my sound is too quiet

I have a Compaq Presario laptop, which I use a lot for watching DVD's and sometimes playing music. Recently, all of a sudden, the sound level dropped noticeably. It happened on all applications. Now when I'm watching a DVD, I have to turn the sound all the way up on the program (Media Player or InterVideo WinDVD), as well as all the way up in Windows (that little loudspeaker icon that shows up in the lower right), in order to hear it, and if there's any noise in the room even that's not enough.

I don't think any speakers quit working. I hear still hear sound coming from them. Is there any system check I can do to see what the problem is? Or is the only solution to take it to the shop? It's less than a year old.

 

Have you double clicked (not single click) on the volume icon to get the master volume to see what all your volumes are set at?

 

Thanks for the advice. For some reason I never realized I had other volumes. The "Wave" volume was very low and after I moved it up everything is fine. Sorry to be so clueless! You guys do a great job!

 

Hey, don't feel bad, many of us here are clueless about many things. There is only a small core of people here who have most of the answers. The rest of us either have had the same problems or have read enough answers to be able to help someone.. Anyway, thanks.