Subwoofer on P150HM not working?

[belegdol]

Hi,

I have recently received my shiny new P150HM from MySN. The problem is that it seems that the subwoofer is not being detected at all (Windows nor Linux), and sound tests for subwoofer do not play any sound at all. Is it possible that it is disconected, and if so, how easy would be to fix it? I would rather not ship it all the way back to Germany (I am in Switzerland) if this is something trivial. Thanks in advance.

[TheGreatAnonymous]

Try hitting the Fn+5 key to enable it. Someone here posted about this not too long ago, and apparently it's in the manual as well. Imagine my surprise when I found out about it, because it makes a huge difference in sound.

[Eivind]

Fn+5 only works with the P170HM. Not the 150/151.

About the subwoofer. I dont know if it is working or not. It sure doesnt sound like it.

[belegdol]

As Elvind expected, it didn't help. According to the manual that key combo is only for p170hm anyway.

[TheGreatAnonymous]

As Elvind expected, it didn't help. According to the manual that key combo is only for p170hm anyway.

Oh wow, didn't know that. Sucks to have to send it back for something so minor.

[mountainlifter_k]

Do you not feel the vibrations when you place your palm on the grill under the chassis??

What do you mean when you say that windows is not detecting the subwoofer?

[Harleyquin07]

Do you not feel the vibrations when you place your palm on the grill under the chassis??

What do you mean when you say that windows is not detecting the subwoofer?

Congratulations for not reading the original post, when the OP says sound tests using the inbuilt windows software or the like don't have any sound emitting from the subwoofer when it's supposed to, I would think vibrations are out of the question.

Back on topic: I assume volume controls and equalization haven't accidentally cancelled out the subwoofer output? If not, it may be a hardware problem unless it was working fine before.

[mountainlifter_k]

Congratulations for not reading the original post, when the OP says sound tests using the inbuilt windows software or the like don't have any sound emitting from the subwoofer when it's supposed to, I would think vibrations are out of the question.

Back on topic: I assume volume controls and equalization haven't accidentally cancelled out the subwoofer output? If not, it may be a hardware problem unless it was working fine before.

I did read the OPost. Yes, I was unfortunately asking the obvious. But your sarcasm didn't help him either, Joker's Assistant!

Back on topic: In device manager, the speaker and the sub-woofer are never listed, right?. Just the sound driver or some such thing.

(I don't have the laptop with me now so I don't know exactly what is listed under audio in device manager)

So, when the OP says he cant detect it, I wonder what he means.

[Harleyquin07]

I did read the OPost. Yes, I was unfortunately asking the obvious. But your sarcasm didn't help him either, Joker's Assistant!

Back on topic: In device manager, the speaker and the sub-woofer are never listed, right?. Just the sound driver or some such thing.

(I don't have the laptop with me now so I don't know exactly what is listed under audio in device manager)

So, when the OP says he cant detect it, I wonder what he means.

Unlike someone posting above me, I did try and help by asking whether or not volume controls and equalization settings were muting the subwoofer by accident, unlikely as it is. Even in Windows Vista, there's a simple sound test function where you can get sound to come out from specific speakers using the test function.

No, you don't see if speakers are connected to the Windows Operating System via Device Manager. It only lists which SOUND CARD is connected to the system.

Regardless of my "sarcasm" above, I recommend the OP crank up bass settings and volume as much as possible before testing the individual speakers again. If nothing is heard from the subwoofer using these test conditions, then it's likely a hardware problem. I'm no expert but internal wiring isn't as easy as to fix like a RAM upgrade or the like.

[mountainlifter_k]

Unlike someone posting above me, I did try and help by asking whether or not volume controls and equalization settings were muting the subwoofer by accident, unlikely as it is. Even in Windows Vista, there's a simple sound test function where you can get sound to come out from specific speakers using the test function.

No, you don't see if speakers are connected to the Windows Operating System via Device Manager. It only lists which SOUND CARD is connected to the system.

Regardless of my "sarcasm" above, I recommend the OP crank up bass settings and volume as much as possible before testing the individual speakers again. If nothing is heard from the subwoofer using these test conditions, then it's likely a hardware problem. I'm no expert but internal wiring isn't as easy as to fix like a RAM upgrade or the like.

In the Realtek Audio manager, you can test only the left and right speakers. Not the subwoofer; though i dont have the laptop with me now, I remember this much.

So, again, I think the important issue is: what does he mean when he says it cant be detected?? (As you said, only the Audio Driver/Card is listed in Device Manager; so, he is not talking about that.)
Is there some software he is using to detect and test the speaker/sub-woofer? If so, what is it? We could download and do the test on our machines to compare. Lets just wait for his reply.