Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2022 April 16

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April 16

Very Weak Audio

I have a Dell Inspiron 3688 running Windows 10. Two years ago, at the start of the pandemic, I bought a pair of reasonably good speakers to connect to it, primarily so that I could listen to livestreamed church services during the suspension of public worship due to the pandemic lockdown. They worked fine until recently. Now the sound that I get through them is extremely weak. I can hear it, but just barely. I know that there are three volume controls that work multiplicatively: One is physically on the speaker; one is in the Settings (formerly Control Panel); and one is in the web page, either Facebook or YouTube. I think that all of them are set to 100%. Is there anything else that I should check? For the time being, I basically can't use the desktop computer to receive livestreaming, and can use a laptop computer instead. Is there anything that I should check next? (I might have already checked it, but checking something again is standard.) Robert McClenon (talk) 18:40, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

At the risk of stating the obvious, have you tried connecting to speakers to another device, into another socket, or other speakers to the PC, in order to narrow down the problem? Shantavira|^{feed me} 19:22, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

Windows allows volume to be controlled per application. If you right-click the speaker icon and select "open volume mixer" you should be able to locate a volume setting for your browser, which is yet another layer (a volume setting between the web page and the master system setting). It's possible that this might have been turned down (goodness knows how or why). See How to Adjust the Volume for Individual Apps in Windows.  Card Zero  (talk) 21:10, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

User:Shantavira - I don't have other speakers. One reason that I am asking is that I want to know if I need to buy other speakers. I haven't tried connecting the speakers to the laptop computer. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:08, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

Try that to help narrow down the problem. I think it is most likely a setting is wrong. Also, make sure the plug is making good connection to the jack. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:09, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

Do you not even have headphones or earbuds? Even those from a phone with a TRS 3.5mm plug should work fine. Likely TRRS 3.5mm plug earbuds or headphones should work well enough to test too. Nil Einne (talk) 10:19, 17 April 2022 (UTC)