Sound issues on PC

Death Cab For Albie

So, as of last night, my PC randomly started having sound issues. I made no configuration changes, it just randomly started -

Whenever I watch movies on my computer, I can hear the soundtracks, background noise, etc...but no voices. I checked all my settings and I don't have surround sound turned on, it's set to regular stereo.

Not sure if this is related, but i've also noticed when i'm trying to load programs like FFDShow Audio I get the following "Windows host process (rundll32) has stopped working"

I've racked my brain and scoured google, but haven't had much luck resolving it. Any help would be appreciated.

Ran Malwarebytes and my regular Panda AV and no viruses/malware found.

Hahnsoo1

What port is outputting your sound? Are you using HDMI, stereo jacks, optical out, etc.? Also, have you updated your video card drivers recently? I know that sounds weird (it's sound, not video, you fool!) but a lot of video card drivers have an HDMI driver that messes with the existing audio drivers on the computer.

Adus

That sounds incredibly odd, and the only thing I can think of is a surround sound setting somewhere. When I tried to watch an episode of a TV show the other day I could hear everything but the voices until I told the player to play in Stereo and not 5.1 like it was set to. So even though you said you checked, make sure you check your video player's settings as well, in case you just checked your computer's settings.

But if you really checked everywhere and you're sure that's not it then something odd is going on. I agree that you should perhaps check and/or reinstall your audio drivers. Make sure cables aren't loose. That sort of thing.

Death Cab For Albie

It outputs to USB (I use a USB Headset).

I haven't updated my video card drivers recently, i can't think of ANY configuration changes i've made to it recently.

I tried re-installing all the audio drivers, to no avail. I've tried several different video players and they all have the same problem. (Even iTunes, when I listed to music, the music sounds kinda distant and not crisp)

Death Cab For Albie

Unfortunately it's looking like i'm just going to have to reformat and start from scratch and hope that helps. I've tried everything else I can think of.

Hahnsoo1

If you use a USB headset, you probably aren't using any type of on-board audio. USB headsets tend to have their own drivers. Try another port, using the conventional audio ports.

Death Cab For Albie

I've tried various usb ports on the computer and unfortunately I have no non usb headphones/speakers to test out the conventional ports with.

Hahnsoo1

Death Cab For Albie wrote:

I've tried various usb ports on the computer and unfortunately I have no non usb headphones/speakers to test out the conventional ports with.

Get something. A different USB headset or a conventional set of headphones or speakers. You have to make sure it isn't hardware related. It is extremely unlikely to be a USB port issue... changing USB ports does absolutely nothing. I meant for you to test audio through your optical, HDMI, or conventional audio outs. Also, check on your computer for your USB headset driver, as this is probably going to be different than your on-board audio. USB headsets often bypass your onboard audio entirely, so any changes you are making on your control panel won't be affecting anything.

To put it another way, if your headset is hosed, then even if you reformat and such, your audio will still be broken. It's the most likely culprit, which takes the least amount of effort to diagnose.

Death Cab For Albie

You make an excellent point sir. Thanks!

Essee

Yeah, if you're lacking even typical headphones, I think grabbing a pair of terrible headphones from the dollar store (all sound SHOULD properly come through them, even if they sound really horrible) is still better than going through all the trouble to reformat. Reformatting is great and all, but there's no guarantee it'll solve your problem, so I'd try the other type of headphones first.

Death Cab For Albie

Yea, once traffic dies down, going to go to best buy and overpay for some shitty headphones.

Hahnsoo1

Death Cab For Albie wrote:

Yea, once traffic dies down, going to go to best buy and overpay for some shitty headphones.

Well, they sell regular headphones with normal audio-out jacks at grocery stores and pharmacies now. No need to go to a dedicated electronics store. The Walgreens near me also sells USB headsets, of all things.

The "rundll32" thing in your OP would make more sense if its your USB Headset driver that's screwing up. You might want to look up your USB Headset's model, see if you can download a new driver, and update your current one.

Essee

Yeah, uhh, no, I wasn't exactly recommending paying a bunch for them. As I said, dollar-store headphones would suffice for testing purposes. If you want to go to a Blockbuster that's closing (or maybe this is only happening all over BC, Canada right now? Either way, your local Blockbusters might be having a sale since the company's in trouble) and get some actually acceptable headphones for a fairly low price, that's cool. But yeah, I don't recommend you go to Best Buy or anything. They historically overcharge for most things, and you don't even need them unless you narrow it down to an actual hardware issue with your headphones (not software, which I would bet it is from your description). If you don't actually want new headphones, just get the cheapies.

Death Cab For Albie

I wasn't being sarcastic, I really was planning on going to best buy (for convenience sake really, there is one in walking distance)

Death Cab For Albie

I got some regular jacked headphones at best buy and they work, so i'm assuming it was just an issue with my usb headphones.

Thanks for the help guys.

Hahnsoo1

I'm glad you were able to solve it without the nightmare that is reformatting your computer.