Hardware

Cheap speakers will not have the ability to last very long with the sound coming at them at full volume. You will need to invest some money in decent speakers that will have the ability to accept somewhere in the range of 60/100 or 130db, with this range (you will not need to put the sound up full on these), your speakers will be able to accept the full sound from your system, but make sure that the speakers are self powered or are powered from a box other than direct from the motherboard to speaker. Hope this helps you out.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

#1 Try using a pair of headphones, plugged in where the speaker feed would be. If the sound is loud on the headphones - the speakers are naff. If the sound is low on the headphones a] something else is causing the reduced volume or b] you've been plugging your speakers into the microphone socket. The speaker and microphone sockets DO tend to be sited right next to each other!

#2 Check with the speakers again, plugging them into another socket PREFERABLY with the speakers volume turned down. If you have been using the wrong socket (easily done) when you plug them into the correct socket, self-powered speakers turned up full, can be destroyed in microseconds.

#3 Check on your Systray for an icon related to any 3rd-party sound modules. Each of my systems has a 3rd-party 'equalizer/sound effects' module (with corresponding systray icon - if shown) which can independently interfere with among other things, VOLUME.

If it's not showing in the Systray, check in Control Panel for an icon bearing the legend of your on-board soundchip.

Still no joy? Check within 'Sound, Video & Game Controllers' inside Device Manager. You will find any 3rd-party device drivers listed within this category.

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My bet is you've plugged the speaker cable into the microphone port. I've done it once (or twice)!


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