How-To Geek

Sound won't play through the speakers, headphones work fine(except they're failing), the speakers work, but i cant get audio to them. I tried plugging them into the headphone jack but that didnt do anything. Its just a stereo setup but my headphones arent working right anymore and I need audio. I ran windows update and the device config said the drivers are current. The audio is Realtec.
Edit: The system recognizes when i plug/unplug the speakers, displaying a notification on the toolbar. It appears to be playing sound, but the speakers aren't emitting any.
Edit2: Pluggin them into the headphone jack does work, its just really quite, i had to max the volume and turn on "loundness" to be able to tell they were playing sound, on xp i would assume it was the Wave volume too low, but i dont see any thing like that here. how can I make it louder?

I'm not sure its just the ones that came with my old HP, their in this image

in the realtek system panel, go to the tab SOUND EFFECTS, and check loudness equalization, this will make it louder,
also in sound and devices in control panel, select the PC speakers as the default.

Have you got a resistance meter ?

That won't work :(

No need to check them if they work ok with the mp3 player.
They are 2 speakers, connected up to a single 3.5mm stereo plug yes ?

Did some more experimentation, it appears i can get a better volume by plugging them into the headphone jack on the front rather than the "front speaker out" port, but its still less than I had them at on the old PC.

I have and they are maxed.

The audio drivers are working properly and are up to date, it just seems like the speakers aren't getting enough juice or something.

Plugged into my mp3 player(Creative Zen Personal Media Player) its noticeably louder than when plugged into the computer playing the same song with all volume sliders maxed, loudness on, and VLC's volume set to 200%. While I don't have a decibel meter or anything like that, the difference is noticeable, and really the PC should be quite capable of making them louder than a relatively cheap mp3 player running on a battery...