Volume Low on Computer

[Paratope]

My issue is that my headphones, which worked properly 2 days ago, is now outputting very low volume. I did the obvious solution, and replugged it in the headphone port. Nope, didn't work. I thought maybe my drivers were messed up. Deleted and reinstalled it to no avail. Maybe it was my soundcard, I thought. I plugged my headphones into the front panel header, and still saw the abysmally low volume. In all cases, even though the volume slider would show a value of 30, the green level when you click the speaker icon would barely move above minimum during a song.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

 

[sdifox]

Did you try plugging the headphones into your phone?

 

[Paratope]

Did you try plugging the headphones into your phone?

I will try once I get home from work. Why do you think checking it on a phone will make a difference?

 

[vshah]

I will try once I get home from work. Why do you think checking it on a phone will make a difference?

if you're barely seeing any movement on the green volume level bar then the problem is with the source application...that would be my guess.

 

[BurnItDwn]

maybe you need to look at the Mixer in windows? perhaps even though your set the volume high, somehow in the mixer, the specific application has the volume set down low? I've done it before by accident.

I think Sdifox just wants you to make sure your headphones are working OK... and it's a simple/easy test that should take only a minute ...

 

[sdifox]

I will try once I get home from work. Why do you think checking it on a phone will make a difference?

Isolating if it is the cans or the computer first.

 

[Aikouka]

maybe you need to look at the Mixer in windows? perhaps even though your set the volume high, somehow in the mixer, the specific application has the volume set down low? I've done it before by accident.

I think Sdifox just wants you to make sure your headphones are working OK... and it's a simple/easy test that should take only a minute ...

I always noticed that iTunes had a bad habit of messing with other programs for some reason. Although, I don't know if it was iTunes itself doing it, or a product of what it does and Windows messing with the other application.

If you do find that's an issue, you can fix it by...

1. Right-click the volume icon in the system tray
2. Click on "Playback Devices", which opens the Sound dialog on the Playback tab.
3. Select the device currently in use (should have a green check, and say "Default Device")
4. Click the Properties button.
5. Go to the Advanced tab.
6. In the Exclusive Mode section, uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"

I kept having issues with my sound dropping until I disabled that. I haven't had an issue since. Of course, that's not too useful if that's not your problem.

 

[Paratope]

I fixed the problem. It's embarrassing to say this, but it was the mixer that I overlooked. I actually did open the mixer multiple times, and change the slider on all settings again and again and again, except the one that mattered: the slider for Chrome. I should have realized it was the culprit when system sounds and game sounds were at proper levels. Occam's razor strikes again!

Thank you for the help, sdifox, vshah, BurnItDwn, and Aikouka.

I'm not sure how to close the thread, or show it was solved.