Odd volume problem on laptop

[Tom._White]

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong sub-forum.

I have recently been having an odd problem with the volume on my laptop when playing music over the built in speakers. Sometimes, I don't feel like powering up the stereo, and will just listen to my music stored on the laptop when I am in the bedroom or dining room.

What has been happening is that a song will start to play at the selected volume, but in about 4-5 seconds the volume drops noticeably. I have gone through everything I can think of to check what might be causing this oddity, but cannot come up with anything in the device settings, etc.

This happens without regard to whether I use WMP, MediaGo, JRiver or whatever. The same files play just fine when I plug the usb containing the same files into my receiver, so it is not something in the files themselves.

This did not always happen, and the only changes made to the laptop where the regular windows 10 updates from Microsoft.

It is almost as though some sort of system protection (from a volume standpoint) is kicking in, but I don't play the music loud at all.

Any ideas?

 

[TLS Guy]

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong sub-forum.

I have recently been having an odd problem with the volume on my laptop when playing music over the built in speakers. Sometimes, I don't feel like powering up the stereo, and will just listen to my music stored on the laptop when I am in the bedroom or dining room.

What has been happening is that a song will start to play at the selected volume, but in about 4-5 seconds the volume drops noticeably. I have gone through everything I can think of to check what might be causing this oddity, but cannot come up with anything in the device settings, etc.

This happens without regard to whether I use WMP, MediaGo, JRiver or whatever. The same files play just fine when I plug the usb containing the same files into my receiver, so it is not something in the files themselves.

This did not always happen, and the only changes made to the laptop where the regular windows 10 updates from Microsoft.

It is almost as though some sort of system protection (from a volume standpoint) is kicking in, but I don't play the music loud at all.

Any ideas?

I would say the output chip amp in the computer has failed, and is drawing excessive current and heating in a few seconds, then protection kicks in to stop your laptop going up in smoke.

With laptops and Li batteries this is a potentially dangerous problem. I would get it fixed or recycle that laptop.

 

[Tom._White]

Thanks for the reply TLS Guy.

I would hate for that to be the case as the Dell laptop is only about year old. I guess the good news would be that it may still be under warranty.

Guess I'll have to find out about that. Thanks again.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the reply TLS Guy.

I would hate for that to be the case as the Dell laptop is only about year old. I guess the good news would be that it may still be under warranty.

Guess I'll have to find out about that. Thanks again.

I'm on my second Dell computer, and the first lasted much longer the its expected life span. That was largely due to Dell's fantastic customer service. I do use the business Latitude line though, where I have heard support is much better than on their consumer line.

I would suspect the power amp circuit has an auto signal turn on to conserve battery. You would not want any power amp being on in a laptop not being used. So I suspect it turns on as soon as it detects program and current limiting probably via an opto coupler kicks in after a few seconds.

My concern is that protection circuits are not supposed to be repetitively used and if it fails, then the battery might heat. With Li batteries that has the potential to be nasty.

By the way, I don't think those small power amp chips are designed for prolonged use. I think they are just intended to listen to videos in news articles that last a few minutes. I find it hard to imagine anyone could get any pleasure at all listening to any music on built in laptop speakers. I know I certainly couldn't.

 

[rojo]

@Tom._White do you use EqualizerAPO or any other EQ or bass boost? It could be bass exceeding the output capabilities of your sound card causing the level to drop. On my office pc at work I have a boost for sub bass, and playback compresses during songs with heavy bass. In other words, I get a symptom similar to what you describe. To fix it, I lower the overall preamp level so that my sub bass boost doesn't exceed 0dB.

If your laptop has Beats Audio or some other sort of audio buzz word branding, there could be some sort of DSP enabled causing your issue. Look in Control Panel for hints of software controlled audio enhancements and disable them if you can. See whether that improves playback for you.

Consider getting a pair of Bluetooth headphones in any case. If your laptop doesn't have Bluetooth built in, you can add a micro adapter for around $15 - $20 from Amazon.