I always use headphones but in my Windows 7 computer the sound keeps breaking up and I have to sit in a certain position or I might not hear any voices at all. I unplugged the headphones and turned on my speakers and the sound is fine but the bass is really loud and thumpy. My brother can hear it downstairs. The only bass management control I can find is bass redirection. I don't have an ear for this type of stuff so checking and unchecking that box sounds the same to me. Is there some other setting or somewhere else to change this? I have a Sound Blaster card in there and I guess there is also Realtek something or other. I don't understand this stuff at all so this is the best I can explain it. I thought there was some other controls that I used way back in the past but maybe that was actually a different computer.

There are indeed infinite ways to adjust your sound. But since you're on Windows 7, I don't remember how to do it! Let me do some checking.

The other issue might just be in the jack for the sound. In the meantime, the other thing you can do is plug your speakers in to the Realtek sound on your motherboard.

EDIT: So what I'm finding is that you need to open up your Creative Sound Blaster software to make adjustments. So it depends on where that is located... maybe in your programs list?

The Sound Blaster Control Panel is where I found that only Bass Management thing. What does Equalizer do?

Is there a different place to plug the headphones in?

As far as plugging in your headphones, probably not unless your speakers have a headphone jack. That's where I plug my headphones in - right on the speaker. I really have no idea what the individual settings do in the software. I would suggest experimenting with different settings. Do the headphones work on your other computer? That would eliminate the headphones themselves as the issue.

I found a bunch of Youtube videos on using the Soundblaster hardware. There were so many I didn't know which one to link to! Maybe try that...

Okay, thanks. I'll see if I can figure something out.

I finally figured this out. It wasn't about any adjustment in the computer. It was my subwoofer (I think that's what it's called) which seemed to be turned all the way up.

THANK YOU for letting us know, oldbroad! I knew you would figure it out one way or another!

Way to go oldbroad, Sounds like you found the right thing to do.

Glad you got it figured out, ob!

The sound was working when I shut down last night but when I booted up today, it was not. I did a restart and now it is. I do hope I can finish these two games at least, but have many games I can only play on this computer so I hope it is not my actual sound and that it will be okay after I complete Safecracker (which I am not too far into yet).

Moving over from the other thread as I don't think the games are the problem. When I went to play tonight the sound worked for maybe 15 minutes and then went out again. I tried restart a couple of times but no luck. Then I tried switching to Realtek sound, no luck. I had Googled the other night when this first started and found something that said I would have to physically remove my sound card and go into BIOS or something in order to get the Realtek sound working. Does that sound right? If so, I guess I can consider my Windows 7 computer as history unless Best Buy will do something with it. I was under the impression that they only work on "supported" operating systems though, so...

Best Buy or a small reliable computer shop will work on it, it has nothing to do with Operating System in question.
Sometimes just removing your Sound Card, your other Sound system could automatically take over once you Boot up your computer.
Also, your Sound Card might have just come loose and just needs to be re-seated. Or maybe your Sound Card is on the fritz and you could *buy a new one, you can get one relatively cheap from Amazon or other sources.

*Regarding buying another Sound Card if the other tips don't work, wait for Draclvr and others to answer you first.

Good luck with your sound problem.

In a word, no, you shouldn't have to make changes in the BIOS to use your Realtek sound card. You should be able to select which source in your operating system - I've done it dozens of times switching between sound sources.

Right click the sound icon on the lower right and select Open Sound Settings. From there you can select your audio output source. I don't remember how to do it on Windows 7. On Windows 10, it's super easy, but I remember it being somewhat confusing on Windows 7. Of course, make sure you have your sound device plugged into the motherboard, not the sound card.

And you are correct, places like Best Buy only work on supported systems.

If you have issues with both the sound card and the motherboard sound, it could be there are issues with the port you are using. If you're using headphones, it could be the port you are plugged into. The fact that it comes and goes suggests a wonky port, not your audio sources.

So, conflicting info regarding Best Buy but I had gotten my impression first hand when I brought the computer there in 2019. I may have to call and ask / confirm.

Drac, you lose me when you say "make sure you have your sound device plugged into the motherboard, not the sound card." I have absolutely no knowledge of my sound device or my motherboard so that is not something I can even attempt to do or look at. I also don't know about the ports or how to switch any of that.

Thank you both though.

I am trying to figure this out with the help of this:

https://www.cgdirector.com/motherboard-audio-ports-explained/

but my speaker plugs are green, black, and yellow. They don't show yellow on here and I don't see yellow on my computer. I tried my yellow into both orange and gray. When I hit "test" I hear a very faint sound. But now, I just "disabled" something and don't see Realtek or Sound Blaster in my list of "sound" devices. I am currently restarting my computer. I guess I should have stuck to my guns and not touched anything!

I was able to get those back on the list. If I do a "speaker set up" I get sound but there is a box that says "center-sub woofer speaker out" and appears to be that orange plug but I don't know what to plug in there??? And even though I get sound doing the speaker set up, there is not sound happening otherwise.

Oh, I think that "center-sub woofer speaker out" was just telling me which plug I was in.

Still though, speakers work but no sound in games.

Yet another edit. I am sorry if I am making you all crazy but I am going crazy myself. All of a sudden I have sound. Will it stay? Who the heck knows!

Do you have the user manual for your speakers? If not, what is the make and model and I'll look it up.

You have a Sound Blaster sound card with ports on the back to plug your audio devices into.

You have Realtek motherboard sound with ports to plug your devices into.

So, let's say you decide to switch to Realtek sound in sound settings. If your audio device is plugged into your Sound Blaster sound card, you won't hear anything. You will have to unplug from the sound card and plug into the motherboard sound.

Hope that makes sense!

That is what I have been working on all day. Your earlier post had me thinking I had to open up the case. Then I figured out I did not have to. I have used the video I linked to as well as the speaker "manual" to do my best to figure it out. I put the yellow plug in the gray hole. The part I most had trouble with though is knowing what settings to click on in the sound settings because I have no idea what any of that means. I winged it and it has been working for now. i played Frankenstein for over an hour. I'll check it out again later and I'll just hope that it keeps on working. I have 5.1 surround sound speakers that I bought from Dell when I bought my Dell XP computer.

Phrases like this "select your audio output source" and this "make sure you have your sound device plugged into the motherboard" are not phrases I understand. I don't know about audio output sources or what my sound device is.

Sure you do! It's just that they are speaking in tongues... he, he! Your audio output source is either your Sound Blaster sound card or your Realtek integrated sound chip in the motherboard. And your sound device is either your speakers or your headphones.

Fingers crossed it keeps working! I didn't find Windows 7 to be very "friendly" for this stuff.

I am not asking for help because I don't think there is anything to be done but just to update.

Some games I get voices and some I don't although I get all other sound. Some games I don't know if there should be voices or not. It's probably something simple if I only understood any of this garbage!

It's not that there are no voices. I just can't get them to come out loud enough or clear enough to hear them properly but it doesn't have to do with the volume. I've tried the volume all the way up but the voices are low and muted/garbled sounding.

Yeah, more volume doesn't usually help that. I can't remember... do you use earbuds or headphones? I find I have better luck with hearing everything if I do.

I normally use headphones but had stopped using them with the Windows 7 when the sound started going in and out if I turned my head sometimes. I hooked up my speakers but the voices in some games sound like they're coming through a wall or from downstairs or something but at the same time there is a heavy throb/bass type sound? Not sure how to describe it.

Could it be possible that your Headphone has a loose wire? Usually that would happen if you have a loose wire in the equipment since it happens only when you turn your head, have you tried your HP on another computer? Do you have another set of HP to try out?

Yeah, that definitely sounds like a loose wire. If I remember, you DID find your speaker settings so you could turn down the bass on your subwoofer and adjust some of the other sounds?

It wasn't the headphones. I then changed from the Sound card to the system sound and the problem persists. Like, sometimes when I first boot the system up if I go into a problem game, I can hear the voices fine but then they will drop out, sometimes after I play for awhile, or else just the next time I go in the game if I haven't rebooted my computer inbetween.

If I can remember how, I'm going to try to go back to the sound card as it was at least better than this Realtek is.

Did you ever right click on your sound icon on the lower right and run the troubleshooter?