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Volume booster
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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by OtZman on Fri Dec 2nd at 4:27pm 2005

Is there any way to boost the audio volume besides the "Volume Control" and "Wave" settings in windows? I've an onboard AC97 soundcard. My problem is that when I increase the "Volume Control" setting I hear a humming sound, which gets disturbing after turning the meter up to around 1/6. Some movies, for example, have such a low volume that turning all settings to maximum output isn't even enough. On top of that, the humming is unbearable when doing so.

Thanks in advance. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by ssmmdd on Fri Dec 2nd at 9:19pm 2005

Problem 1: You have Onboard Sound.

Problem 2: You have AC97 Onboard Sound.

Suggested fix: Buy a PCI Card, A Soundblaster at least. & turn off your s**tty AC97 Onboard s**te.



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by OtZman on Fri Dec 2nd at 10:00pm 2005

I suppose I'll have to buy a soundcard then.

Isn't there any way to boost the audio volume using some sort of software?



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by Crono on Fri Dec 2nd at 10:05pm 2005

There's nothing wrong with on-board sound.

What sound setup do you have? I'm assuming they're just computer speakers, but, do you have it set to 2/4/6/8 channel?

I have on-board AC97 set up with 6 channel sound (to a receiver) and it sounds great.

The hum because of poor wiring or shielding. Usually, if it's a hiss, it's the speakers, if it's a hum, then it's a ground loop or something like that. (It's easiest to hear in the lower channels, like < ~75Hz.

The only "fixes" I know are either: A) Use some good shielding on the speaker wires or B) (This is a hack way to do it) get a "one way" cable. It's a cable that has only 1 grounded end, but that's for a full system set up and has more to do with receiver problems than anything else.

Um. Not sure. You could look online for ways to remove hum. By the way, don't feel discouraged or anything like that, computer audio feedback problems are really common.

Another 'hack' you could try, which will probably decrease audio sound, but might allow you to turn your sound up higher on the speakers. Place a connection to another circuit against a conductor in the audio jack. This is really easy if have metal connectors on the audio cable, but I doubt it, since I'm assuming they're computer speakers. I'm not sure how you could do that in a normal audio set up. But I'm sure a paper clip will help <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">

By the way, if you bought a new sound card to fix this problem and it has no "feature" (hardware wise) to ground its self properly, then you're going to have the same problem still.

It isn't an easy problem to fix.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by wil5on on Fri Dec 2nd at 10:50pm 2005

I got the hum as well, until I found this little trick:

In the volume control box, go Options->Properties, and check the "Phone" option. Then, put Phone volume to zero. No more hum.




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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by Crono on Fri Dec 2nd at 11:25pm 2005

Right. It could be "fighting" for dominance of the ground. (Or however you're suppose to say that)

But, that isn't guaranteed to work. But, it's a valid possibility. Try muting everything except Mixer and Wave. If the hum is still there, then it's the problem I was talking about earlier.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by Bewbies on Sat Dec 3rd at 12:20am 2005

first troubleshoot the problem by; a. connecting your headphones to the speaker jack. see if the hum is still there. b. use the same audio cables with different speakers. then the old speakers with new cables. c. buy a pci soundcard, buy new speakers. am i the only one that would see this as a great excuse to buy new speakers? at least?

[edit]the problem is most likely NOT the onboard sound..[/edit]





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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by Foxpup on Sat Dec 3rd at 5:48am 2005

Go into volume control and mute everything your not using: Line, Modem, MIDI Synth, etc. You're getting noise from these, probably from crappy connections.

Also, I'd advise you to upgrade (or downgrade) to a better soundcard. I myself replaced my 16-bit AC97 with an almost decade old 64-bit AWE. Clean.


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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by fraggard on Sat Dec 3rd at 6:34am 2005

? quote:
I got the hum as well, until I found this little trick:

In the volume control box, go Options->Properties, and check the "Phone" option. Then, put Phone volume to zero. No more hum.



? quote:
Try muting everything except Mixer and Wave. If the hum is still there, then it's the problem I was talking about earlier.



Seconded, this seems to work most of the time with most systems I've seen (PCI audio AND onboard audio). Keep muting controls until the hum goes away.

If the sound problem is still very bad have a professional look at it and he'll probably put a ground loop isolator in place.




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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by SpoolE on Sat Dec 3rd at 8:19am 2005

If ur really desperate, buy an amplifier?



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by OtZman on Sat Dec 3rd at 1:06pm 2005

I have it set to 2 channels, as I'm either using my 2.1 speakers or my stereo headphones.

Muting everything I'm not using seemed to help. Now almost all humming is gone and only a very vague humming sound can be heard when turning the volume settings up high.

The headphone's cabel is not removable, so I won't be able to test with another cable. As for my speakers, only the cable between my PC and the sub is removable, so I won't be able to easily upgrade to other cables or test with different ones. But, as almost all humming is gone anyway it doesn't matter. Is it even possible to have a setup with absolutely zero humming at the highest volume?

Thanks for your help, everyone! <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by Crono on Sun Dec 4th at 1:50am 2005

Yes, but it takes a lot of custom work. There shouldn't be humming or hissing. It's because of a low standard in the industry. A lot of recievers have this problem.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Volume booster
Posted by Madedog on Sun Dec 4th at 2:22am 2005

I have an integrated 8-channel AC'97 sound card with 5.1 heaphones and I get accused of cheating in CSS :P


HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee




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