I need help...

[debk]

I can't get my speakers to work.

When I plug them in to the computer, and run a test, it says they are fine.

Then when I plug them into the power strip, they make a very loud humming noise, nothing from a computer site. Tried a couple of videos. Sound was turned up on the computer and down a bit on the speaker itself, and still only got the hum.

What am I doing wrong? I have to do a couple of webinars and I'm in panic mode. (2 engineers in the household and they are  worthless when I need them to help me sometimes and this is one of those times!)

I tried 2 sets of speakers and got the same thing from both.

Oh yeah, and the plug in part that goes into the power strip got really warm really quickly....

[Dori]

It sounds like interference of some kind.  Have you tried any tech websites?

[Chris_]

Did you plug it into the right hole?  Everything is color-coded now... your speakers/headphones should be the green one.

Try another power strip or electrical outlet.

[debk]

yes I plugged it into the green one.

will try another strip in a bit. working on a report due in less than an hour.

[Jasonw560]

Did you plug it into the right hole? 

Do we need to move this to another forum?

[debk]

Do we need to move this to another forum?

 


my son asked the same STUPID question! (about right hole) 

[thundley4]

Have any updates ran ran lately?  Check the drivers for the sound card?

[Jasonw560]

Is the volume up on the speakers?

Did you make sure they were turned on?

[J P Sousa]

I can't get my speakers to work.

When I plug them in to the computer, and run a test, it says they are fine.

Then when I plug them into the power strip, they make a very loud humming noise, nothing from a computer site. Tried a couple of videos. Sound was turned up on the computer and down a bit on the speaker itself, and still only got the hum.

What am I doing wrong? I have to do a couple of webinars and I'm in panic mode. (2 engineers in the household and they are  worthless when I need them to help me sometimes and this is one of those times!)

I tried 2 sets of speakers and got the same thing from both.

Oh yeah, and the plug in part that goes into the power strip got really warm really quickly....

Sounds to me like a possible bad power supply (plug).
.

[EagleKeeper]

I can't get my speakers to work.

When I plug them in to the computer, and run a test, it says they are fine.

Then when I plug them into the power strip, they make a very loud humming noise, nothing from a computer site. Tried a couple of videos. Sound was turned up on the computer and down a bit on the speaker itself, and still only got the hum.

What am I doing wrong? I have to do a couple of webinars and I'm in panic mode. (2 engineers in the household and they are  worthless when I need them to help me sometimes and this is one of those times!)

I tried 2 sets of speakers and got the same thing from both.

Oh yeah, and the plug in part that goes into the power strip got really warm really quickly....

Just a few thoughts.

You have tried 2 sets of speakers and neither one of them work, I think that rules out the power supply.

I also think that the power supply getting warm quick is extraneous information unless you had a baseline to go on before.

That leads me to believe that either the speakers are not plugged into the computer correctly which might account for the feedback you are hearing when power is applied or that the sound hardware is in trouble.

Having said that I don't understand how a computer can verify that the speakers are working correctly before power is supplied to the speakers.

Some things to try.

Triple verify that the external speakers are connected to computer correctly.

Connect the speakers to the computer via USB. (This will probably require a trip to Wal-Mart.)

Go into control panel, see if the external speakers are listed, disable the computer speakers and set the computer to use the external speakers.

[EagleKeeper]

Caveat: I don't have a windows OS to check anything I say so I'm going on memory.

You might go into control panel/sounds and see what you get when you test system sounds like the *bink* sound that windows makes when you or it makes a mistake.

[EagleKeeper]

Another thought I had was ignore the color coding, grab a flashlight.

The sound gear should have an icon on the connector boots, make those icons match the computer connector icons.

[debk]

Here's what we did....  (other half who is the engineer figured it out.... AFTER he finally looked at the plug configuration.)

We rearranged the power strips. In one I have a lamp, the printer, tv, and cable box. The other has my cell phone and camera chargers, PC tower, monitor and speakers. Put the speaker jack at the far end of the doble sided strip on the side where the plugs are spaced further apart. Monitor and tower are on that side too.

I now have working speakers!!! 

Thanks for all the suggestions!!

I can now attend the webinar tomorrow that I missed today, and hopefully won't lose $450 because I won't be able to complete the reports by noon. (need to see the webinar to know how to complete them) I just signed a contract Friday with a new company to do drivebys and this was who the required webinar was with. At least they gave me 4 to chose from. Who knew they would assign 11 reports before the webinars? 

Oh, and have I mentioned I'm wicked sick? and on vacation from jtv this week - so I could get a lot of things done around here?        
 

[Chris_]

So... you had too much stuff plugged in to your power strip.

Why am I reminded of the father from 'A Christmas Story'?

[debk]

So... you had too much stuff plugged in to your power strip.

Why am I reminded of the father from 'A Christmas Story'?

Hey....I still had one plug open!

If you can't use them all, then why are they there?

Now the other one only has one plug left in it. The light and the cable box always stay on, but the printer (it's a new all in one that's supposed to be a "power saver", and the tv aren't on constantly.

The one with the computer stuff has 3 empties.

[Chris_]

I was working on a project for State Farm as a contractor way back when, swapping out computers and printers for new equipment.  This one small shop had a pair of overloaded power strips going into one electrical outlet (two plugs) and there was nowhere else to plug in the new printer. 

I plugged the printer in and it tripped the breaker for the entire office with a full waiting room.  Eeeeeverything went down... the server, their router to the State Farm network, phones, computers, coffee machine.  All of it.  I eventually got it sorted out where the new equipment worked with their lousy-ass wiring, but I still got a negative write-up from the agent.  Not my fault you're working out of a 40-year-old strip mall, asshole. 


Some of those agents were working out of houses.  The funniest thing I saw was an agent with a single-story house that was using the bathroom closet for their server/network equipment.  At least it was clean.  Another one was a guy that was using his basement for all his college memorabilia.  His router/switch had a bad cable and I spent two hours moving all kinds of sports junk out of that closet to get to the equipment to fix it and then move everything back.

[J P Sousa]

So... you had too much stuff plugged in to your power strip.Why am I reminded of the father from 'A Christmas Story'?

The proverbial spiders nest/rats nest.   
.

[Wineslob]

Glad to hear you found the right hole.