Optimus IV

K

Kyzer

Member
Hi,

picked up this laptop around a week or so ago and i have 2 problems..

My webcam is not working and i cannot find it in device manager. (not sure if this is just me being a numb nuts)

The sound coming out of the speakers are very low. Even at 100% it sounds low, my tiny notebook had better sound then this thing.

Running on Windows 7

any help would be appreciated
 
K

Kyzer

Member
the webcam is now up and running thanks to the post above.

Still not entirely happy with the sound though, i have turned everything up including the thx audio settings and the out put is still very weak.
 
W

waynedance

Gold Level Poster
I thought the speakers on the my vortex III were weak but found a setting in the sounds, speakers properties under enhancements called loudness equalization.

This has made my speakers much louder when watching a DVD etc.
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
Just to clear up on the audio being quiet:

I did a little reading into the audio IC used in the Optimus IV, it's used in quite a LOT of other laptops too. Basically it's a low power device that pretty much does everything in a single package. It has to deal with DAC ADC inputs, outputs headphone amplification and speaker amplification. This is to make sure it's classified as a "green" package, to keep it's power consumption low.

I would assume other companies use a secondary amp to deal with the amp/preamps and Clevo have decided to let the Audio IC do all the work by itself. Because it's a low power unit, it's output will also be low to make sure it doesn't draw a lot of power.

HTH.
 
K

Kyzer

Member
Well after trying to find a way to sort this i have come to the conclusion that the audio from this laptop is just terrible. Im pretty sure i get more output from my iphone. After spending so much money on this thing i am highly dissapointed.
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
I did find a couple of fixes that increased the volume a bit. If you're interested I could give you the relative information.
 
K

Kyzer

Member
Pagey said:
I did find a couple of fixes that increased the volume a bit. If you're interested I could give you the relative information.
Click to expand...

But of course i am interested. Tried everything i can think of.

If you could pass across to me said information it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
I'll leave it here for anyone interested:

Firstly you'll need to download Realtek's own audio drivers, here.

Once you accept the terms you'll be directed to the download page, you'll need one of the top two files, 32 or 64 bit flavours., (they should be highlighted in blue and weigh in about 50MB.)

Ok, with the new drivers downloaded you'll need to remove both the current installed audio drivers and the THX drivers too.

Once that is done you just install the new audio drivers you've just downloaded. Once installed you'll just need to go over your audio settings to make sure things are good. I've checked HDMI, laptop speakers and headphone ports and everything checks out fine. If you do get any problems, (I haven't,) you can easily revert back to the old ones.

As an added bonus check out the "Enhancements" in the speaker properties, (you'll have a nice surprise.)

Enjoy. :)
 
Pagey

Pagey

Bright Spark
Glad it helped, I'm sure lots of other Optimus IV users will benefit from this.

Just out of curiosity, did you notice any improvements?
 
K

Keithg

Enthusiast
I did not have the opportunity to test the speakers last night (headphones only), but i liked losing the THX software (creative be damned).
I will have a chance to give the speakers a good test tonight
 
K

Keithg

Enthusiast
I must say I actually prefer the new drivers, the change seems to have been an improvement.
The speakers have gone from poor to almost average.

Thanks again Pagey
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
FWIW I have my Optimus IV plugged into the boat's FM radio and the sound we get from our speakers is perfectly fine. I agree though that the inbuilt speakers are terrible but the audio unit itself seems to be ok (it's fine for me anyway). Best I can suggest is that you get a pair of decent external speakers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top