Sound only on one channel

G

GrannyGruntbuck

1
I have just found out that sound is only coming out of one speaker (right), the left is silent apart from a low hum.

I swapped over some speakers from my son's computer just to rule out my left speaker being faulty and same result.

As far as I can see, the configuration is correct.

I was going to get myself a set of 5.1 surround sound speakers, but now I fear they may not work correctly if I have this problem.

I have one of those medion 2ghz computers as sold by Aldi occasionaly. It is about 18 months old.
the sound is plugged into the mother board rather than a sound card.

I believe I have a c-media sound system, cm18738/c3dx pci audio device.
If that means anything to anyone.

Any advice greatfully received.


Steve........
 
Duracell

Duracell

1
check the settings in Windows' "Sound Control Panel";
if they are correct, then try Medion's support hotline;
i think this was a free phone nunmber;

Greetings from
Duracell
 
Master

Master

Gold Member
Maybe your speakers plug doesn´t have a correct connection to the cheap onboard connector.

Perhaps the female onboard connector is faulty.
 
L

LTR12101B

1
GrannyGruntbuck said:
I have just found out that sound is only coming out of one speaker (right), the left is silent apart from a low hum.

I swapped over some speakers from my son's computer just to rule out my left speaker being faulty and same result....
Click to expand...
Did you change the cable from the system as well?

My guess would be a poor contact, and unplugging/re-plugging a couple of times may clear it.

Check the mixer settings, make sure the balance hasn't been pulled to the other side.

If all else fails, might have to drop a sound card in instead - if it's out of warranty, cheaper than changing the motherboard, and a lot less work as well!
 
G

GrannyGruntbuck

1
Yes, I used differenet cables and connector when I tried other speakers.

Am I able then to just plonk in a sound card and ignore the onboard sound card?

If that can be done, I will do that.

Have rechecked mixer settings many times, even tried rolling back drivers and reinstalling.



Steve...........
 
L

LTR12101B

1
If there's a DOS set of drivers and test utilities that can do the card, might be worth a try from a boot floppy.

The other possibility, is that the socket has a dry joint or cracked solder to the motherboard - seen it MANY times on the mains adapter socket on portable devices - those board-edge connecters do NOT have adequate support.


To swap to a soundcard, there is likely to be a BIOS option to turn off the onboard, then there's the choice of soundcard - sounds like you want 5.1 capability, though there are a few that can also do digital output to a speaker set with digital in.

I run an SB Live value - and while they have some faults in the audiophile category (compromises in some signal paths, and the more or less random use of different audio codec chips ranging from poor to ok) - they are a reasonable workhorse.

If you want a firewire port, some (all?) of the later Audigy (successor to SB Live) cards have them.

Call me a Soundblaster bunny, but my cards have been:
1. SB16 MCD ASP (later fitted with cheap wavetable plugin)
2. SB PCI (OEM CT5803)
3. SB Live (value - oem)
 
G

GrannyGruntbuck

1
OK, I have now put a sound card into my computer.

It works fine, however...........

i now have a problem with my Liteon cdrw drive and pioneer 104.

If i try to access on eof these, I get a message saying that the drive is not connected.

I have nothing showing up in control panel, so what teh hell has happened here?

Anyone any ideas?

I did try uninstalling them and allowing the computer to detect them on booting up, but no luck.

they are there in windows explorer, I just cannot access them?


Steve...
 
G

GrannyGruntbuck

1
I have no errors involving my cd / dvd drives or for the sound card.

I have just removed the sound card and the drives are working fine.

It is obviously some sort of conflict between the drives and the sound card, but I get no visible errors. The IRQ status was fine.

I am baffled.
 
L

LTR12101B

1
Does it have an IDE interface - if so look for a jumper setting to disable it?

Came up blank/useless on that name and variations of....
Trident 4DW and S3 Sonic seem to be 2 different solutions
 
G

GrannyGruntbuck

1
no ide interface.

I will try putting it in a different slot later.

Ive just found another name on the box, there are several names, but this is "CMI8738-6 channel"

This is basically what I have onboard the MB, but without the 6 channel.




Steve..........
 
Master

Master

Gold Member
This is a c-media chipset.

My c-media based soundcard doesn´t like IRQ sharing !!

I think your soundcard shares an IRQ with the ide-controller and that´s your problem.

Duracell´s advice is correct...this time :D Try another pci slot.

If you can change the IRQ settings in your bios then try to set the soundcard to IRQ 5
 
G

GrannyGruntbuck

1
OK, I have now moved the sound card to another slot and still the problem is there.

:(

The cd / dvd drives do appear in windows explorer, but if I try to access them I get a message saying they are not connected.


I cannot see any irq conflicts. I have disabled the onboard sound.

Is there a way to manualy change irq settings in windows xp home edition?

By the way, the sound card works perfectly.


Steve.....
 
Duracell

Duracell

1
GrannyGruntbuck said:
Is there a way to manualy change irq settings in windows xp home edition?
Click to expand...
you have to reinstall XP as "Standard-PC" and not "ACPI-PC";
when XP setup starts and ask you "F6 for SCSI drivers" then push F5 button instead;
 
Master

Master

Gold Member
As i told you before i had a similar problem with a c-media soundcard ( i won´t speak about my old soundblaster live)

Even if you don´t see an IRQ problem in the device manager then there might be a problem with cards who don´t like irq sharing.

Sometimes you can´t use the last pci slot when an extra onboard ide controller is activated (promise/highpoint).

They use the same busmaster signal like the last pci slot. This might give you some problems too.

I wouldn´t try a new Xp install..a little card swapping might fix your problem.

Please have a look to your bios..sometimes it is easy to change the irq settings.

btw. if you bought the pc by ALDI then it is possible that you can speak german. (Aldi is a german supermarket)

I think it is easier for Duracell am myself to help you in the german section.
 
Last edited:
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GrannyGruntbuck

1
Ok, I will swap it around some more.

Thanks for all the help.


I bought it in the UK, as I am from the UK.
My german is rusty, lived there for 4 years many years ago.


I will wait until I have more time off work to try and cure the problem.



Thanks.........


Steve.
 
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