Minimal sound coming out yet all volumes set to 100%

[Organground]

Hi, my onboard HD REaltek sound thingy is playing up...motherboard is P6X58D-E and running Win7 64 bit. Fine until the other day. Then for apparently no reason (I haven't done any upgrades, faffed around inside etc etc) the sound levels on the rear output just went really low. Even if I pump up all sound sources to 100% and turn up the external speakers (just a pair of bog standard 2.1 Logitech PC speakers) and put my ear to the speakers I hear only the feintest sound.

If I plug the speakers into the front green port they are also quieter than usual but not as quiet. And there is no bass to the sound ie the sub is giving out nothing.

I have ensured all volume settings are set to 100%.

I've swapped and reswapped the HD enabled and AC97 settings in audio outputs in BIOS.

I've reinstalled the Realtek driver (guided by PCS technical support to the latest driver).

And technical support also did a session on my machine and confirmed that all my volume settings appeared correct (ie 100%).

When on control panel/Realtek, the rear speakers are all greyed out, but the front speakers and digital speaker output (not using digital) are shown in full colour. But like I said, there is a rear output signal, it's just so weak as to be pointless.

Suggestions please?

 

[vanthus]

Have you checked the speakers are not disabled, & are set as default,
although it's pretty certain pcs will have already done so.
In control panel click on "sound"/select playback tab/right click speakers & select properties/Click on Level tab and check the input is not set to mute.
put the slider to 100%.
also try clicking on enhancements tab/tick "disable all enhancements".
failing that a bios reset to defaults may fix the problem,
best check with pcs before doing that.
If none of that helps & as you seem to have tried everything else it would point to faulty hardware.I'm assuming your speakers are ok.