Another Optimus II question... sound

[jdg199]

most likely a simple one again.

The other night we popped in a typically predictable US crime box set and watched a couple of episodes. No problems there.

Last night we looked to continue the series but when the DVD started it sounded very quiet. I turned everything up as much as it could go but still it was too quiet... and more importantly, it was noticeably quieter than the previous use! Which doesn't make sense.

Output device: Speakers (High definition Audio device)

When I "test" the speakers, the windows sounds are as expected and loud enough. Therefore, this seems to be a problem with the sound output specifically from Media Player.

Therefore, I went into options in WMP > Devices > Speakers. Audio device is set to "Default Audio Device". I can choose between Digital Audio (S/PDIF) or Speakers but no sound at all with the first of these options, while choosing Speakers is the default anyway.

Any of this making sense?

Ultimately, when DVDs are playing the sound output is simply not loud enough. Is there any way to make it louder!?

 

[MrShteeeve]

Hey JDG, I have the same laptop as you so I'll give a shot at trying to help you . Just to make it easier for you, the 'S/PDIF' option is an output located next to you headphone (out) and microphone (in) ports on the side of your laptop which can output things like DTS and Dolby audio to external speakers and whatnot so unless you have anything connected you won't hear anything while testing that so it's normal .

As for the loss of loudness from your internal speakers, if you right click the little speaker icon in your system tray, then select playback devices. It'll then open up the 'Sound' window, from which you want to right click 'Speakers' and select Properties from it. In this new window, select the second tab along the top labelled 'Levels' and make sure the top option (for me it's labelled Realtek HD Audio Output, but may be different for you depending on software) is at 100%. After this, move to the 'Advanced' tab and if it isn't already selected, select from the drop-down box '16 Bit, 48000Hz (DVD Quality)' then select apply.

You may have to restart any audio programs to get sound playing again (this is normal). I have found this to be the louder of the options available through my experience, but other people may suggest otherwise. I hope this helped somewhat. Someone else on here may have a different way which I may have missed but it seems to of worked for me . If you encounter any problems, feel free to ask about them and I'll try and help to the best of my ability

Steve.

 

[jdg199]

Hi Steve - indeed, we have a very similar set up, though I've just got 4gb Samsung 1333mhz and 500GB hard WD SCORPIO BLACK SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm).

Only regret so far: skimping on the blu-ray drive just to keep the cost under £800!

Anyway, thanks for the response here and in previous posts (re: bluetooth etc).

When I click through to the "Levels" on the Speakers properties, the only thing that shows is: Speakers/Headphone. This is set to 100. It looks like this is just another representation of the speaker level shown in the system tray and various other places. My only question at this stage is how come you have Realtek HS Audio Output? Why do I not have this option? The sound card was not a configuration choice a month or so ago.

In the advanced tab my system was pointing to the 41000Hz (CD quality) option. I have now changed this to the one you suggestion.

On review, I am unsure whether it has made much difference but it is certainly a change that I hadn't tried so I'll leave it like that for a bit and see how I go.

Thanks again for the help - I've got a few more questions that I'm working through myself but I'm sure I'll be back to ask soon!

 

[MrShteeeve]

Well the Realtek difference is the fact that the driver disc that accompanied your laptop had the driver and software on ther for it, I would recommend fishing out the disc and giving that a go as it gives a lot more user friendly settings and options with the realtek software, I'll get you a screenshot of it if you bare with me a moment .

Realtek Panel




Audio Driver

 

[jdg199]

Interesting - from my previous posts, I took it that everything on the disk that was needed should already be installed.

On receipt of your machine, what other drivers did you install (from the disk or otherwise)? Was there anything else that you installed/configured/amended that you would suggest to others? I get the impression that the set up that we have gone for seems to be quite popular so any suggestions would likely be useful to many of us.

 

[MrShteeeve]

Well tbh I went through the driver disc and installed the wireless adapter software, the intel rapid storage tech, the hotkey driver (the vga button), thx studio (not necessary though). Looking back on it, everything on that disc, apart from the features I didnt spec (like 3g connectivity, fingerprint reader etc) I installed. I would like to advise you to do the same as I've found that in doing so I solved a lot of my problems, like the bluetooth, and the vga button etc. Afterwards i went to Intel's driver download webpage and updated the Intel graphics driver as well. Since the lappy's been performing beautifully .

P.s Just got those screenies, won't be a sec.

 

[jdg199]

If anyone else has questions as obvious as mine, a simple suggestion... read the manual!

I finally have and realised that it answers many of the questions that I had thought/asked already.

However, I am having trouble running the USB3.0 driver. Works like this, on clicking the Install button:
Do you want to continue? Yes
New window titled Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver, stating: "The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available... Insert the 'Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver' disk and click OK.
At the bottom is says, Use Source: 1. The "1" is a drop down box with no other options. If I click OK, I get this error: "The path '1' cannot be found. Verify that you have access to this location and try again, or try to find the installation package 'nusb3drv.msi' in a folder from which you can install the product Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver. I can browse to amend this source by choosing nusb3drv, but this also doesn't work and gives the following error messages:

Error 1706.No valid source could be found for the product Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver. The Windows installer cannot continue. OK
Error: -1603 Fatal error during installation.
Consult Windows Installer Help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for further information OK

Installshield Wizard Completed. Interrupted before fully installed. Finish


So, anyone else had this problem? All other drivers, so far (!), have installed without a hitch at all.

 

[MrShteeeve]

I have had that problem but my USB 3.0's work fine, it's already installed in that case. Although, just so I know in the future if anyone can shed light on it, I would also greatly appreciate it .

 

[jdg199]

Since I don't have a corresponding external device that also has USB 3.0, I guess it doesn't matter so much right now!

 

[MrShteeeve]

Nah very true, as long as it works ok with USB 2.0 devices it should be ok. But would still like to know what the deal is with it. In device manager the USB 3.0 Host is all installed and up-to-date so should be fine .