No sound from left speaker

[Kev]

OK just so you know I'm not completely stupid:

1) all the cables are connected correctly
2) i've tested this with 2 sets of speakers and headphones
3) the volume balance in windows is set to the middle

Yet for some reason the sound is only being sent through the right speaker. Any idea what I could be missing?

 

[JoeyHall]

Do you have any third party audio application running?

 

[nweaver]

what sound card, and I assume both sets of speakers showed the same problem?

 

[Kev]

now its working again... wtf...

no third party audio app

it's just a generic integrated SoundMax card

 

[Jeff7]

Ok, the cables are connected properly. But are the cables good? Sometimes headphone wires, from repeated bending and twisting will end up with a broken conductor inside, with no damage visible from the outside. Perhaps something similar is at work here - a broken conductor, but when the wire is flexed ever so slightly, the two conductors touch again, allowing a signal to reach the speaker.

Try the speakers with something like a portable CD player, or some other audio source, to verify which is the source of the problem, the speakers, or the PC.