ok heres the deal

i have some speakers and a sub that i hooked up to my laptop for music, games ect....the only thing actually plugged into the computer for this is via a headphone jack. (i have many other things hooked up to my comp, this this is all that is required for the audio)

now, in my dorm, i also hooked up surround sound. i have my audio from my xbox360, tv, and dvd player running through this. yesterday i decided "why not run audio from my laptop through the surround sound as well?"

i went and got a headphone jack splitter (1 input, 2 output)....so i can have the audio from my comp go to my computer speakers and surround sound. i also picked up a headphone to (red+white) RCA to actually take the audio from the splitter to the surround sound.....

hooked everything up correctly (not like its hard)...

................................................/computer speakers
computer-headphone jack splitter<
................................................\s urround sound

and the computer speakers/sub still worked, but nothing via surround sound...i took out the splitter and hooked the surround sound up to the computer w/out the splitter....nothing....hooked up the computer speakers without the surround sound, bam, music...works....put the splitter back in and computer speakers work, surround sound doesnt....i switched ends on the splitter and tried the computer speakers to the other output....worked....tried the other output on the surround sound, nothing.....

no im thinkin, maybe its the wire, so i tried using the headphone jack on my tv to run via the surround sound...it worked...so its not the wire nor the input on the surround sound....

i got frustrated last night, and gave up...woke up, tried it again today, and i cant get audio to anything via my headphone jack (output) on my computer unless i turn it up ALL the way, and its like a whisper....so no its almost like the output on my computer doesnt work....wtf?

anyone have anything to tell me? sorry for the long read and i hope i made sense

 

If it barely works at all now the only things I can think of are a system setting (did you check all the volume sliders?) or maybe your headphone jack is dying? Personally I think you'd get much better sound out of the 5.1 speakers with something like a USB sound card (I used to use an Audigy NX on my laptop that worked very well, speakers are hooked up to my desktop now though).

 

I DJ using my computer pumping it out thru a mixer and some large subs......and I use the same RCA to headphone jack cable that your referring to. I've also ran it thru a splitter to subs and a surround sound system.

I've found more often then not the issue is the splitter itself, not the cabling or computer. Some splitters arent very good....as they're just really cheap.

Since the sound works great on two systems without the splitter, and the only issue you have is while using the splitter......to me that would suggest an issue with the splitter.


I would also listen to what Altair suggested. Some sound cards have multi-output ports, so you can use more then one output. Fortunately for me, my onboard sound is all I need. I would double check the volume levels on all the equipment as well, despite knowing it works. Because I ran my surround sound to my PS3 and to my TV, I actually had to use a different port on my surround sound component. I also had to adjust a different volume level on the unit as it had its own seperate one besides the universal sound level.

Hope this helps........

 

Hmm I didn't really think about the splitter, although he did say that he hooked the surround speakers directly to the computer without the splitter and got nothing. Either way seems pretty odd, it should work how you were doing it although from my experiences with splitters you tend to get much lower volume when using them. My main reason for using the usb Audigy on my laptop was for the CMSS 3d stereo upmix and better sound quality. (On my Klipsch Promedia 5.1's I could tell the difference in quality between the audigy and the onboard, it was subtle but it was there)

My last post probably should have been phrased that I think you'll get better quality sound out of an external card. You should be able to get sound out of the onboard the way you were doing it, although the onboard sound barely working now is troubling. In addition to checking all the volume sliders in windows you can try deleting the onboard sound in the device manager and restarting the computer. Windows should detect it and automatically reinstall it when it restarts.

 

ok, maybe i wasnt 100% clear, let me try to clear some of this up....

on the splitter, i tried both outputs via the computer speakers/sub set up....both outputs from the splitter worked correctly....but whenever i put the headphone/rca cord either in the splitter, or by itself in the headphone jack on the comp, it didnt work (surround sound).....i tried running the headphone/rca from my tv to my surround sound to see if that cord was the problem....it worked fine

so now we know that the headphone/rca cord works
both outputs on the splitter work
the computer speaker/sub works
headphone jack on computer works\

since everything works seperately, when i hook it up, one would assume it would work.....and everything does, but for some reason i dont get audio to my surround sound

NOW

today i tried it again, and i dont get audio from my headphone jack at all, unless i turn it up all the way, and its at a whisper (and yes, computer volume is all the way up, along with either surround sound and/or computer speakers subs....

honestly, i think my headphone jack pooped out....are there any of these usb sound cards that are pretty good? i almost felt lost today with being able to access music....

also, i have 4 usb outputs on my laptop...all four are being used, but i can get another usb adapter with multiple outputs....currently in usb output number 1 i have: a usb multiport with 3 of 4 docks used (ipod cord, multiple media card reader, dock for wireless mouse/computer)....in usb port 2 i have a desk lamp....usb port 3 is my printer/scanner/fax....and port 3 is a bluetooth adapter i usually use to send songs ect to my phone

 

Your desk lamp uses USB?

Anyways, as for the USB cards, I recommend the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX if you can find one. I used one to run my 5.1 Klipsch system from my laptop for about two years till I got a new desktop. Sounds great and the only problem I ever had with it was the power adapter went out just before I stopped using it (replaced it with a universal one from Radio Shack for about $15).

 

yep found it at the student union!

and thanks, ill look for it!

 

check the sound settings on the control pnl for 1. vol settings (use advanced settings also). 2. speaker selection, try selecting surround sound 5.1 under the advanced speaker selection (if your driver permits)