Old Labtec speakers wont work – driver problem?

Hi.

I had a look at a friends desktop PC yesterday. It is about 7 years old and runs Win XP home. It has old Labtec speakers. My friend also had a Skype phone connected via USB to the PC. He recently got a Philips webcam and wanted to listed to Skype through the speakers but could only get sound by listening through the Skype phone.

I went to device manager and noticed a driver problem. I don't see a model number for neither the speakers or PC and no driver CD was available. I told my friend that the best option is to buy new speakers with a USB connection.

Or is it still possible to use the old speakers?

There is no sound coming through the speakers at all.

 

Are the speakers connected to the Line Out jack in back of the PC?

 

Hi abekl.

Yes. Sorry, I should have mentioned that before.

 

I don't think speakers have any drivers. Do the speakers need external (AC) power?

You should be able to test the speakers themselves by plugging in the connector to any device that has a mini jack like that for headphones. (Ipod or tape recorder etc.) If you can hear the device then the speakers are good. If speakers work then it may be a problem with the sound drivers on the PC itself. You could check Device manager for any yellow marks.

 

I am almost certain the speakers work. I cannot test them anywhere else though.
I went into device manager and I think it requires drivers. There is an yellow icon (I don't recall the exact name but think it was definitely related to Audio).

 

Do you know that make and model of your sounds hardware? It sounds like we need it to install sound drivers for your system. If you don't know the make/model. then run a tool like speccy or FreePCAudit to get your system specs, and attach the report to your next post.

 

I don't know the exact model of the speakers or PC (it is some sort of generic build). I will try Speccy the next time I see my friends PC.

 

Actually I remember I used AIDA to do a report. Under the HTML report heading 'Multimedia' I have: Audio Adapter Intel 82801DB(M) ICH4(-M) - AC'97 Audio Controller [B-0]

Update: I just found this thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=161055 I presume that will solve the issue?

 

Give it a try. Can't hurt.

 

I just bought a set of labtecs too off of Craigslist.. know they work.. but cant figure out what driver I should get to use with my win 7 system. HELP... Old time computer game producer here, but I freely admit, I am not as up on the tech now a aday. ( so sue me.. but please help LOL) my speccy results on audio ( you dont need the full feedback on my screamer do you?

Audio
Sound Card
Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM)
Playback Device
SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
Recording Devices
Analog Mix (Line/CD/Aux/TAD/PC) (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
S/PDIF-In (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
Microphone (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)) (default)
CD Digital (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
"What U Hear" (Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM))
Speaker Configuration

 

If they plug in with a jack they DEFINATELY do not need a driver. They simply take and audio signal and amplify it. To say they need a driver would be the equivelent of saying that your ipod would need to have a driver installed for every docking station you plug it into or that an electric guitar needs a driver to for every amp you plug it into...

More likely is that skype is routing the sound to the wrong audio device. Open skype and select the tools menu then options. Click on Audio settings then where it says speakers change the drop down to your PCs default sound ard and your speakers should work.

Might also be worth checking in control panel sound that you PCs sound card is your default output.

The skype phone is basically and external sound card so skype is chosing to route the audio to the skype phone rather than your PC sound card.