I hear music come out of the laptop speakers but it sounds really bad. I tried to use my headphones but it still sounds bad.

It’s either a software related problem or the laptop sound card is bad.

First of all, try reinstalling the audio driver. If it doesn’t help, back up all personal data and reisntall the operating system from the recovery disc or installation CD. Install missing device drivers if needed and test the laptop again.

If the sound is still bad, you have a failed sound card. Unfortunately, in most laptops the sound card is integrated into the motherboard. If the sound card goes bad, the whole motherboard has to be replaced in order to fix the sound problem.

I just bought a laptop 3 months ago then i notice the volume of speaker in the left side is lower than the right side. Tried playing movies, music, and video streaming all came out the same problem. I tried adjusting speaker properties, balance, sound expander and bass. All still came out the same problem. Please help me.

First of all, test your laptop with headphones. If you have same problem with headphones and the volume in the left channel is lower than right channel, it’s either wrong sound settings or there is a problem with the sound card.

If both channels in headphones work properly and the problem appears only with external speakers, most likely the left speaker is bad and has to be replaced.

Your laptop is only 3 months old and this repair should be covered by the standard 1-year warranty.

This fix was submitted by Donald Ksing in this comment and here it is:

I had a problem with my laptop’s internal speakers, and going through a couple of sites, I managed to figure out the problem.
I have an HP Pavillion DV 6114TX. I hope this helps someone.

Step 1: Figure out how to open up your laptop:
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/take-apart-hp-pavilion-dv6000-laptop/

Step 2: This helped me figure out my problem. You may find your issues defined in one of the many links from here:

Step 3: Troubleshoot the problem:

In my case, the cable feeding my sound had gone bad (Kolt 1). So I switched it with the one feeding my touch buttons (Kolt 2). I’d rather have sound than the ability to control no sound.

There is no sound from my new Dell Inspiron 1545.It was working fine first,then the sound became distorted or crackled. And now there is completely no sound. The laptop is very new. I have tried all methods reinstalling the drivers,restoring etc.

I have done the tests for the speakers and it shows everything working perfectly only you cant hear the sound.
Sound from headphones is crackled like.
Please any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don’t think that you have a software related problem because you tired restoring the laptop back to factory defaults and it didn’t work.

I don’t think that your problem is related to the speakers because you missing sound from both channels – laptop speakers and headphones.

Most likely you have a failed sound board. Like most other laptops, your Dell Inspiron 1545 has a sound board integrated into the motherboard. That means the whole motherboard has to be replaced.

Is it still under warranty with Dell? Send it to Dell for repair.

By the way, when there is no sound coming from laptop speakers, but headphones work just fine, try this method to fix it.

Can you please tell as how to connect my laptop to creative 5.1 speaker system so that I can hear surround sound from DVDs.

If you want to watch DVD movies on your laptop and experience full surround sound on 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, you’ll have to use a special sound card for notebook computers. For example, take a look at Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA notebook sound card. You plug this card into the PCMCIA slot you your laptop and then connect 5.1 or 7.1 speakers. You can find this card on the Internet for less than $100.

Just make sure your laptop meets all hardware requirements for the sound card.

A couple of days ago when I turned my laptop on the sound is there on the internal speakers but is very low. The sound used to blow you out. The volume is turned all the way up on front of laptop-little wheel. Under control panel advanced audio controls all volume turned up to max with no mutes. Under device manager Realtek is operating properly. I even used the restore CD to reinstall Realtek. Windows says latest version of Realtek AC97 is already on my computer. I can hookup external speakers and they are loud enough to hear great, but even at max volume it doesn’t blow you away. Help! Not under warranty any longer.

Did you check the wave settings in the advanced audio control window? The wave slider should be on the right side from the play control, try turning it up. I just tested it on my desktop. Even with the volume turned all the way up on both my external speakers and in sound properties, but the wave slider set to almost minimum, my sound output was very low. Check the wave settings on your computer.

My Compaq Presario V3000 laptop makes funny noise if I turn up volume..it comes from the speakers and its noisy when hearing music. What will be the solution?

First of all, test the laptop with headphones. If your headphones make the same noise, it’s possible you have a software related problem. Try reinstalling the sound driver. You should be able to download the sound driver from the manufacturer’s website. If reinstalling the sound driver doesn’t help, you can try reinstalling the operating system. If you still have the same noise coming from the laptop speakers and headphones even after you reinstalled the operating system, apparently you have a problem with the sound card.
If headphones work fine and you hear noise only from the external speakers, apparently there is something wrong with the laptop speakers and they have to be replaced.

My speakers were working fine one moment but then stopped working after i used in my headphones. I still have sound when I use my headphones but when I unplug it, i can not hear anything from my laptop speakers. I went through the troubleshooting on my laptop but I still can not get sound to come out of my laptop speakers. Please help!

I think you have a problem with the headphones jack in your laptop. There are contacts inside the headphones jack, you can see them if you look inside the jack. When you plug the headphones into the jack, the plug shorts these contacts and the sound switches from the external speakers to the headphones. Apparently, these contacts got stuck in the headphones mode and because of that you cannot hear any sound from the external speakers.
I’m not sure if you can fix this problem yourself, probably you’ll have to take your laptop to the repair shop. Try plugging and unplugging your headphones a few times in a row, do it fast, it might help to release contacts inside the jack.

I just formatted my Toshiba Satellite laptop and the speakers stopped working. They worked fine before I formatted. I went to the control panel to see how the speakers were set up and everything was dimmed out and could not be adjusted. What do I need to do?

Apparently, you are missing the sound card device drivers. Download this driver from the Toshiba website and install it on your laptop. Also, you should be able to find this driver on the recovery disc.

I have a problem related to ‘jack’ problem, not power, but the audio jack. The headphone jack spring become loose and doesn’t secure the headphone plug well, it’s quite annoying cause when I connect to speaker it’ll generate noise when the plug is being touched…
I think the easiest way to do is to take a screw driver or something to adjust the spring and make it a tight fit as like it was new. If not, it has to be replaced I think, but it’s sure going to cost me a lot, either money (replace motherboard) or trouble (self repair)…

I think you have one more option. You can purchase a PCMCIA audio card and use the headphone jack on the card. Here’s an example, Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS notebook PCMCIA card. These cards are not cheap, but it would be less expensive then replacing the laptop motherboard.