Thursday, April 26, 2001 Track down CD audio problems More often than not, the problem is in the connectors or in the audio settings, so check these first.

When you install a CD or DVD drive, you may find that there is no audio from the drive coming through your sound card. Always start by checking the thin four-wire audio cable between the drive and sound card, to make sure that the sound card's speakers are attached properly. Open the Volume Control and see that the "CD Audio" level is set properly. If the volume is muted or set too low, you won't hear anything. If everything is connected and set properly, try a set of headphones on the CD or DVD drive's headphone jack while the disc is playing. If there is sound in the headphones, try another audio cable between the drive and the sound card. If there is no sound (or a new audio cable doesn't solve the problem), the drive is probably faulty and should be replaced.

Formerly part of Computer Currents, Stephen J. Bigelow's Computer Advisor column has been resurrected on computeruser.com as a daily tech tip column. Find Stephen at www.dlspubs.com.