Hi

I recently re-installed xp and for some reason the sound is not very loud. I have turned it up from everywhere I can think of but it's still not as loud as it used to be?

Anyone know why this is happening?

Ax

First, tell us what you tried to "turn it up."

So far I have done the following:

Click to enlarge:

Try disabling any 3d effect from your soundcard (volume control : file : advanced, Listening, check everything, etc.. turn it off)

Open the Play Control window again and click Options->Properties.
Place a tick in WAVE/MP3, CD Digital, CD Audio, etc., tick those you want to use and click OK.

Now you'll see slider's for those you just enabled. WAVE/MP3 volume level will effect the playback volume of mp3's, ogg's, etc., in your audio player.

I still can't get the sound to increase. I'm starting to think I have the wrong drivers installed or something.

I have an MSI KT3 Ultra (MS-6380E).

How would I uninstall my current audio drivers and reinstall the new ones. Or can I install the new drivers right on top of the existing drivers?

It has Realtek ALC650 6-channel audio, so you should use Realtek drivers. If there's a possibility to uninstall current drivers in Add/Remove Programs applet, uninstall them. If there's no possibility, just install "right on top".

I uninstalled the driver and then reinstalled but still, the sound is really really low.

Just to remove any doubt, I used an old harddrive and installed linux on it. The sound was nice and loud. But when I plug my windows xp harddrive back in, the sound is way too low!

Is there anything else which I could do to fix this?

Definately a software issue then. All I can suggest (if you do have the correct drivers installed - what is your mobo chipset, VIA for example?) is to tick all playback devices in sound control and move to the top. Also, turn off all effects under the advanced option. If this still doesn't fix the problem open up task manager, go to the processes tab and one-by-one end all of the tasks under your username (except explorer, taskmgr) and see if that corrects it, as it could be a rogue process controlling your audio. Also what software are you using for playing these files (I assume mp3s?)?

I notice in the screenshot in under "Advanced Controls for Volume Control" there is a checkbox that says "1 Loudness". Perhaps try unchecking that box. No idea what it does, but it certainly could have an affect.

Thanks, I'll try your suggestions as soon as I can.

I just have this feeling that I might have installed the wrong sound drivers which wont remove properly, even if i install the correct drivers ontop.

What is your motherboard chipset? If it is VIA then you can get the latest driver from www.viaarena.com

To fully remove the drivers, uninstall as usual from the control panel. Then also go to the device manager, select the card and press the delete key. On reboot it will find it again - if anything comes up onscreen to ask you to search for drivers you can just cancel this for now. Now, install the new drivers you downloaded (sometimes it's a good idea to disable the v.scanner while installing drivers). On rebooting your PC all should be well.

The only other things I can think of are:

• Open Play Control again, then click:
  Options->Properties. Next make sure the Mixer device is for your actual soundcard device name and not some generic Windows version/drivers.
  For instance with my SB Audigy there's two listings however the proper one is the name with SB Audigy in it, as the other one doesn't effect anything.
• Use Remote Assistance with your PC manufacturer to allow a technican to attempt to repair it.