One side of headphones super quiet

keeblur

United States826 Posts

February 08 2011 00:33 GMT

So I was listening to my headphones fine, then I switched to winamp to play some music, and it sounds like it's only coming out the left side.

At first I figured my headphones are messed up, but I plugged them into my mp3 player and that wasn't the case. Next I went and checked all the balances in my devices and they were all fine. I ran the little test in the settings, and when it does that ping noise I can barely hear it in my right ear.

So I'm curious if anyone has any ideas. I tried reinstalling the drivers already with no help. Beginning to think it might be my motherboard at this point.

Any way, any help is welcome. Thanks.

pheer

5398 Posts

February 08 2011 01:02 GMT

You super duper sure you are plugging the plug all the way in? Headphone plugs often work without being plugged in all the way, but only one channel might be audible when you do this. Sounds like the situation here.

Try pusing it in more, or gently pulling the plug out when a song is playing to see if anything changes.

Winamp also has its own left/right channel volume slider, but it sounds like winamp's not the issue.

keeblur

United States826 Posts

February 08 2011 01:20 GMT

On February 08 2011 10:02 pheer wrote:
You super duper sure you are plugging the plug all the way in? Headphone plugs often work without being plugged in all the way, but only one channel might be audible when you do this. Sounds like the situation here.

Try pusing it in more, or gently pulling the plug out when a song is playing to see if anything changes.

Winamp also has its own left/right channel volume slider, but it sounds like winamp's not the issue.

Well I tried what you said, and yes it's plugged in all the way. The funny this is though, I pulled it out slowly a few times, and I can get both channels working for a split second before it cuts out. So might be the jack on my sound card?

Zisef

United States73 Posts

February 08 2011 01:26 GMT

Almost all headphones will short out and one side wont work. This happens to almost all brands just how it is from wear and tear cheaper ones go quicker. I had that problem and also had it where it would come in and out then just finally stopped working on one side. Be prepared to buy headphones every 6 months to a year.

Jasper-

Canada184 Posts

February 08 2011 01:26 GMT

I've had this problem a few times with other devices and it's meant that the contacts have collected dust ect if that helps =)

Birnd

Germany42 Posts

February 08 2011 01:35 GMT

Do u have speakers or another headphone?
What happens if u plug them in?

keeblur

United States826 Posts

February 08 2011 01:39 GMT

On February 08 2011 10:35 Birnd wrote:
Do u have speakers or another headphone?
What happens if u plug them in?

Same thing. I'm pretty sure it's the jack in the back of my computer. It just doesn't seem to click in as soundly as the other jacks. I'll try to hook up the front panel jack to my mobo and see if that does the trick. Now to try and find out where the right pins are.

Cel.erity

United States4890 Posts

February 08 2011 02:08 GMT

Yup, sounds like either the jack or the sound card. Luckily sound cards are cheap to replace. Mine did the same thing for awhile, even when I used the front jack, and I just bought a new one.

Oh also, captain obvious here, but try rebooting. Sometimes people forget that one. :X

Blisse

Canada3710 Posts

February 08 2011 02:22 GMT

Beside the volume bar on winamp, there should be another bar. That is the panning bar. Make sure that the scroll is in the middle. It controls the sound channels.

semantics

10040 Posts

February 08 2011 02:25 GMT

#10

Is it a bit old?
Clean the jack with some rubbing alcohol

keeblur

United States826 Posts

February 08 2011 11:11 GMT

#11

Well I'm just going to pick up a soundcard. Anyone suggest something decently priced, and by that I mean I don't want to spend more than like $20 on one. I'm not too picky about my sound quality. The on-board that was on my mobo was Realtek.