Jonathon Jongsma wrote: >a few days ago, sound stopped working on my laptop. I'm starting to >suspect that it's a hardware problem, but since I'm not an expert when >it comes to hardware, I'm not sure how to go about proving whether >it's a software or hardware issue. Can anybody give me any pointers >on where to start looking? If it were a desktop, I'd just try >swapping in a new sound card, but I'm not sure what to do on a laptop. > >The basic symptom is that the music player acts like it's playing >stuff, but no sound comes out, either from the built-in speakers or >the headphone jack. > >Does anybody know of a definitive way to prove whether it's a hardware >or software issue? By the way, I'm running Ubuntu Dapper on a HP >zv6000 series laptop. > >Thanks, >Jonathon > > > A couple of ideas -- Have you checked that ALL the channels on the mixer (KMix?) are enabled, and full volume? Try a live CD, like Knoppix? I'm on a HP zv5000 running Kubuntu (KDE) Breezy right now. I have discovered that sometimes one sound program (Kaffeine, for instance) messes up settings (often codecs) for other programs. Just have to go through resetting the configurations. There's a "Switch" setting in the Kmix control that enables a "Headphone Jack Sense" -- turns off the speakers when the headphones are plugged in. You might try fiddling with that. And you said that you've tried playing an audio CD, right? Kraig