Lineout volume?

[albo]

Hi Folks,

The max volume to my headphones in my t400 is quite low. Is this a software issue, with some sort of pre-amp setting (i'm in XP), or is this hardware limitation?

Thanks in advance.

allie

[truk]

Double click the volume button in the tray, click options>advanced and make sure everything's maxed (except maybe mic.)

[albo]

yeah, everything has been maxed, but still have the issue. hasn't anyone else noticed this?

[truk]

Is the problem in a specific program, or with all programs and system noise? Some headphones are just quiet, try with a different set to see if it helps. Have you tried external speakers?

[KBAM]

There's been a bit of grumbling over T400 audio. Criticis cite the "lite" preamp-control (driver) feature set and low output levels, especially under WinXP. What's more, the T400's speaker drivers are modest (read: crummy) and their placement on the rear deck is awkward. Finally, the front-edge location of the audio I/O is, well, annoying.

Still, the resident Conexant engine's (CX20561) audio quality is reasonable.

Those observing low output levels to the speakers and/or headphone jack, especially with WinXP, should navigate as follows (adjusting volume control in System Tray is insufficient):

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Volume tab

1) crank up Device volume slider to High (max)

2) check setting on lower portion of this screen:
Speaker settings > Speaker Volume

3) also on lower portion of this screen, experiment with options under Advanced > Speaker setup (I'm using "Stereo headphones" selection)

These tweaks should fix you up.

As always, YMMV. From my experience, the Vista audio set-up defaults are simply more generous than XP's.

--BAM

T400 Elite 2764-CTO, WinXP

[albo]

@truk: I used the same headphones with my t43, and the volume was just fine. So, there's something going on with the t400.

@Kbam: I've messed around with the volume in the Control Panel before, but it's just a direct link to the system volume. So, that's nothing I hadn't tried before. I'll mess around with the speaker-type in the advanced section to see if that changes anything. But - is there any way to get access to the pre-amp settings, or is that just a hardware thing?

thanks,
allie

[KlaymenDK]

There's been a bit of grumbling over T400 audio.
[...]
Those observing low output levels to the speakers and/or headphone jack, especially with WinXP, should navigate as follows (adjusting volume control in System Tray is insufficient):
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Volume tab
[snipsnip]

I'm sorry to say that I don't think your solution is effective.

For the record, I have the opposite problem; I get a jolt every time I boot the machine because it's so dang loud. So I usually adjust both the "Wave" slider and the "Volume" slider to near-bottom, which is basically the opposite of what you're suggesting.

But I've noticed that, when I next hit any of the ThinkPad volume knobs, that not only does the "Volume" slider move as expected -- the "Wave" slider is also reset to about 60% of max! So it's definitely a software issue, but not only with the audio driver: I suspect that "ThinkVantage" or whatever it's called also has a part to play, which I'm afraid can't really be adjusted.

[albo]

@KlaymenDK: I think there are two issues here, both of which are valid, but different.

The First Issue is the loud volume when the slider is still set very low. If you have XP, this solution will tickle you pink: http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=195 . If you have vista, I imagine there are other solutions out there. Note that this doesn't have to do with the startup beep on your machine. I think that might be controlled in the BIOS or something - I dunno.

The Second Issue is the one of maximum volume. I still hold to the fact that the max volume coming out of the headphone port is very low. I figure this is a different issue than lenovo's crappy, underpowered speakers in their T4/5xx series. So this still remains an issue.

[KlaymenDK]

Amazing. Thanks.
What a can of worms that is, I never knew.