Customer said she can no longer hear computer sounds. Since i rebuilt this pc 6months ago, i suspect its a “configuration” problem. I manage to fit her between 2 other customers, but i’m not equiped as i should be…Once im there, it starting to look like the sound card is faulty… so i replace it with one from my collection of used sound cards, but then it dawns on me that windows 98 doesn’t have the same kind of driver support as xp… and the customer doesn’t have internet access… damn… looks like a return visit is in order (after i download some sound card drivers… i should have made sure i had all the win 98 drivers beforehand!)…I’m finding that windows 98 systems require a lot more work to keep working, compared to windows xp.

So i return a few days later, install the correct driver, windows shows the sound preferences correctly, so i connect the speakers, switch them on, the speaker led comes on for 1 second, then fades away… i pick up the speakers, and there is an ominous rattling sound… and murphy strikes again… i have no spare speakers… i dismantle the broken speakers, & i see an internal transformer has broken loose & probably shorted some other components… The speakers look like they have been kicked around a bit.

Looks like yet another re-visit & a re-stock of small pc speakers is in order… This is starting to become really frustrating. I buy a few speakers, test them to make sure they work, and drop them off as I’m passing by, on a shopping trip (ie I have no other computer tools with me)… but when I plug them in, I hear nothing. My sound card could also be faulty… So I apologise & promise to fix everything the next day.

I finally replace the sound card, install appropriate drivers, connect the speakers, and I finally hear some sounds… Phew, what a marathon effort, for what I originally thought would be a simple problem.