Stereo speakers/headphones become mono

[Tigadee]

All of a sudden, anything plugged into my sound card comes out mono. If I jiggle the plug around in the sicket, sometimes the stereo will return, but as soon as I let go, the sound becomes mono again.

What is up with that and what can I do?

[nzspokes]

Wear ear plugs on ya bike. Its getting to you.

[Tigadee]

Sorry, I meant from my PC... Both my heaphones and speakers come out mono now, no long stereo unless I jiggle the plug about but it never stays stereo.

Oh wait... A joke. I see now. :facepalm:

[Ntoxcated]

Sounds like it is either a broken wire in the plug, or the socket is buggered. I'm assuming you have tried different headphones, so I imagine that one of the side contacts in the socket is no longer making contact as it has been bent out of the way. Bastard to fix.

[Tigadee]

Rats... It's a built in sound card too! :eek5:

[hayd3n]

buy an aftermarket sound card
cheep http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/components/sound-cards/auction-453005544.htm
reliable +digital http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/components/sound-cards/auction-453371146.htm

[Tigadee]

cheep http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/components/sound-cards/auction-453005544.htm

Will wonders never cease!

A USB sound card! I never would have imagined it!


reliable +digital http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/components/sound-cards/auction-453371146.htm

Hmmmm... Might give it a go.

Thanks!

[SMOKEU]

I also think it's probably a busted cable or possibly a faulty sound card, but don't rule out driver issues yet.

[hayd3n]

somtimes for aftermarket sound cards to work you have to disable the inbuilt ones in device manager
just disable it dont uninstall it that way you can always re enable it

[Tigadee]

Thanks, Hayd3n. I was wondering about that...

SmokeU - Thanks. I don't think it's the cable as I tried another set of speakers and the same problem.

Guessing it's most likely the sound card's speakers-out socket since I can get sound from left or right if I pull out the plug and jiggle it a bit... :banana:

[SMOKEU]

Personally I'd just go for a cheap PCI or PCIe sound card rather than a USB one. Less cable clutter and all that.