The Conservative Cave

The Help Desk => Computer Related Discussions & Questions => Topic started by: vesta111 on September 15, 2010, 08:22:45 PM

Title: PC deaf
Post by: vesta111 on September 15, 2010, 08:22:45 PM
  Out of the blue my sound stopped working on my PC.


This weekend it will take much time to investigate if a wire is loose from the computer.  The whole shebang is built in and just getting to the back of the PC and replacing everyting will be a 3 hour job.

Frustrating for me to become computer deaf, all those You tube and the goodies the forum sends me.

Frank, do you use Closed Caption when you do watch your TV?  My mom is getting very hard of hearing and I keep suggesting she use that feature as when she has the news on the volume is at the top. I wish my PC had closed caption for all videos, I have that feature on my kitchen TV so if I am on the phone I still know what is going on in the news without trying to talk over the sound.---I became interested in the foreign movies that were filmed in another language with the translations running about the bottom. 

Strange part is that when I play Canaster on POGO I have sound. I never did get that new PC I wanted a year ago, this darn thing keeps chugging along.

It looks like a good part of the weekend will be taken up with this problem, not to mention cleaning behind the set up for all the stuff that has falling back behind the built in. 

Flight of ideas here as everything I expected to have, has gone away --- Like loosing the breaks on the car on a steep hill, or getting a blind date that is wonderful.    I want my Obama Pony. Where's my free rent, I thought Obama was going to pay off my credit cards for me. I was promissed by HP that once I bought this machine it would work forever, they have let me down big time.

 I dread having to do all this work this weekend  I want to winterize the house but guess if something comes up, I will have to remain PC deaf for another few days--weeks--when ever.




Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: zeitgeist on September 27, 2010, 08:47:47 AM
  Out of the blue my sound stopped working on my PC.


This weekend it will take much time to investigate if a wire is loose from the computer.  The whole shebang is built in and just getting to the back of the PC and replacing everyting will be a 3 hour job.

Frustrating for me to become computer deaf, all those You tube and the goodies the forum sends me.

Frank, do you use Closed Caption when you do watch your TV?  My mom is getting very hard of hearing and I keep suggesting she use that feature as when she has the news on the volume is at the top. I wish my PC had closed caption for all videos, I have that feature on my kitchen TV so if I am on the phone I still know what is going on in the news without trying to talk over the sound.---I became interested in the foreign movies that were filmed in another language with the translations running about the bottom. 

Strange part is that when I play Canaster on POGO I have sound. I never did get that new PC I wanted a year ago, this darn thing keeps chugging along.

It looks like a good part of the weekend will be taken up with this problem, not to mention cleaning behind the set up for all the stuff that has falling back behind the built in. 

Flight of ideas here as everything I expected to have, has gone away --- Like loosing the breaks on the car on a steep hill, or getting a blind date that is wonderful.    I want my Obama Pony. Where's my free rent, I thought Obama was going to pay off my credit cards for me. I was promissed by HP that once I bought this machine it would work forever, they have let me down big time.

 I dread having to do all this work this weekend  I want to winterize the house but guess if something comes up, I will have to remain PC deaf for another few days--weeks--when ever.






Vesta, if you have sound playing one program what makes you think it would be a loose wire?  Sounds more like a software setting.  But cleaning behind a computer is never a bad thing to do just because.

These type problems are usually best solved by teen age children / grandchildren.

As a side note have you ever visited the computer place down by you? Signature or something like that I think.

Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: LC EFA on September 29, 2010, 04:03:53 AM
I don't want to sound like a smartass here - but check to make sure the volume is set correctly (and not muted) in the application you use.
 
If you have sound in one application and not another it's not likely to be a loose wire.

As an aside - the "It's probably a loose wire" fault description is close to the top of the ten most hated things you can tell a computer technician.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: JohnnyReb on September 29, 2010, 06:52:25 AM
I don't want to sound like a smartass here - but check to make sure the volume is set correctly (and not muted) in the application you use.
 
If you have sound in one application and not another it's not likely to be a loose wire.

As an aside - the "It's probably a loose wire" fault description is close to the top of the ten most hated things you can tell a computer technician.


 :lmao:.....overheard one tell a person, "Yeah, ....and I think I know where it is."


Maybe you needed to be there and know the people involved.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: vesta111 on September 29, 2010, 07:49:20 AM
:lmao:.....overheard one tell a person, "Yeah, ....and I think I know where it is."


Maybe you needed to be there and know the people involved.

We finally found the problem, we had to buy a new monitor with outside speakers and a new key board.

   
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 10:01:10 AM
We have been putting desktops back together and re-hooking back to the internet with this move.

We switched from AT&T DSL to Comcast Cable. Since M's office is on the 2nd flr, mine's on 3rd, and T's is in the basement....we opted to hook M's to the modem. His is working much better than it did when it was networked to mine on DSL. Still no sound though, and I can't figure out why.

I have to hook the fax/copy/print/scanner into it yet, but for some reason, we don't have the phone service that Comcast promised in the package, and I haven't had time to figure out why. That's T's project for today.

The last time I talked to Comcast was the day we moved in, and found out that what I wanted and what I ordered were two different things....and was going to cost $180 more in install costs on the TV's and I had told her I wanted 2 desktops and 2 laptops to be cable internet hooked in, and she didn't tell me only one would be hooked to the modem, and the others wouldn't work without additional equipment!!! Now I know why they have such a reputation for "nickel and diming" customers!!! :censored:

I told them where they could put their cable company!!! M over-ruled and T had to talk the installer into staying and continuing. I was not nasty to the installer....it wasn't his fault. I was nasty to the Customer Service supervisor, though. The poor installer, he had T call me when he found out the order was not right for the computers....I think he was afraid to tell me that they were not going to work without the router and adapter. When he got on the phone, he prefaced his explanation, by telling me to go to WalMart and purchase it as it would be much cheaper...it was less than half for the router. Don't know what the adapter would have been from Comcast, but T found it at Staples for $26? I think he said.

When I placed the order, I was specfic on what I wanted.....and there was a transcript of it, as it was online. But the CS super couldn't access it! Then what's the point of doing it?  :censored: The fact that the woman did not ask me how many TV's I wanted hooked up, is not my fault!! We are still trying to get them all hooked up so they work properly.  :banghead: T also gets to talk to them about that.  :evillaugh:

I spent 2 hours on the phone last night with a guy in New Delhi, trying to get the Netgear router and adapter to make my desktop and laptop hook into the Comcast modem. Once I found the phone number on the box - wouldn't it have been logical to have it on the direction pamphlet? :thatsright: The tech was wonderful!!! I cannot say enough nice things about him. His English was with a Brit accent and quite easy to understand, he was wonderfully patient and kept trying different things to get the laptop to hook in, until he got it....it was a firewall issue, and he didn't give up. It's all working correctly and is much speedier than the AT&T DSL was.

If someone can explain to me why the sound doesn't work on M's desktop....I would appreciate it. Or at least what to look for. Yes...I do have the speakers plugged into the right place, they are turned on, and the sound is up on the computer's volume thingie...but no sound.  :bawl: I also have to get the other thing loaded into it, but have not found the install CD for it yet.  It's in a box....somewhere. :banghead:

Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: zeitgeist on September 29, 2010, 10:02:58 AM
We finally found the problem, we had to buy a new monitor with outside speakers and a new key board.

   

Can this one hear or is it deaf as well?  Of course we knew you meant mute but hey, who else thinks enough of you to pick on ya??

Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: zeitgeist on September 29, 2010, 10:11:04 AM
We have been putting desktops back together and re-hooking back to the internet with this move.

We switched from AT&T DSL to Comcast Cable. Since M's office is on the 2nd flr, mine's on 3rd, and T's is in the basement....we opted to hook M's to the modem. His is working much better than it did when it was networked to mine on DSL. Still no sound though, and I can't figure out why.

I have to hook the fax/copy/print/scanner into it yet, but for some reason, we don't have the phone service that Comcast promised in the package, and I haven't had time to figure out why. That's T's project for today.

The last time I talked to Comcast was the day we moved in, and found out that what I wanted and what I ordered were two different things....and was going to cost $180 more in install costs on the TV's and I had told her I wanted 2 desktops and 2 laptops to be cable internet hooked in, and she didn't tell me only one would be hooked to the modem, and the others wouldn't work without additional equipment!!! Now I know why they have such a reputation for "nickel and diming" customers!!! :censored:

I told them where they could put their cable company!!! M over-ruled and T had to talk the installer into staying and continuing. I was not nasty to the installer....it wasn't his fault. I was nasty to the Customer Service supervisor, though. The poor installer, he had T call me when he found out the order was not right for the computers....I think he was afraid to tell me that they were not going to work without the router and adapter. When he got on the phone, he prefaced his explanation, by telling me to go to WalMart and purchase it as it would be much cheaper...it was less than half for the router. Don't know what the adapter would have been from Comcast, but T found it at Staples for $26? I think he said.

When I placed the order, I was specfic on what I wanted.....and there was a transcript of it, as it was online. But the CS super couldn't access it! Then what's the point of doing it?  :censored: The fact that the woman did not ask me how many TV's I wanted hooked up, is not my fault!! We are still trying to get them all hooked up so they work properly.  :banghead: T also gets to talk to them about that.  :evillaugh:

I spent 2 hours on the phone last night with a guy in New Delhi, trying to get the Netgear router and adapter to make my desktop and laptop hook into the Comcast modem. Once I found the phone number on the box - wouldn't it have been logical to have it on the direction pamphlet? :thatsright: The tech was wonderful!!! I cannot say enough nice things about him. His English was with a Brit accent and quite easy to understand, he was wonderfully patient and kept trying different things to get the laptop to hook in, until he got it....it was a firewall issue, and he didn't give up. It's all working correctly and is much speedier than the AT&T DSL was.

If someone can explain to me why the sound doesn't work on M's desktop....I would appreciate it. Or at least what to look for. Yes...I do have the speakers plugged into the right place, they are turned on, and the sound is up on the computer's volume thingie...but no sound.  :bawl: I also have to get the other thing loaded into it, but have not found the install CD for it yet.  It's in a box....somewhere. :banghead:



Dante wrote a book about Comcast. 

Was there sound on the computer before this?   As pointed out to Vesta somewhere above, check to make sure it is not muted.   
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 11:29:41 AM
Dante wrote a book about Comcast. 

Was there sound on the computer before this?   As pointed out to Vesta somewhere above, check to make sure it is not muted.   


I did check to make sure it wasn't muted.

It had sound on it when it was my computer...I don't know if M ever used the sound.  :confused:  We don't/didn't share offices.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Thor on September 29, 2010, 12:31:28 PM
We have been putting desktops back together and re-hooking back to the internet with this move.

We switched from AT&T DSL to Comcast Cable. Since M's office is on the 2nd flr, mine's on 3rd, and T's is in the basement....we opted to hook M's to the modem. His is working much better than it did when it was networked to mine on DSL. Still no sound though, and I can't figure out why.

I have to hook the fax/copy/print/scanner into it yet, but for some reason, we don't have the phone service that Comcast promised in the package, and I haven't had time to figure out why. That's T's project for today.

The last time I talked to Comcast was the day we moved in, and found out that what I wanted and what I ordered were two different things....and was going to cost $180 more in install costs on the TV's and I had told her I wanted 2 desktops and 2 laptops to be cable internet hooked in, and she didn't tell me only one would be hooked to the modem, and the others wouldn't work without additional equipment!!! Now I know why they have such a reputation for "nickel and diming" customers!!! :censored:

I told them where they could put their cable company!!! M over-ruled and T had to talk the installer into staying and continuing. I was not nasty to the installer....it wasn't his fault. I was nasty to the Customer Service supervisor, though. The poor installer, he had T call me when he found out the order was not right for the computers....I think he was afraid to tell me that they were not going to work without the router and adapter. When he got on the phone, he prefaced his explanation, by telling me to go to WalMart and purchase it as it would be much cheaper...it was less than half for the router. Don't know what the adapter would have been from Comcast, but T found it at Staples for $26? I think he said.

When I placed the order, I was specfic on what I wanted.....and there was a transcript of it, as it was online. But the CS super couldn't access it! Then what's the point of doing it?  :censored: The fact that the woman did not ask me how many TV's I wanted hooked up, is not my fault!! We are still trying to get them all hooked up so they work properly.  :banghead: T also gets to talk to them about that.  :evillaugh:

I spent 2 hours on the phone last night with a guy in New Delhi, trying to get the Netgear router and adapter to make my desktop and laptop hook into the Comcast modem. Once I found the phone number on the box - wouldn't it have been logical to have it on the direction pamphlet? :thatsright: The tech was wonderful!!! I cannot say enough nice things about him. His English was with a Brit accent and quite easy to understand, he was wonderfully patient and kept trying different things to get the laptop to hook in, until he got it....it was a firewall issue, and he didn't give up. It's all working correctly and is much speedier than the AT&T DSL was.

If someone can explain to me why the sound doesn't work on M's desktop....I would appreciate it. Or at least what to look for. Yes...I do have the speakers plugged into the right place, they are turned on, and the sound is up on the computer's volume thingie...but no sound.  :bawl: I also have to get the other thing loaded into it, but have not found the install CD for it yet.  It's in a box....somewhere. :banghead:



You didn't bother to call me........  :hammer: :hammer: I could have saved you a TON of grief.

Have M get  into the control panel, sounds, ( I forget where, exactly)  and make sure that "digital output" is NOT checked. (that's a very common setting that screws things up that somehow manages to arbitrarily get changed)
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 01:00:58 PM
You didn't bother to call me........  :hammer: :hammer: I could have saved you a TON of grief.

Have M get  into the control panel, sounds, ( I forget where, exactly)  and make sure that "digital output" is NOT checked. (that's a very common setting that screws things up that somehow manages to arbitrarily get changed)

"Have M get into the control panel"? :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: He barely knows how to retrieve his email!!! We have had so many "wars" over him not learning to use the computer more.  :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: I had a book on learning XP, and gave it to him.....told him to sit in front of his computer and start learning. I don't think he's ever opened the book...though in all fairness, I think I gave it to him a couple of days before we moved.  :uhsure:

I fail to understand how an engineer can have so little interest in learning a computer. He's still struggling with texting on his phone!!! The only reason he is learning that is because he has 2 customers that prefer that for communication!

I didn't call you last night, my darling friend...because it was almost 10pm when I called India!!! I didn't think you would appreciate a call at that time of night.

I will call you though, on the fax/copy/etc if I can't get it to load, once we figure out why we don't have a working phone line. The neighbors said all they had to do was plug the phone in and it worked, and theirs is through Comcast too. 
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Thor on September 29, 2010, 01:06:18 PM
Is your phone through Comcast??
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 01:07:38 PM
Is your phone through Comcast??

Yep. It was a package deal, for all three. Fixed rate for the first year. Goes up $10, the second year, and another $10 the third year....so we're locked in on prices for 36 months. Supposedly.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Thor on September 29, 2010, 01:34:34 PM
I would call Comcast back and ask them why the phone isn't working. Either they didn't attach the phone lines properly from the EMTA or it isn't provisioned properly. Without being there, it's kind of a guess.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 01:44:53 PM
I would call Comcast back and ask them why the phone isn't working. Either they didn't attach the phone lines properly from the EMTA or it isn't provisioned properly. Without being there, it's kind of a guess.

Either I or T will call them. I need to find out what's going on. The neighbor said he didn't know if they had land lines or not, but that most people in here used Comcast for their land line too. There's a panel in the garage that T said was the cable access. There's also a box in one of the attic spaces that's Honeywell. It has 3 green lights on the front, and we think it's connected to the HVAC system some how. We have a security system, and I know it's in a closet in the family room. We were here about 3 or 4 days before I found the second electrical panel.  :thatsright: I was wondering why there were several things missing on the panel in the garage.  :confused:
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Eupher on September 29, 2010, 01:55:13 PM
Either I or T will call them. I need to find out what's going on. The neighbor said he didn't know if they had land lines or not, but that most people in here used Comcast for their land line too. There's a panel in the garage that T said was the cable access. There's also a box in one of the attic spaces that's Honeywell. It has 3 green lights on the front, and we think it's connected to the HVAC system some how. We have a security system, and I know it's in a closet in the family room. We were here about 3 or 4 days before I found the second electrical panel.  :thatsright: I was wondering why there were several things missing on the panel in the garage.  :confused:

Do you have a standalone generator for power outages? That might explain the Honeywell panel....
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 02:21:41 PM
Do you have a standalone generator for power outages? That might explain the Honeywell panel....

We don't - at least if we do, I haven't found it. It was a young couple - early to mid 30's who owned the house. I don't know if they did or not. It's by to the furnace unit in one of the 3rd flr attics.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Eupher on September 29, 2010, 04:08:54 PM
We don't - at least if we do, I haven't found it. It was a young couple - early to mid 30's who owned the house. I don't know if they did or not. It's by to the furnace unit in one of the 3rd flr attics.

Well, if you had a standalone generator you'd know it, because it's outdoors. Looks like an air conditioning unit, but it ain't.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: debk on September 29, 2010, 04:57:55 PM
Well, if you had a standalone generator you'd know it, because it's outdoors. Looks like an air conditioning unit, but it ain't.

Nope don't have one.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Thor on September 29, 2010, 05:10:02 PM
Honeywell also makes controls for ACs and other household items.
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: thundley4 on September 29, 2010, 05:18:24 PM
Honeywell also makes controls for ACs and other household items.


Don't they also make weapons components, or is that a different company?
Title: Re: PC deaf
Post by: Thor on September 29, 2010, 10:33:28 PM

Don't they also make weapons components, or is that a different company?

Weapons components & military electronics. Same company, different divisions.