Scythe 140mm Zipang
Keyboard
Cherry PS/2 custom model
Mouse
Lenovo USB laser "Thinkpad" Mouse
Internet Speed
ADSL2+ @14Mbps downstream & Cat6 Gigabit Ethernet
Antivirus
NOD32
Browser
Opera
Other Info
Silicon Dust HD Homerun Dual FTA (Ethernet) TV Tuners, Dray Tek Vigor 2850Vn router and 8x HP Gigabit Switch. Lian-Li CR26 Card Reader, Canon MF4430 iSensys laser printer/scanner.
Wow. I guess you can hook the speakers up in the ice box.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell and Custom
OS
Systems 1 and 2: Windows 7 Enterprise x64, Win 8 Developer
CPU
System 1: i7 [email protected], System 2: AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6G
Motherboard
System 1:Dell 06NWYK System 2: ASUS M5A97 AM3+
Memory
System 1: 8GB System 2: 8GB
Graphics Card(s)
System 1: ATI FirePro V4800 System 2: Radeon HD 6850
Sound Card
System 1: onboard System 2: onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
System1: Viewsonic HDMI 24"
Screen Resolution
System 1: 1920x1080 System 2: 1920x1080
Hard Drives
System 1: Mirrored .5B drives System 2: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Case
System 1: Dell System 2: Cooler Master
Internet Speed
10 MBPS
If only there was even room in "my office" for one! :)
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom built machine
OS
W7 x64
CPU
Intel Q9300 2.5Ghz Quad LGA775 (Would like Q9650)
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3R (F6 Bios)
Memory
4Gb OCZ Gold 1,333Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
Palit HD4850 O/C Sonic 512Mb DDR3, Dual DViD's
Sound Card
Azalia to twin Samson 50w Studio Monitors
Monitor(s) Displays
Twin Dell (E-IPS) U2311H 23.6" Screens
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz
Hard Drives
Crucial M4 SSD, archives on twin Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX, 2TB, 7200rpm HDD's, Samsung Ritemaster CD/DVD Burner...
PSU
OCZ 600w
Case
Lian-Li PC8 acoustifoamed' aluminium tower
Cooling
Scythe 140mm Zipang
Keyboard
Cherry PS/2 custom model
Mouse
Lenovo USB laser "Thinkpad" Mouse
Internet Speed
ADSL2+ @14Mbps downstream & Cat6 Gigabit Ethernet
Antivirus
NOD32
Browser
Opera
Other Info
Silicon Dust HD Homerun Dual FTA (Ethernet) TV Tuners, Dray Tek Vigor 2850Vn router and 8x HP Gigabit Switch. Lian-Li CR26 Card Reader, Canon MF4430 iSensys laser printer/scanner.
If they are expensive, and "They're just out of their 36 months warranty", I'd contact the manufacturer. Good expensive products often are made by good, concerned companies. They just might help you out. A Guy
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Home x64
CPU
INTEL Core i5-750 Quad-Core 3.37GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
HyperX Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1866Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Superclocked 1GB 128-Bit GDDR5
Monitor(s) Displays
LG 32MA68HY 32" IPS
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
Samsung 840 Evo 120GB, SEAGATE 500GB Barracuda® 7200.12, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
PSU
ANTEC TruePower New TP-550, 80 PLUS, 550W
Case
ANTEC Three Hundred Illusion
Cooling
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus, 4 x 120mm 1 x 140mm Noctua's
Internet Speed
85 + Mbps
Antivirus
Avast
Browser
Vivaldi
I might well do just that, good thinking! However they're manufactured in the good old US of A and I bought mine in Germany, and just to complicate matters I have a feeling there was a 36 months EU warranty but only 24 months had they been purchased here in the UK.

The particular model I purchased is no longer manufactured, however they're still amazing units. I was always a tad alarmed with the heatsink temperature on them remaining hot, even at idle.

I'll have to try and find a schematic for them, and perhaps find a competent local TV repair outfit who might be able to replace internal components which have failed, economically.

Am still gutted they've failed so early... :shock:
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom built machine
OS
W7 x64
CPU
Intel Q9300 2.5Ghz Quad LGA775 (Would like Q9650)
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3R (F6 Bios)
Memory
4Gb OCZ Gold 1,333Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
Palit HD4850 O/C Sonic 512Mb DDR3, Dual DViD's
Sound Card
Azalia to twin Samson 50w Studio Monitors
Monitor(s) Displays
Twin Dell (E-IPS) U2311H 23.6" Screens
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz
Hard Drives
Crucial M4 SSD, archives on twin Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX, 2TB, 7200rpm HDD's, Samsung Ritemaster CD/DVD Burner...
PSU
OCZ 600w
Case
Lian-Li PC8 acoustifoamed' aluminium tower
Cooling
Scythe 140mm Zipang
Keyboard
Cherry PS/2 custom model
Mouse
Lenovo USB laser "Thinkpad" Mouse
Internet Speed
ADSL2+ @14Mbps downstream & Cat6 Gigabit Ethernet
Antivirus
NOD32
Browser
Opera
Other Info
Silicon Dust HD Homerun Dual FTA (Ethernet) TV Tuners, Dray Tek Vigor 2850Vn router and 8x HP Gigabit Switch. Lian-Li CR26 Card Reader, Canon MF4430 iSensys laser printer/scanner.
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