8510GZ speaker volume?

Any way to make these things any louder? I mean, I didn't buy a laptop for its sound system but even at full volume these things are low as hell compared to other laptops I've had.

 

nope, from what I know those speakers a limited by the sound card setting, unless you can find a way to increase the sound driver master volume there's nothing you can do. The reason that the 8510 speakers sound dim is becuase they are angled towards the desk to rebound the sound back to your ears, if you rest your speakers on an uneven surface (your lap) the sound will be muffled. The best solution for inprovement is to use external speakers.

 

Check your wave levels. It should not be quiter than other laptops. From what I have heard, it is quite loud.

 

Mine is very loud.

I'm assuming you've adjusted the master volume via the Fn key controls? Fn key plus the PgUp button raises the volume. Then check your windows master volume, then wav or CD(or whatever source you're listening to) volume. Make sure they're all adjusted up. Finally...check the volume/gain in the application you're using(some are tied to the individual source volume/gain...others are independant).

 

Yeah, I tried all those things. Made sure all the volume levels were way up on everything. Still getting a very low volume.

 

Are you watching a DVD? It is common to experience low volumes when watching a DVD. I always hear people recommending that you update a driver, but honestly I don't know what driver would have any effect.
Try to get WinDVD to use for watching DVDs. I use it, and I rarely have the master volume above 50% (sounds on par with my MP3s).
If you are listening to music, it is probably your file which may have been recorded with a low gain level. Find any audio editor and you can boost the overall volume on them.
Also, check your audio card properties and make sure that it is set to 2 speakers. I recall someone having low volume only to realize that it was trying to send output to 8 channels.. That would surely decrease volume.
That's all that I can think of. If none of those work, consider the possibility that you are deaf.



J/K

 

My Father-in-Law brought by his Gateway M305CRV laptop with XP complaining it wouldn't talk to him anymore. Indeed, the volume is now so low you have to put your ear on the speaker to hear it at all. I've checked all the obvious speaker and source levels in the software, and even with everything turned up to 100% the volume can't be heard from even a few inches away. Analog headphones plugged in are also very low in volume, and they used to scream a few months ago. So I plugged in a set of USB headphones, which bypasses the internal soundcard and its drivers. And even the USB headphones are very low in volume. So it's not a soundcard or soundcard driver issue. This low level playback happens with every sound source, and even for the Windows boot-up sounds.

I've looked everywhere within XP for any other sound level limiter or overall volume control, but without any luck. The only other thing that's a little different is that he has AOL on this laptop. I can't find it, but are there any AOL processes running at the boot-up level which can be set to limit the playback volume to protect your hearing? Any other possibilities? Any place else to look?