Audio Issue - All sound but windows sounds limited to half volume

[cdeathkd]

Hi there i'm having an annoying sound issue. Sound/music from any program is quiet. I checked the little windows soundometer in the corner. If i am up music till its a distorted mess, the sound level goes up to half but thats all.

All levels in volume control are set to full. My soundcard is some sort of VIA HD Audio thing but i have no idea what it is, but imagine theres no updatable drivers.

The weird thing is when i go into playback devices and do a sound test, the sounds from there play at full volume. Whats going on and how do i fix it! XD

I have tried disconnecting and then reconnecting the speakers but that doesnt work, and google hasnt been able to bring up anything similar.

[RnRollie]

right-click the "little soundometer" and take it from there

[cdeathkd]

Sorry buts thats really not a helpful response. I already said ALL volume levels on the full mixer are at FULL (thats all the way up to the top) volume. When the computer starts it will be full volume but as soon as most applications that use sound start, some kind of limiter kicks in and reduces the volume to half.

[PrivateBurke]

Originally Posted by cdeathkd

Sorry buts thats really not a helpful response. I already said ALL volume levels on the full mixer are at FULL (thats all the way up to the top) volume. When the computer starts it will be full volume but as soon as most applications that use sound start, some kind of limiter kicks in and reduces the volume to half.

Ahh!

Do you happen to use VOIP programs such as steam chat or skype?

If you right click the speak icon in the task menu and open the sounds settings. (if you are on win7 or vista)

On the top of the sound settings window on the far right there is the tab "Communications"

By default windows will "Reduce the volume of other sounds by 80%" if a voip application is activated. Sometimes the logic fails and it will persistently just limit sounds.