ASUS G50V Audio Problem

Since this morning, I no longer hear any audio from the laptop, and when I connect the laptop to external speakers the sound is totally distorted. I've tried different music software and tested different speaker cables - same problem. I don't know where to begin to diagnose this problem. I also don't have a manual that shows me how to get to the sound card inside the computer. Any assistance will be appreciated.

 

I would completely uninstall all your drivers, Drive sweeper the remaining audio files and start from scratch installing them all again.

It sounds software related.

 

Thanks for the reply. I've never liked messing with drivers - any suggestions on which to uninstall? And then what do I do, go to devices-->sound, and then ask for drivers' search?

 

Start from scratch, Uninstall the Realtek and/or creative drivers if you have them. Then right click my computer / device manager / uninstall the sound driver and tick delete driver software when doing so.

Restart and it should auto install a standard audio driver and then download the latest Realtek package and reinstall. You can crap clean as well using a Drive Sweeper but that should do the trick if it is driver related.

 

Yiddo - Before your last reply I actually tried the first part - I uninstalled the Realtek drivers, rebooted, and nothing happened, I was without any sound device. I went to the ASUS site and downloaded the audio driver for Vista x64 and was unable to install it - the 'readme' instructions then said :

Insert the "Realtek HD Audio Drivers" CD into the CD-ROM
drive and run the setup.exe program to finish the installation.'

I don't have that CD and the SETUP.exe wouldn't run. I couldn't find the Realtek drivers anywhere else for Vista.

 

Here is the driver package:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Drivers/Audio/Audio_VT32_64_090115.zip

Don't worry about the creative software, it's garbage and was known to cause some issues on the G50V. You can install it from the driver CD if you have it and want it installed.

Your problem may be with hardware though, like a shorted headphone jack. See the sticky and search within the post for 'headphone' and you'll find some threads with a few ideas.

 

Thanks for the package, but that's the same one I found at the ASUS website and couldn't install - I extracted and then tried to run the setup.exe and nothing happened - any suggestions?

 

Make sure you are running it as administrator (right click on the setup.exe).

Otherwise maybe your download is corrupted, AV software is blocking installers, or something else like your windows installer service is busted or not running (check event viewer).

 

Thanks - I'm going to tinker with these various suggestions and hope something pans out. I too think it's a hardware problem - I've tried various restores and the problem has persisted.

 

If it ends up being your headphone jack shorted, try some of the registry tweaks. Then if your internal speakers work clearly, you at least know it's not a problem with your audio chip.

You can try prodding the jack with a paperclip to see if it will physically unstick (see the sticky for details). If it won't, you can replace the audio/USB board (look on ebay). Keep in mind the actual audio chip is on the motherboard, so if your internal speakers sound is distorted and it's not a driver issue, it's probably not worth replacing the whole board over.

 

I tried the fix with the run-->edit etc. recommendation, changing the 00 to 01, with no effect. I then tried putting the plug into the headphone jack in and out, then played around with a toothpick. Then tried the trick of pulling the jack out slowly and bending it towards me - this did something. The laptop sound came back, I tried the jiggling again, I lost the laptop sound, tried it again and it came back. There's still a lot of distortion through external speakers but running a few youtube videos I can now make out what is being said - the distortion remains and it's pretty bad, but apparently not so bad as before. Any suggestions as to what this indicates and what is my next step? Still haven't gone the driver route.

I take that back about the external speakers - the distortion is terrible. But the sound through the laptop speakers is normal.

 

It sounds like a shorted jack that may also be busted or making bad contact. You can try fiddling with it, at this point it sounds like it needs to be replaced.

At least the problem isn't with your motherboard.

You can replace that board with the headphone and mic jacks on it for around $30 if you search ebay: asus g50 , g51 audio, usb board | eBay

You can see the removal process for that board, ending on the bottom of P.2-20: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...8551-asus-g50-notebook-disassembly-guide.html

 

Thanks a lot for your help. The jack seems screwed - I tried the external speakers again and lost the internal ones again. Then got it back, but I doubt that will last. Sorry to bother you with more questions, but here I go:

1. I didn't see where in the disassembly guide there are instructions about how to replace the audio board - can you point me to the page?
2. If I buy some bluetooth speakers, am I correct in assuming they should work okay, assuming I can pair them with the laptop?
3. What I'm looking for on ebay is a G50 series audio usb board, correct?

 

If you look close it's on Page 20 of that guide, at the bottom of the page, right after the bluetooth module removal. They call it the "I/O board".

I linked an ebay search that should get you started in my last post.

 

Update: I've postponed tearing the laptop apart and replacing the audio board, though I realize that's the appropriate fix. I'm just afraid I'll never get the thing back together again. An alternative fix - at least for the short-term - is to buy a usb sound card, which allows one to bypass the laptop's sound card or, as in my case, a faulty input jack. There's some real cheap crap on the mark, but I found one that works great (so far), the Aureon Terratec Dual USB sound card for about $20. The sound through the external speakers is close to what I got from the input jack.

The drawback to the sound card USB device is that if you're recording streamed music using software like BlazeMedia, you need the sound to come directly from the laptop, apparently.