Hello--

Lightning struck near my house (I was rushing home to unplug things and didn't quite beat the approaching storm) and now my computer seems to have a slight problem: the audio is messed up. There is a steady "white noise" sound in the background. I can hear it through my speakers and my headphones.

Is this simply a matter of needing a new sound card (perhaps the current one got buzzed in the storm) or might there be a larger issue here. Thought I should ask before dumping a bunch of money into a sound card. By the way, the modem was knocked out by this lightning strike...so there was a surge of some kind into the house.

Thanks for any and all help!

Jake

Is that the only problem? Does the computer work OK otherwise?

When you say the modem was knocked out: Did it come back up or did it die?

How do the headphones connect? Thru the Speakers? Or are you using the same card port? Do you have other speakers that you can test?

Do you have onboard audio as well as a card? Have you tried this connection? Or is your card onboard?

It's at least worth a try to reload the drivers. What is the make and model of the computer? Or sound card if it is a separate PCI card.

Hi, jephree

"Is that the only problem? Does the computer work OK otherwise?"

Yes, other than the sound issue, the computer seems to be fine. I have not encountered any other problems. Well, I had to buy a new modem and for some reason I can only log on through the USB port right now (i.e., my cable internet doesn't seem to work through the ethernet route anymore), but that is the only other issue encountered thus far.

"When you say the modem was knocked out: Did it come back up or did it die?"

Totally dead. Couldn't get a single light to come back on. I now have a new modem.

"How do the headphones connect? Thru the Speakers? Or are you using the same card
port? Do you have other speakers that you can test?"

My headphones were connected to ports in the back of the tower (my speakers were not connected during the storm, the headphones were). I have plugged alternative headphones and the speakers into both the back and front "headphone" ports and the white noise is present in every case.

"Do you have onboard audio as well as a card? Have you tried this connection? Or
is your card onboard?"

Sorry for the confusion: I have never purchased a sound card for my computer, all I have right now is the onboard audio device that came with the computer (a Dell Dimension 4500).


I have a NVIDIA video card installed in the computer and that appears to be working fine. Not sure if that matters, but thought I would toss it out in case it helped.

Reloading the drivers is a good idea. I will find the disks and give that a try ASAP.

I really appreciate the help,

Jake

http://support.dell.com/support/down...os=WW1&osl=EN#

Check your Device Manager Start/Run/ devmgmt.msc

or

start/Run/ dxdiag

For Sound Device


...sorry for assuming XP. You can adjust that search page for your OS.

http://support.dell.com/support/down...=us&l=en&s=gen



.

I reloaded my audio driver. The white noise remains. Hmmm........

As an added twist: I just hooked a microphone up to the computer and it doesn't seem to work at all.

Could the built in audio device be toast?

Jake

I am using Windows XP, btw

So we have: Ethernet port; Mic port; Audio port not working correctly?

Dell Diagnostic here: http://pccheckup.dellfix.com/rel/?ra...77326213108123

See if that shows anything.