New 5320 - Possible problem

My 5320 arrived today. It seems great but I may have a problem with the audio. Sound only comes from the right speaker. There are two speaker "holes" in the case (L & R) so I'm assuming there should be two speakers...but sound is only working on the right.

I've played around with all the audio settings but nothing seems to have any effect. The balance is set to the middle but still no sound from the left speaker. If I move the balance all the way to the left the effect is the same as muting the system.

Any ideas?

 

Interesting, I don't have any problem like that with my 5320, nor have I heard of that issue . .

I would try reinstalling the drivers, see if that does anything. You can download them from Sager's support site.

Also, in the Control Panel, you'll see the Realtek HD audio manager - see if any of the settings are weird in there.

 

A good suggestion but it didn't change anything.
I emailed powernotebooks.com to see if they can help. I can only assume there is a physical connection missing between the speaker and sound card.

 

Did you try opening it up and seeing if there's an obvious misconnection that's easily accessible?

My 5720 comes on Monday. I never use a laptops speakers, so I'd be in two minds whether to send it back over that - on the one hand, who cares? On the other - you just spent a couple of grand on a new machine, everything should be perfect!

 

I also own a 5320, and I don't have any speaker issues. Sounds like you may have a wire loose somewhere...I'd take KingPup's suggestion and open it up to see if it's something you can easily reconnect. If you haven't already done so (out of curiosity), practically the entire "guts" of the 5320 can be exposed by removing the panels underneath.

 

I'll give that a shot. I did have the same thought...I don't really care about the speakers but my investment should work as advertised.
BTW, Sager is doing the right thing service-wise. They offered to replace the machine at their expense.

 

Good for them. That is what they should do. You shouldn't have to crack open a new machine to see if a wire is loose.
GG Sager/Powernotebooks.

 

Shouldn't have to definitely, but if it was easily fixable at my end I'd sure as hell prefer that to sending it back and being computerless for all that time.

 

Exactly...even two-day shipping both ways, plus a day at the factory (spent boxing and prepping the new notebook for the next day's shipment), means you're probably out of a computer for a week. And if your lappy is your ONLY computer (like mine is for me)...a week can be torture.

Anyway, any success at diagnosing the problem yourself, iCamp?

 

I cracked it open but I don't see anything wrong. I'm pretty experienced with desktop builds but a notebook's innards are a bit different. I wasn't able to determine where the speakers or the soundcard are located (is the soundcard on the motherboard?).

Anyway, all the connections appeared to be attached well so I think the best way to fix this is to ship it out.
Unfortuantly, they're shipping it UPS Ground...which really sucks. I'll be out at least a week. I'm going to shoot them an email requesting a faster shipping method.

 

Yeh, the sound card is integrated onto the motherboard. Where, exactly, I'm not sure...but if you don't see anything glaringly obvious, your best bet is to send it back before you accidentally destroy something else.

 

I'd send it back - at least you'll have it within a week.

Cheers

 

I gave up on Sager. Their idea of service didn't exactly mesh with mine.
They only offered UPS ground shipping (for my RMA) and refused to accept my request for expedited shipping.
I sent it back anyway -hoping they would get it back quickly anyway. After 9 days and zero communication from Sager I gave up.
I returned the Sager and ordered an Asus as a replacement. I should have it soon.

Thanks to all in the participants in the Sager forum.

 

Sorry to hear about that icamp, thanks for posting your experience.

Makes me a bit uncomfortable too . . .