Reoccurring low sound issue affecting two sound cards

[Sakonosolo]

I had this issue before, all of a sudden the sound coming from my computer gets really quiet even though everything is maxed out. Before, it seemed to have been triggered when I moved my computer from one room to another. I wasn't able to move it back right away but when I did it was still happening. I removed the sound card I have, replaced it, tried different PCI slots, tested my onboard sound card, etc but to no avail. Eventually it fixed itself and I have no idea what caused it.

Earlier today my sound was working perfectly fine. I left my computer (on the entire time) to do other things and when I got back to it the volume is again really low. When it was happening before the sound seemed to be crackling on higher volumes but there's no crackling that I can hear this time. I again tried my onboard sound card and the issue was also affecting it. I normally use headphones but also tried speakers and the issue is still there on them too. Like I said though, my computer was on the entire time I was gone and nothing was changed but this suddenly started happening.

Considering it's affecting both sound cards I imagine it has to be an issue with something else, like my motherboard or Windows 7 itself. I wasn't able to find what was causing it last time though so honestly I have no idea.

Edit: Update, I found a pair of USB headphones and their volume seems fine. I hope this means something. I assume that with USB it's not going through either sound card (though that doesn't make too much sense to me) but what that means I don't know.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello and welcome Sakonoso now to me it seems that the audio through the USB port might be coming from the board audio and not the sound cards hence why it is ok. Having said that usually the on board stuff is usually cut off if there is a sound card installed.

Now it seems to narrow it down a little if this is the case and there are some things you can run sfc and a chkdsk to see if there is anything going on in the system
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html if you need to - run the latter using the /f and /r "switches"

The other thing to do is update the drivers if you haven’t done so already
http://www.htomega.com/downloads.html

 

[Sakonosolo]

Welp, I was using the USB headset all day and just tried my third party sound card again and it's normal volume again. Do you have any idea if disk errors (like the ones you were telling me to use commands to look for) could resolve themselves automatically like this? Honestly to me it sounds like that telephone setting that will automatically lower the volume acting out of line but I checked that and I couldn't find any way to fix it. And I don't know if it would have affected a USB headset.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hmm sorry late reply mate but myself I think those checks if you ran them have sorted the problem as I really don't think the telephone settings would have anything to do with the sound cards.
I reckon it is probably the driver for the card has got put out of whack by perhaps some shut downs that have occurred by accident or power outage (what is commonly called an illegal shutdown) . Those sorts of things do by their very nature do put parts of files out of place when they happen, and soon fixed with those scans so something to keep in mind if it happens again plus a lot of usage over time does defrag the disk as you will know that is another issue that will eventually cause the files to become "undone"

By the by are you using Blu tooth phones or other devices with the machine? I know in my car the volume of other stuff is affected by incoming calls etc.

 

[Sakonosolo]

Well I actually didn't run either of the tests you linked in your other post. It just fixed itself.

I do occasionally get power outages that shut my computer off, so that might have caused something. But it's not like the issue occurs right after one of those happens. And reinstalling the driver hasn't helped either time this issue has happened.

I have two of my three drives (not the SSD) defrag every once in a while automatically.

The phone setting is what I was talking about that will automatically lower the volume or mute the volume when you get a call apparently. I'm not using any phones with my computer though but I've seen other posts complaining that that settings will sometimes trigger when it's not supposed to.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok well all well and good glad t is fixed.

Now if you can run your budget to a USP then it will save any such outages affecting the system but they are not that expensive out here typically $130 but worth it for peace of mind

 

[Sakonosolo]

Okay so the problem came back just now and I did both of the scans that you suggested above and no errors were found. What else can I try to determine/fix the issue?