My HDMI cable to my HDTV does not deliver sound anymore.

I have only a basic user level of experience.

I have a two year old 17" HP laptop and have been using a 12 foot HDMI cable to connect to my six month old 42" Vizio HDTV.

I have been pleased with watching movies being transferred from the computer to the TV.

Then suddenly, the audio levels began to drop and I had to keep increasing the tv's sound level. This happened quickly, in a period of a couple days. Now there is no sound like the way it originally was.

Now when I have the HDMI hooked up, and do a sound test for my online conferencing...the test beep comes out fine on the television.:confused:

This happened four weeks ago. A very recent development is that my sound light which comes on when the audio is off, always stays on now. It works fine, but am curious if this is related to my HDMI sound problem to my television.

(Frankly the sound to the Television is my biggest concern... unless something drastic is developing with the laptop.)

I would want to know if you accidentally lowered the sound on your computer itself. Check the sound control panel and the sound level for the player you are using.

ummmh! If you are talking about the obvious sound level controls on the outside and above my keyboard section... yes they were / are at their highest setting.

(thanks for the response);)

does the laptop play the movie with sound - unplugged from the TV? I've never heard of an HDMI cable going all fubar.

yep, the movie playing audio and video on the laptop is normal.

There has to be a problem with the laptop. I have hooked it up to another HDTV in the house and the same problem exists.

Remember, when I used a 'test beep' when checking the audio for an online meeting system, the beep came out over the Television. (I didn't think to test live Skype on the TV now that I think of it.) I did try my Flip videos and the audio does NOT come out on the TV.

Now I generally keep my headphones hooked up to the laptop. When the HDMI is hooked up to the TV, the sound on the headphones is working. Before when hooked up to the TV, the headphones did not work. Now they do.

I wonder if there is a setting somewhere with the headphones that is causing the problem? If so, where would the controls for that be at? I have tried going through the control panel audio options I have found. Is there a portal to sound that is not so obvious?

Thanks for the replies. I cannot help, but think it has to be something simple or drastic.

depending on your sound card, it sounds like your headphones are messing around with your configuration by changing itself to the default audio device. Have you tried unplugging the headphones then? I know that when I plug in my usb headphones, it gets detected and becomes the default sound device. When I unplug it, my realtek audio reverts to the default output audio

kujoe,

I believe you have hit on something. I always had my headphones plugged in when connecting the HDMI cable/cord. I noticed some changes in how the previous audio was acting.

I am guessing now then that I should have had my headphones unplugged when connecting my HDMI cable. I did like to watch movies on my HDTV... a lot!

Now, when I connect the HDMI cable to watch TV, the audio on my laptop is off, but sound comes through my headphones.

IF! this is the problem... can it be corrected! OR is this going to require a trip to a computer technition repairman?

Sounds like your drivers were recently updated/mucked with. Could be something as simple as a Windows update screwing with them.

Find your specific sound card model, and look up the settings for how audio switches from device to device.

Another test: Don't just do movies. Try music in Winamp or windows media player, iTunes, etc.

Make sure that you have multiple programs to test with, not just WMP, or VLC, etc. Then you know if it is a program specific issue, or a general drivers setting issue.

If this was my computer, this is what I would have donee. some or most of this you will have already done:

- check the physical connections.
- check the hardware settins. Make sure that all of the devices are NOT muted or turned off.
- check the software settings. Make sure that the sound settings on the sound manager of the software running the video is not muted. Make sure that windows sound manager is not muted. Then I would look to see what is the "default playback device." I use USB headphones so I would check to ensure it was all set to my mobo sound card. I would also check the default sound device AFTER I plugged in the HDMI cable. Oftentimes when new hardware is added, something changes internally. Therefore after I plug in the HDMI cable, I would check the settings once more.

One other option I try is to use a different HDMI cable and another laptop to see if you have the same issue. This is not something you need to get a repair guy to fix.

Thank you kujoe.

I will follow the procedures, as close as my computer level savy allows.

Thanks for the advice. (I will learn what a sound card is)

jam24u

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James

Sounds like your drivers were recently updated/mucked with. Could be something as simple as a Windows update screwing with them.

Find your specific sound card model, and look up the settings for how audio switches from device to device.

Another test: Don't just do movies. Try music in Winamp or windows media player, iTunes, etc.

Make sure that you have multiple programs to test with, not just WMP, or VLC, etc. Then you know if it is a program specific issue, or a general drivers setting issue.

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Thank You too James. I will apply your suggestions

I often pass by those with James in the username as I am James also and use that profile name quite often on official use websites.

james a. mason II (jam24u)