Connection to Sound Card and Speaker Loose

Hi,

I am helping a friend with a sound problem. She seems to lose her sound once in awhile for no apparent reason. We pulled out her tower from her desk and I jiggled the connection wire that is going into the sound card and it started to play music again. It seems as though the connection is loose in the computer and we just don't know how to fix this. No one moves out her tower so there should be no reason for the sound to stop working but occasionally it does.

Do you think it is just not connecting properly in her computer port and also is there anything we can do to make the connection tighter.

Any help will be appreciated.

Jean

 

Hello Jean,

Maybe first thing to do is is to confirm if it is the computer audio connection or the speakers connection. If you have a set of desktop speakers bring them over and try those.

You may have already done this, please confirm if you have.

If it does seem like the audio "card ", I would open the case, remove and reseat the card, then ensure that the card was firmly bolted back in.

Still no luck, it may have what I think they call a dry or cracked solder (always seems to happen on speaker connections ). Time for a new audio card or set of speakers (unless you may want to pop it down to the local TV repairer).

Matt

 

Ok ---First ---is the sound port that your plugging into a sound card ---like what you have to plug into a pci slot ---or is the sound card integrated into the mother board and has a sound chip??? 1st---If it is a (sound card) turn off your puter ---open the case and you should be able to locate the PCI sound card . Once that is done ( OH yeah ---Make sure that before you touch any components inside the puter , that you briefly touch the caseing with your hand . This effectivly grounds you out and removes any static electricty that can harm computer chips and such ) the card should be held into place by a bracket of some sort on the back of the tower case---and secured by a phillips ***** ---take that out and then remove the card for inspection . You'll want to break out a magnifying glass to look at it closely . What you are looking for are maybe small cracks in the solder where the jack connects to the board. Note if you see them while wiggling the jack , Guess what --the next step depends on if you are good at soldering . If not ----you need a new sound card . I would also check to see if the sound cable comming from the speakers is bad. You can easily check this with another pair of speakers, by pluging them into that sound card ---if they work with no cutouts ---than the wire is bad from the speaker . 2nd --- If your sound card is integrated onto the motherboard ----carefully look at the jack from inside and inspect it for the same things as mentioned to look for on the PCI card ( Cracks in the solder when wiggling ) Once again ---if your good at soldering --you can fix this ---if not --I would suggest taking it to a repair shop and letting them know of your findings. I guess what I'm trying to say in a round about way is that ---either your sound cable is bad ( most likely at the molded plug on the male end ) or the jack has come loose from the solder and vibrations occasionaly make it connect --or disconnect. Check all of this out and lemme know what ya found . Also ---1 more stupid little thing, I only assume that the speaker cable is a standard cable --so if not check to make sure that it is the sorrect size !!! Best of luck and post back Dusty

 

Thanks for your help guys. I'll pass this information on to my friend and see if he is willing to try the advise you offered. He may not want to take apart the tower though.

Yes we did try another set of speakers and they quit working too.

I'll let you know when I hear from my friend.

Jean

Thanks again.

 

Thanks for all your help. I think one of the wires was loose because after re-connecting everything she has sound now. I just hope it only stay this way. It almost seemed as though her connection to the back of the computer was lose but since it is OK now, I won't try to fix it if it isn't borken.

Thanks again.

Jean

 

Even though the problem seems solved this seemed like a good time to point something out to anyone that does wierd things to their 'puters...

I have the video from my 'puter patched into the VCR on my entertainment system along with my sound card patched to my surround sound on same. I found through many trials that even though it's audio if any distance is involved (in my case about 30 feet) co-axial works best for both audio and video... mayhaps S-Video on the video, never tried it. Anyway, co-axial is heavy! I plugged the adapter directly to the line out on my audio. After a NOT very long time the weight of the co-axial had 'warped' the connector on the audio. Fortunately, for me, this wasn't major as it was on-board sound that I intended to replace with a card anyway. Always use an extension cable or wire when patching sound or video to an external device!!!!! The connectors are NOT meant to cary extra weight and will 'warp' causing the possibility of replacing the card.

Jay