Asus UL20A Intermittent Audio Problem

The sound just disappears at times, for seemingly no reason. Laptop is running Windows 7 64-bit, all stock, no mods to anything. I have tried every Realtek HD driver available, have factory restored 3 times, have opened it up to take a peek at the speakers and wiring, nothing helps. Sound most noticeably goes away when playing a YouTube or online video, a movie or an .mp3. There is a faint click and the audio is gone. Also, when just surfing the Web or reading E-mail and I try raising or lowering the volume in the system tray, no sound is heard. But it may just "reappear" out of the blue, without a reboot. Rebooting seems to have no effect, in fact, most of the time the volume will still not work after a reboot. You just have to wait for it to return.

The headphone audio always worked for me, but I just took the laptop to a local tech, and he reported no audio even with headphones when the audio disappeared. I also noticed recently that if I tapped in the bottom front right and left corners of the case, where the speakers are, that would help, but not always, get the audio back. I would think that would indicate a hardware problem, but this is so unpredictable, I can't say for sure.

I contacted Asus support, and they suggested I update the ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities, which I did, and it didn't help. They also suggested entering the BIOS and checking the speaker volume there, which I did and it's set at 5.

I bought this laptop used on Ebay, and if I remember right, it happened occasionally when I first got it, which I wasn't too alarmed about, but it's gradually gotten worse to the point it happens all the time now. And there seems to be no consistent pattern to the problem, the audio may work for 20 minutes or 2 minutes, but most likely it will quit within 2-5 minutes or less, especially if I play a video.

The tech I took the laptop to is going to check software solutions first, if no help, he's going to open it up and check the internal audio connections.

FYI, this is an ultracompact 12.1" laptop (NOT a netbook) with a 1.3 GHz SU7300 C2D cpu and 4GB of RAM.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions as to what might be causing this very annoying and frustrating problem, I would greatly appreciate it, thanks!

 

Don't tell me I've stumped everyone...ideas??

Can anyone help me??

 

Have you tried a linux livecd like Ubuntu to test the audio, that would help you rule out a driver issue.

There are a number of threads about stuck headphone jacks, it sounds like it may be similar.

If you're shaking it or repositioning it and the audio comes back, that's a good indicator of a hardware problem.

I'm not exactly sure how the UL20A is put together, but maybe a connector is loose.

 

Thanks for the reply.

The tech working on the laptop has narrowed it down to the headphone jack, it appears to be bad or there is a short in there somewhere.

I don't have the original sales receipt, even though the laptop may still be under warranty due to the approximate date of purchase. I'm going to assume they will not honor the warranty, so I was wondering where I could find a headphone jack assembly for this model. I have contacted Asus Tech Support via email on what the part number is and where I can purchase it.

If anyone knows a good source for Asus laptop parts, specifically a used or new headphone jack that will fit this model, please let me know, thanks!

 

that would be great if it was just the headphone jack. easy fix and you will be good to go. the part cant be that different then what you would buy at radio shack. i see it like a usb port. there isnt to many different types.

 

There is a sticker on the bottom that has the manufacture date and the length of warranty. If the warranty is still valid according to that sticker, they'll service it.

 

You can sometimes get the headphone jack to unstick by inserting and removing a plug from it numerous times. Or there is a software method involving a registry key, or you can try another physical method with using a needle or toothpick to unstick the jack. See this thread and search for headphone to see the various fixes: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...mmon-problems-useful-threads.html#post6929614

 

Thanks for the replies, guys, especially ALLur, some good info in that link. Looks like my warranty has expired, so I would rather fix this on my own, if at all possible.

I will be trying the registry tweak and also to unstick the headphone jack, if that is the case upon inspection. Will report back with updates.