No sound from external speakers

[martinlest]

Googling this subject reveals thousands upon thousands of similar problems, but I haven't been able to get my speaker sound back - they were fine 12 hours ago.

I use some simple external USB stereo speakers with my Asus laptop. It has Realtek sound, and I also bought a Xonar U7, through which I was channelling my sound quite happily until earlier today.

Headphones plugged into the laptop headphone socket work fine. They also work OK via the Xonar. The external speakers produce no sound at all however, whether plugged into the laptop speaker jack or into the Xonar U7: when I go into Control Panel/Sound and I can see the green sound indicator moving up and down as I play music however. Testing the speakers through 'configuration' produces no sound either. I tested the speakers themselves on a second laptop, and they work fine.

I have been through the various volume controls - nothing is set to mute. No problems show in Device Manager. I've rebooted and also used System Restore... Still got a silent laptop. All that works now, headphones apart, are the laptop internal speakers, which are pathetic..

Can anyone please help?

Many thanks,

Martin

PS. I have had this problem on and off for a while, though before I always managed to get the sound back, just by switching back and forward between the U7 and Realtek as the default, but that hasn't worked this time. I have posted before (I've just remembered - sorry for any duplication!!). Here is my previous post - but, it's not a problem with the plug this time:

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-au...kers-suddenly-not-working-my-asus-laptop.html

 

[Barman58]

The PC is your specs is a desktop but the problem relates to a laptop, If you can provide more details of the actual laptop this may help troubleshooting

Also you state that the speakers are USB - are they just USB or USB powered with a jack for connection to the headphone socket?

 

[martinlest]

Hi. Yes, sorry, my main PC is listed, not the laptop. It's an Asus X44, running Win7 Home Premium x64. (Is that enough info for current purposes?). The speakers have an audio jack and a USB plug. I have tried moving to different USB ports, to no avail.
Thanks.

 

[Barman58]

One other thing to try, if possible, if you power the speakers from the laprtop that works or even the desktop, and connect the audio cable to the problem lap top what happens - just to rule out an issue with the laptop USB output - the speakers are probably a fairly high current device and if the problem is with the USB another device such as a mouse would work fine

 

[martinlest]

I don't have a powered USB hub, but will try using a USB port from the other (Dell XPS) laptop to see what happens. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a USB issue - the ports on the Asus machine are very erratic. I don't think USB technology has really been perfected - every PC I have ever owned has had less than 100% reliable USB ports. Sometimes they work, next time they don't. This seems semi-permanent though...

Will test when I can and post back. Thanks.

 

[Barman58]

If it does turn out to be the ports, you could try a Phone type wall charger to keep the speakers working, but you would probably need to get one suitable for Tablets to get the power output required

 

[Barman58]

Just out of interest the Power Section in the Wiki page for USB gives some possible clues for why the issue has been off/on with the one laptop and not the other - it may be that the ports on the laptops are complient to differing specs. If the current draw of the speakers is borderline for the ports available output that would likely cause unpredictable results

USB - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[martinlest]

As I have read elsewhere, this problem may just resolve itself, overnight. I am living in a rather out-of-the-way town in Sri Lanka (for work), so don't have recourse to the kind of tools and hardware I'd have back in London, but I'll do what I can before I post any 'results'. (Maddening to have invested in the Xonar and now not be able to sue it!!).

Actually, talking of USB, my main PC in the UK also seems to have issues: I use it for gaming only (MS Flight Simulator) and bought a Razer Tartarus keypad to go with my Saitek X52 flight control system (all just jargon unless you're a flightsimmer!). The Tartarus causes all my USB devices to lock up after a while. Doubtless a USB issue too.

 

[Barman58]

Over the years I've found that most USB issues are Power related, the basic data I/O is pretty solid, most of the time, so I always try to use externally power supplemented devices where possible - there are standards for the various parts of the USB infrastructure, both mechanical and electrical, but designers always push the envelope, items are built down to a price, and of course the USB connection is not mechanically secured wear can become an issue.

I have an external usb DVD unit for which I've lost the extra Power supply It still works via USB only but on all but the one netbook that does not have a built in drive, Murphy's law at it's finest

 

[martinlest]

Hi again. Been without internet for two days - provider had to come and fix it!! There's always some problem...!

OK, I tried powering the speakers from the Dell laptop, and hey presto, the sound was then fine on the Asus one. (Good idea, thanks!). I then juggled my USB plugs on the Asus to different ports and found that one of them is not providing the power needed, whereas one other is. The Xonar works well enough (so far) through the 'weak' port, in fact even via a non-powered hub (I wasn't using the hub for testing though I hasten to add, I was plugging straight into the laptop's USB ports) - so now all is working.

So, if I buy a couple if good powered USB hubs (one for this laptop, one for my gaming PC back in the UK), this should fix the issues, even though the powered hub would be plugged into a 'weak' port that will not support the USB device directly?

I also wonder why things worked fine for over a year and then suddenly stopped the other day...

Thanks for your help.

Martin

 

[Barman58]

Martin, good to hear you're making progress

As for the system working fine for a long time and then degrading, I would put that down to simple wear, the USB ports are not the greatest ever Electro-Mechanical design, and the constant plugging and unplugging, (especially on a laptop), can cause issues for the connections, there is also the old issue of corrosion of the electrical connections.

The powered hub should sort the power issue as it does not take power from the computer, but only data, all power is supplied directly from the mains supply via a transformer/converter in the mains adaptor.

One option for the desktop would be an add-on pci-USB card - modern devices are available on-line for a few pounds and a suitable USB2 or even USB3 card will normally supply a higher power that the defaults fitted to the motherboard

 

[martinlest]

The desktop already has a USB card as far as I recall. I am pretty sure that there are no more available slots on the motherboard now, either. There's a large GPU which blocks one of the slots..

I'll see if I can borrow a powered USB hub back in the UK, or get one from Amazon. They all get such mixed reviews though.. many seem to last no time before they stop working. Others are more expensive than I want to pay (at least till I am sure that is where the USB problems lie).

 

[martinlest]

The 'good news' didn't last long. I just get a distorted electric buzzing sound from the speakers now if I run them through the Xonar. I have ordered a mains-powered USB hub (for my PC) and some Logitech mains-powered laptop speakers too. I hope the outlay will be worth it!!

 

[Barman58]

Sorry to hear that

I'm beginning to wonder if some of the noise you're experiencing is related to where you are, I know that supplies are not as "clean" in a lot of out of the way places, (compared to what we are used to in the UK), and a lot of sound devices are not shielded as well as they could be, (especially those designed for UK Use).

I get the old familiar Buzz Buzz when my mobile rings, on a small set of good quality USB laptop speakers I sometimes use, But when using the speakers on my 5.1 surround system or TV speakers, (Via HDMI), the sound is perfect

 

[martinlest]

All my hardware was bought in the UK (well, I bought the laptop itself when I was working in Bangkok, so that's not quite true!), and shipped over ... The buzzing, electronic sound is all I get now - there is no music at all when I play music files. This is only through the Xonar. If I plug the speakers directly into the laptop, the sound is OK (and just that - 'OK'). I suppose that the Xonar decided it didn't like the 'weak' USB port either in the end.