Sound Issue: When running games sound only works through headphones !?

NVP · 20 Aug 2021 at 17:56

Howdy,

Need some suggestions on how to resolve this issue please.

My sound works fine through laptop speakers and desktop speakers (plugged into headphone jack) when in normal use (movies, browsing, editing etc.), but when I run any game (whether steam or solo install) the sound plays for about 30 seconds then slowly fades out to silence, however if I connect my headphones (via USB dongle) the sound is playing in them perfectly.

I'm unsure if there is some config in either the Creative software, Logitech headphone software or perhaps the MSI laptop software which recognises a game is playing and switches to headphone mode or if it is something else entirely but I have checked through all the software I can find and can't locate any settings to that effect.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

smogsy · 21 Aug 2021 at 08:30

game may have a default sound option (eg set to headphones)
i would uninstall any msi addon software as its junk
set default sound device in windows (unset and reset)

NVP · 21 Aug 2021 at 11:02

Thanks for the advice

I uninstalled MSI SCM, but the problem still persisted - so I went to see what else had the potential for removal and I found Creative Sound Blaster Cinema, which I had already previously uninstalled (or so I thought), was still in Add/Remove Programs. I tried to uninstall it again but it failed with an error (could not locate C:\Program) so I simply disabled Creative Sound Blaster Cinema in my Start-up Apps and voila! Problem resolved

Awesome! Cheers buddy

NVP · 21 Aug 2021 at 12:32

Ah man

I played another game and the sound crackled and then faded out again half way through. Trying to figure out what was different between this time and the last time the only thing I could think of was that my fans were on full before and this time they weren't - so I put them on full and continued the game and slowly the sound faded back in and the crackling got a bit better... so is it simply a heat issue then?? The Laptop has a GTX 880M which is potentially running hotter than the laptop can cope with?

Hmm... so with the headphones running via a USB dongle it isn't using some internal component that it uses when played through speakers via the headphone port (or the built in speakers). Although when I connected the headphones after it faded out and crackled I still heard crackling via the headphones but the sound was full volume... :confused:

I'm going to try letting it cool down and then play again with the fans on full to see if the sound issue reoccurs.

NVP · 22 Aug 2021 at 12:36

So it definitely appears to be related to heat.

If I start the fans before I play then the sound is faultless and I can play for hours without issue.

If I start a game without the fans then after less than 1 minute the noise crackles and fades out to silence. If I then turn on the fans then the sound slowly fades in the and the crackling slowly disappears.

With the USB headphones not being affected I'm guessing the heat really affects the port and the internal speakers.

Looks like I'll just have to keep playing with the fans on full