Laptop Speaker Problems?
I just realized that, for some reason, my laptop is only playing sound out of the left speaker. I was listening to music, and realized that a whole part of my Flamming Lips song was missing. So I played around with the sliders in my audio settings and discovered that my right speaker won’t play, reguardless of volume. What’s more, when I try to plug in other speakers, I have the same problem. Is it blown, or could something not be sending the signal properly?
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6 Answers
Well, the sound “card” is on the motherboard for most laptops, so if it has a fried channel – well, the fix will not be easy.
But, try this first: get some headphones or buds and plug them in (and out) several times into the headphone jack. There is a small possibility that the R contact is stuck within the jack. If your laptop has separate L and R output jacks, do the same thing (with the appropriate plug) in the R hand jack.
Have you checked if the balance settings on your laptop?
@Steelmarket,
I tried it out. When I plug the headphones all the way in, sound only comes out of the left headphone. But when I pull the plug out slightly, maybe 1/16”, I get sound in both.
This may be good news, in that the jack is repairable while a blown channel is not. If it were me, I’d try cycling the jack in and out a lot, maybe alternating with blowing into the jack hole. If it is dust, then maybe it could be dislodged. Otherwise, you will have to crack the case, or put it in the shop and have them do it.
But why would dust in my jack be affecting my internal speakers?
In some setups, your R speaker (for example) is on a single circuit with the R channel of your headphones. So, when you plug in your headphone, as the jack connects to your headphone plug is also interrupts the circuit to your speaker, so that both do not play at the same time. It is old, mechanical technology, so it can get gummed up with dust, or a stray strand of wire, or even a short in the solder used to install the jack.
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