M860TU speaker problem

Hello everyone, first time poster, long time reader, and now a proud owner of an M860TU. The only problem I've encountered with this machine so far, and that I hope you can help me with, is this:

I have a set of Logitech X-230 speakers, containing a pair of satellites and a subwoofer, which I'd like to use with the laptop. The laptop has three audio jacks - headphone, mike, and (I think) speakers. If I plug the speakers in the third jack, nothing happens - the internal speakers still continue playing.

If I plug them in the headphone jack, they take over from the internal ones. However, only one of the satellites and the subwoofer will play, the other satellite will simply stay silent, even if I tinker with the realtek balance settings. The speakers themselves don't have any balance knob or anything.

Because I don't have either another set of speakers, nor a second laptop, I can't verify whether the speakers themselves are defective, but I think not, since I got the new. Hope some of you can help.

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

sorry, the audio jacks in the M860TU only do analog 2.1 (through 1 jack).... or digital out (up to 7.1 through 1 jack with SPDIF coax).

So you will only be able to connect 2.1 speakers to this notebook if you only they only have analog jacks (3.5mm).

Higher end Logitech speakers (or receivers) have SPDIF coaxial, which will let you connect to one plug on the notebook to get up to 8-channels.

So if you want to use your analog 5.1 speakers with this notebook you will need an add-on sound card with the 3 jacks (1 for front, 1 for rear, 1 for center).

 

Hi markom and welcome to the forum.
the 3 sockets at the front are from left headphones out, mic in & S/PDIF out (dont ask me what thats for as i have no idea).

i have a 5.1 suround sound and if i plug just one of the plugs into the headphone socket i somehow get the front 2 speakers and sub all together.
to use more than 2 speakers i think you would need an external sound card like the x-fi soundblaster. (see below)

the manual might give you an idea. get it here clikety click

 

Thanks a lot for the fast replies. My 2.1 speakers have only one regular plug (a green one), not several like the 5.1 speakers. The plug I think is the standard, analog 3.5mm. Are you really sure that 2.1 (as opposed to just 2) speakers can't work on a single laptop jack, without one of the three speakers not working? That's what's troubling me, I know that 5.1. speakers wouldn't work. Thanks again for all the help.

 

It should work, seeing as one jack is stereo.
I have the Logitech X-530's and have hooked them up to my laptop using a converter which takes the 3 cables and makes them into 1. It basically means the stereo gets stretched around the 5 speakers (the sub still works of course).

 

Logitech X-230 is a 2.1 speaker system.... I thought it was a 5.1 for some reason.

you can plug the one jack right into the headphone jack on the notebook.

once you plug it into the headphone jack, the on-board speakers will be disabled, which is normal.

you cannot have the on-board speakers work simultaneously with your external speakers.

 

Gophn,

Yes, but when I plug the speakers into my headphone jack, and the internal speakers are disabled, one of the three external speakers is not working. Does this mean that this speaker is defective, or is it the laptop jack?

 

plug it into the left socket and then go into the realtek HD audio manager. you might need to change something in there to recognise the speakers.

 

which one of the three "external" speakers is NOT working?

the two front speakers should work fine, the subwoofer should mainly work when there is bass playing in the audio source.

 

The left satellite is the one which is not working. If I do a speaker test in Realtek Audio Manager, when I click on the left speaker I can only hear the subwoofer, and the right satellite is working normally.

The light satellite is connected by a cable which I cannot disconnect myself to the right satellite, which is in turn connected by a big cable to the subwoofer. In other words, I can't tinker with any of the physical connections to produce a different result.

 

the left speaker might be broken

have you tested the speakers with another device, like an MP3 player?

if it works with other devices, then it could be a setting in the Volume Control or Realtek software

another way to test is to use a basic headphone set in the notebook to see if the left channel works

if the heaphones' left side is not working ... the jack is faulty.

 

Thanks, I'll see what I can do to test it.