touched the (probably ungrounded) pc case with metal and the sound went for good ..

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by Aquinax, Sep 20, 2013.

  1. Aquinax

    Aquinax Guest

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    I've built this new pc: Intel i3 3225, ASUS P8H77-M PRO, 120 GB Kingston SSD and a Sea Sonic Electronics S12II-380B 380W CPU. I've installed Windows 8 and it worked pretty fine for two days. Then, being unsatisfied with Intel Graphics being unable to separate the display and video settings as nVidia card did, I tried to see whether my old graphics card would fit in the PCI slot. While I tried to see where it could fit in I touched the case of the computer with it and a crackling sound came from the speakers. Although the pc was open I inclined to think I have not touched the motherboard but one of the metal removable bars which are removed when an extension card is placed in one of the slots. Since then I heard a constant hissing sound from the speakers which after uninstalling/reinstalling the Realtec HD audio drivers which is now replaced by a dead silence.

    I can now listen through my wireless headset only, there is no sound from the speakers. And the thought that I could have killed the sound capability of my PC on the second!! day of its life instills a very dreadful feeling in me. But .. perhaps not all is lost (i.e. no hardware repair will be needed, Perhaps a system reinstall ?), or in the other case is this little box with audio jack-ins replaceable/repairable ?

    I would appreciate your reply. Thank you.
     
  2. StewieTech

    StewieTech Chuck Norris

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    You should never have something with power, not a single component must be connected to electricity when a person is swapping components. It is very well possible that you damaged the speakers. Is your speakers connected with a single 3.5mm jack? If yes, just plug them to another computer/tablet/smartphone and see if they deliver sound. That´s a beggining.
     
  3. must_kill_ati

    must_kill_ati Maha Guru

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    If I'm reading this right, your headphones still work and your pc speakers don't.

    If that's the case I don't see how it would be your computer (it's the speakers).
     
  4. nhlkoho

    nhlkoho Guest

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    ALWAYS unplug everything from the back of the computer before replacing parts.

    Also, I'm not sure what type of graphics card you will be able to use with a 380W PSU. I would look into upgrading that.
     

  5. Chouji

    Chouji Guest

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    connect the speakers to a different device, to check if they work or not.

    The mobo is probably under warranty, so not all is lost. Just make sure it isn't the speakers first.
    headsets, sometimes use USB, so it passes through a different way.
    there ARE fuses that goto the audio plugs, to stop surges from frying the board, only the fuse goes. you may have fried the fuse. (they are surface mount, so can't be replaced easily.)
     
  6. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Look in device manager under sound devices, if all looks normal your soundcard is prob OK. If you see code 43 or code 10 it might be fried.

    If you're concerned about static u can turn off the power at the wall but leave cord plugged into PSU, that way the PC will be grounded.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2013
  7. airbud7

    airbud7 Guest

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    pci-e sound card is another solution/upgrade...Also any graphics card w/hdmi will produce sound via hdmi........
     
  8. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Good point....like the HD2000 on his i3.
     
  9. Aquinax

    Aquinax Guest

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    StewieTech, I have become wiser now .. (( The speakers are the TV speakers and they're ok, the USB headphones reproduce sound, so I guess the sound card is intact, also I've plugged normal speakers to the pc and there's silence there as well. So it must be an amplifier or something on the way from the motherboard to the socket with 6 line-ins, that had been fried..

    I don't know .. It's an encouraging thought .. But would that not be cheating and wouldn't they discover that the thing has been fried by the end user(me) and send it back? I've already ordered a sound card (this Creative 5.1 VX) and hope it will be unaffected by my bad and stupid handling of the pc and will deliver HD sound as the prospect of arguing with ASUS over what I've screwed up doesn't look appealing to me. The warranty doesn't cover a user's stupidity, does it. What's the general practice here - do they accept anything sent to them within days of purchase (as a theoretical question)?

    In the device manager everthing is alright. I did not killed the soundcard just its connection to the I/O socket.

    On an other note and going back to my original wish to have the video and display settings separated. I know it can't be done in the Intel graphics settings, but can it not be done with some additional software on the present hardware? Or should I install a separate video card? My old AGP card with nVidia drivers accomplished that and I thought surely the Intel HD graphics 4000 chip would handle this task but I was disappointedly taught otherwise .. I'm looking into buying something like this Asus GT610 now and hope its nVidia drivers have the same separate display/video output function as my old card did - I read a lot on the monitor and so have low brightness set but I'd like to watch videos normally.

    Thanks for the quick replies - they've been very encouraging and helpful ..

    PS:
    aibud7, I have a DVI-only TV so I rely on a 3.5 audio cable. thanks for replying.
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2013
  10. airbud7

    airbud7 Guest

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    OP...That is a pci card....Your board has only pci-e slots...It wont work....
     

  11. Aquinax

    Aquinax Guest

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    Thanks airbud7, I've canceled the order and ordered another. What about other questions - do you know whether Asus nVidia GT610 would allow separate outpur settings for video and display?
     
  12. airbud7

    airbud7 Guest

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    Last edited: Sep 22, 2013

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