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Figure 20-23 Volume controls in Windows XP

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NOTE If your system tray (i.e., the notification area) is cluttered and the little speaker icon hard to find, you can access the Play Control dialog box by opening the Sounds and Audio Devices applet in the Control Panel. On the Volume tab—the one that’s on top by default—click the Advanced button under Device volume.

If you don’t have a little speaker in your system tray at all in Windows XP, you can add it. Just check the box next to the Place volume icon in the taskbar option in the Sound and Audio Devices Properties dialog box, Volume tab. Presto!

Speakers The second place to look for sound problems is the speakers. Make sure the speakers are turned on and are getting good power. Then make sure the speakers are plugged into the proper connection on the back of the sound card. If this all checks out, try playing a sound, using any sound program. If the sound program looks like it is playing—maybe the application has an equalizer that is moving or a status marker that shows that the application is playing the sound—you may have blown speakers. Try another pair and see if the sound returns.

Most of the time, speakers come in a matched set—whether it’s a 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, or other system—and the manufacturer includes adequate connecting wires for the whole set. On occasion, you might run into a system in which the user has connected pairs of speakers from different sets or rigged a surround sound system by replacing the stock wires with much longer wires. Either option can create a perfectly functional surround sound system that works for a specific room, but you should make sure that all the speakers require the same wattage and that high-quality wire is used to connect them.

If you troubleshoot a system in which two of the speakers are very quiet and two are very loud, the wattages are probably different between the two pairs. A simple check of the labels should suffice to troubleshoot, or you can swap out one pair for a different pair and see if that affects the volume issues. Cheap wire, on the other hand, simply degrades the sound quality. If the speakers sounded good before being strung on long wires but they now have a lot of low-grade noise, blame the wires.

Configuration Problems

Configuration errors occur when the sound card is physically good but some setting hasn’t been properly configured. I also include drive problems in this category. These errors happen almost exclusively at installation, but they can appear on a working system, too.

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NOTE Technically speaking, turning down the volume in the volume control program isn’t a configuration problem; it’s just something I always check at the same time I check the volume on the speakers.

The first place to check is the Device Manager. If the driver has a problem, you’ll see it right there. Try reinstalling the driver. If the driver doesn’t show any problems, again try playing a sound and see if the player acts as though the sound is playing. If that’s the case, you need to start touring the Sound applet or Sounds and Audio Devices applet to see if you’ve made a configuration error—perhaps you have the system configured for 5.1 when you have a stereo setup, or maybe you set the default sound output device to some other device. Take your time and look—configuration errors always show themselves.

Application Problems

Application problems are always the hardest to fix and tend to occur on a system that was previously playing sounds without trouble.

First, look for an error message (Figure 20-24). If an error code appears, write it down exactly as you see it and head to the program’s support site. Odds are very good that if you have the error text, you’ll get the fix right away from the support site. Of course, you can always hope the built-in help has some support, but help systems tend to be a little light in providing real fixes.

Figure 20-24 Sample error message

Don’t always blame the sound application